The social constitution of ecological psychology in the Netherlands

This chapter is about the influence of Harry Heft's empirical, theoretical, and historical work on the ecological movement in the Netherlands. We commence with a sketch of the formative years of the ecological approach in our country. In the 1980s, a group of opinionated human movement scientists at the VU Amsterdam found inspiration in the Gibsonian approach, mostly through the physical approach that was laid out by Kugler and Turvey. As the ecological landscape in the Netherlands changed however, Heft became one of the leading theorists in the ecological community. Heft wrote several eminent papers, showing the scope and power of a sociohistorical turn in ecological psychology. Heft's ideas about the nature of the environment, the primacy of the social, and the experiential aspects of human perception and action inspired many in the Dutch community. We discuss this work and highlight Heft's mark on recent ecological theorizing and experimenting in the Netherlands

The social constitution of ecological psychology in the Netherlands

This chapter is about the influence of Harry Heft's empirical, theoretical, and historical work on the ecological movement in the Netherlands. We commence with a sketch of the formative years of the ecological approach in our country. In the 1980s, a group of opinionated human movement scientists at the VU Amsterdam found inspiration in the Gibsonian approach, mostly through the physical approach that was laid out by Kugler and Turvey. As the ecological landscape in the Netherlands changed however, Heft became one of the leading theorists in the ecological community. Heft wrote several eminent papers, showing the scope and power of a sociohistorical turn in ecological psychology. Heft's ideas about the nature of the environment, the primacy of the social, and the experiential aspects of human perception and action inspired many in the Dutch community. We discuss this work and highlight Heft's mark on recent ecological theorizing and experimenting in the Netherlands

The social constitution of ecological psychology in the Netherlands

This chapter is about the influence of Harry Heft's empirical, theoretical, and historical work on the ecological movement in the Netherlands. We commence with a sketch of the formative years of the ecological approach in our country. In the 1980s, a group of opinionated human movement scientists at the VU Amsterdam found inspiration in the Gibsonian approach, mostly through the physical approach that was laid out by Kugler and Turvey. As the ecological landscape in the Netherlands changed however, Heft became one of the leading theorists in the ecological community. Heft wrote several eminent papers, showing the scope and power of a sociohistorical turn in ecological psychology. Heft's ideas about the nature of the environment, the primacy of the social, and the experiential aspects of human perception and action inspired many in the Dutch community. We discuss this work and highlight Heft's mark on recent ecological theorizing and experimenting in the Netherlands

The social constitution of ecological psychology in the Netherlands

This chapter is about the influence of Harry Heft's empirical, theoretical, and historical work on the ecological movement in the Netherlands. We commence with a sketch of the formative years of the ecological approach in our country. In the 1980s, a group of opinionated human movement scientists at the VU Amsterdam found inspiration in the Gibsonian approach, mostly through the physical approach that was laid out by Kugler and Turvey. As the ecological landscape in the Netherlands changed however, Heft became one of the leading theorists in the ecological community. Heft wrote several eminent papers, showing the scope and power of a sociohistorical turn in ecological psychology. Heft's ideas about the nature of the environment, the primacy of the social, and the experiential aspects of human perception and action inspired many in the Dutch community. We discuss this work and highlight Heft's mark on recent ecological theorizing and experimenting in the Netherlands

The social constitution of ecological psychology in the Netherlands

This chapter is about the influence of Harry Heft's empirical, theoretical, and historical work on the ecological movement in the Netherlands. We commence with a sketch of the formative years of the ecological approach in our country. In the 1980s, a group of opinionated human movement scientists at the VU Amsterdam found inspiration in the Gibsonian approach, mostly through the physical approach that was laid out by Kugler and Turvey. As the ecological landscape in the Netherlands changed however, Heft became one of the leading theorists in the ecological community. Heft wrote several eminent papers, showing the scope and power of a sociohistorical turn in ecological psychology. Heft's ideas about the nature of the environment, the primacy of the social, and the experiential aspects of human perception and action inspired many in the Dutch community. We discuss this work and highlight Heft's mark on recent ecological theorizing and experimenting in the Netherlands

UNRAVELING CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT BY STUDYING MUNICIPAL PRACTICES

Citizen engagement can take various forms and is receiving a great deal of interest, especially in municipalities, which are embracing citizen engagement and searching for ways to integrate it in their day to day work. In theory development, the concept of citizen engagement is captured with various terms covering numerous aspects. This leads to inconsistency and ambiguity and can lead to unproductive debates among those who organize it. Empirical research on how municipalities develop citizen engagement is still limited. This article aims at a deeper understanding of the phenomenon by exploring dominant patterns in the way municipalities organize citizen engagement, the role of those involved and practices that emerge. This article builds on empirical research in 4 Dutch municipalities, 1 Danish municipality and 1 South African municipality. It appears that in practice, citizen engagement comes with a complex dynamic. Organizing citizen engagement affects the entire municipality and can be seen as an intervention in the municipal organization and those involved.   Key words: citizen engagement, municipalities, local practices

Exploring individual user differences in the 2D/3D interaction with medical image data

User-centered design is often performed without regard to individual user differences. In this paper, we report results of an empirical study aimed to evaluate whether computer experience and demographic user characteristics would have an effect on the way people interact with the visualized medical data in a 3D virtual environment using 2D and 3D input devices. We analyzed the interaction through performance data, questionnaires and observations. The results suggest that differences in gender, age and game experience have an effect on people’s behavior and task performance, as well as on subjective\ud user preferences

Timing of Vote Decision in First and Second Order Dutch Elections 1978-1995: Evidence from Artificial Neural Networks

A time series (t=921) of weekly survey data on vote intentions in the Netherlands for the period 1978-1995 shows that the percentage of undecided voters follows a cyclical pattern over the election calendar. The otherwise substantial percentage of undecided voters decreases sharply in weeks leading up to an election and gradually increases afterwards. This paper models the dynamics of this asymmetric electoral cycle using artificial neural networks, with the purpose of estimating when the undecided voters start making up their minds. We find that they begin to decide which party to vote for nine weeks before a first order national parliamentary election and one to four weeks before a second order election, depending on the type of election (European Parliament, Provincial States, City-councils). The effect of political campaigns and the implications for political analysis are discussed

Acute Effects of Decaffeinated Coffee and the Major Coffee Components Chlorogenic Acid and Trigonelline on Glucose Tolerance

OBJECTIVE: Coffee consumption has been associated with lower risk of type 2 diabetes. We evaluated the acute effects of decaffeinated coffee and the major coffee components chlorogenic acid and trigonelline on glucose tolerance. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We conducted a randomized crossover trial of the effects of 12 g decaffeinated coffee, 1 g chlorogenic acid, 500 mg trigonelline, and placebo (1 g mannitol) on glucose and insulin concentrations during a 2-h oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in 15 overweight men. RESULTS Chlorogenic acid and trigonelline ingestion significantly reduced glucose (−0.7 mmol/l, P = 0.007, and −0.5 mmol/l, P = 0.024, respectively) and insulin (−73 pmol/l, P = 0.038, and −117 pmol/l, P = 0.007) concentrations 15 min following an OGTT compared with placebo. None of the treatments affected insulin or glucose area under the curve values during the OGTT compared with placebo. CONCLUSIONS: Chlorogenic acid and trigonelline reduced early glucose and insulin responses during an OGTT