BIO-IMPULS: innovatie in de biologische aardappelketen

In 2008 is het project BIO-IMPULS gestart om de biologische aardappelteelt in Nederland te verbeteren. BIO-IMPULS richt zich op innovaties in de gehele aardappelketen, van veredeling, teeltoptimalisatie (gewasbescherming, teeltvervroeging, bemesting, oogst en bewaring) en de markintroductie van nieuwe rassen en producten tot voorlichting en kennisoverdrach

Verifying Different-modality Properties for Concepts Produces Switching Costs

According to perceptual symbol systems (Barsalou, 1999), sensory-motor simulations underlie the representation of concepts. It follows that sensory-motor phenomena should arise in conceptual processing. Previous studies have shown that switching from one modality to another during perceptual processing incurs a processing cost. If perceptual simulation underlies conceptual processing, then verifying the properties of concepts should exhibit a switching cost as well. For example, verifying a property in the auditory modality (e.g., BLENDER-loud) should be slower after verifying a property in a different modality (e.g., CRANBERRIES-tart) than in the same modality (e.g., LEAVES-rustling). Only words were presented to subjects, and there were no instructions to use imagery. Nevertheless switching modalities incurred a cost, analogous to switching modalities in perception. A second experiment showed that this effect was not due to associative priming between properties in the same modality. These results support the hypothesis that perceptual simulation underlies conceptual processing

The impact of redesigning care processes on quality of care: a systematic review

Background: This literature review evaluates the current state of knowledge about the impact of process redesign on the quality of healthcare. Methods: Pubmed, CINAHL, Web of Science and Business Premier Source were searched for relevant studies published in the last ten years [20042014]. To be included, studies had to be original research, published in English with a before-and-after study design, and be focused on changes in healthcare processes and quality of care. Studies that met the inclusion criteria were independently assessed for excellence in reporting by three reviewers using the SQUIRE checklist. Data was extracted using a framework developed for this review. Results: Reporting adequacy varied across the studies. Process redesign interventions were diverse, and none of the studies described their effects on all dimensions of quality defined by the Institute of Medicine. Conclusions: The results of this systematic literature review suggests that process redesign interventions have positive effects on certain aspects of quality. However, the full impact cannot be determined on the basis of the literature. A wide range of outcome measures were used, and research methods were limited. This review demonstrates the need for further investigation of the impact of redesign interventions on the quality of healthcare. Keywords: Process redesign, Quality of care, Healthcare processes, Systematic revie

Why going green feels good

Re​cent re​search found that when asked ex​plic​itly, peo​ple as​so​ci​ate (fu​ture) sus​tain​able ac​tions with pos​i​‐ tive in​stead of neg​a​tive emo​tions. This em​pir​i​cal find​ing im​plies that pol​icy mak​ers could har​ness peo​ple's in​trin​sic mo​ti​va​tion to pro​mote sus​tain​able ac​tions. It is how​ever not clear where this as​so​ci​a​tion be​tween sus​tain​able ac​tions and pos​i​tive emo​tions stems from. Why would peo​ple re​port that go​ing green feels good, given that such ac​tions of​ten re​quire more ef​fort or in​con​ve​nience? We ar​gue and show that the pre​‐ vi​ously found re​la​tion​ship be​tween sus​tain​able ac​tions and an​tic​i​pated pos​i​tive emo​tions is not merely a mat​ter of so​cial de​sir​abil​ity, but rather a mat​ter of mean​ing: act​ing sus​tain​ably is of​ten per​ceived as a moral choice and thus as a mean​ing​ful course of ac​tion, which can elicit pos​i​tive emo​tions. Specif​i​cally, we found that par​tic​i​pants also as​so​ci​ate sus​tain​able ac​tions with pos​i​tive in​stead of neg​a​tive emo​tions when us​ing an im​plicit as​so​ci​a​tion mea​sure – one that re​duces the like​li​hood of so​cially de​sir​able re​sponses (Study 1). More​over, par​tic​i​pants an​tic​i​pated more in​tense emo​tions when those ac​tions were mean​ing​ful to them: they felt more pos​i​tive about sus​tain​able ac​tions, and more neg​a​tive about un​sus​tain​able ac​tions, when they chose to en​gage in those ac​tions and when those ac​tions are con​sid​ered per​son​ally rel​e​vant to the in​di​vid​ual (Study 2). To​gether, these stud​ies ex​plain why act​ing green feels good, and sup​port the no​‐ tion that sus​tain​able ac​tions are in​deed ex​pected (not merely re​ported) to be in​trin​si​cally mo​ti​vat​ing

A sharp image or a sharp knife: norms for the modality-exclusivity of 774 concept-property items

According to recent embodied cognition theories, mental concepts are represented by modality-specific sensory-motor systems. Much of the evidence for modality-specificity in conceptual processing comes from the property-verification task. When applying this and other tasks, it is important to select items based on their modality-exclusivity. We collected modality ratings for a set of 387 properties, each of which was paired with two different concepts, yielding a total of 774 concept-property items. For each item, participants rated the degree to which the property could be experienced through five perceptual modalities (vision, audition, touch, smell, and taste). Based on these ratings, we computed a measure of modality exclusivity, the degree to which a property is perceived exclusively through one sensory modality. In this paper, we briefly sketch the theoretical background of conceptual knowledge, discuss the use of the property-verification task in cognitive research, provide our norms and statistics, and validate the norms in a memory experiment. We conclude that our norms are important for researchers studying modality-specific effects in conceptual processing

Produção de memórias falsas com listas de associados : análise do efeito do nível de processamento e da natureza da prova de memória

As memórias falsas têm sido amplamente estudadas com base num procedimento experimental designado paradigma DRM (Deese/Roediger/McDermott). Esse paradigma promove a criação de ilusões de memória a partir da apresentação de listas de palavras associadas a um item que não consta da lista. Uma das linhas de investigação com o paradigma DRM visa identificar o momento da criação das falsas memórias e explicar os mecanismos que estão na sua origem. Neste artigo, pretendemos fazer uma revisão da investigação sobre o efeito do nível de processamento e da natureza da tarefa de memória na facilitação ou inibição da produção de memórias falsas com listas de associados semânticos.False memories have been widely studied using an experimental procedure called DRM paradigm (Deese/Roediger/McDermott). This paradigm produces memory illusions due to the presentation of lists of words associated to a critical nonpresented word. One line of research on this topic aims at identifying the moment when the false memories are created and the explanation of the mechanisms underling false memories. In this paper we present a review about the effect of level-of-processing and the nature of memory task for the boost or inhibition of false memories created by means of lists of semantic associates.Le paradigme DRM (Deese/Roediger/McDermott) est un des plus connus et plus robustes parmi les études des faux mémoires dans le contexte du laboratoire. Ce paradigme permet la création d illusions de mémoire à partir des mots sémantiquement associés à un item qui n a pas été présenté. Au milieu des investigations basées sur le paradigme DRM il y a des études dont l objectif est d identifier e d´expliquer les mécanismes qui sont à l origine de la production des faux mémoires. Plus spécifiquement, on a pour but de faire une révision de la recherche sur l effet du niveau de codification et de la nature des tâches de mémoire sur la facilitation ou l´inhibition de la production de faux mémoires à partir des mots sémantiquement associés.Los falsos recuerdos han sido muy estudiados mediante la aplicación del paradigma DRM (Deese/Roediger/McDermott). El paradigma permite producir ilusiones de memoria tras la presentación de listas de palabras asociadas a una palabra que no se incluye en la lista. Una de las líneas de investigación que utilizan el paradigma DRM busca identificar el preciso momento de la creación de falsos recuerdos y explicar los mecanismos que originan ese efecto. El objetivo de este artículo es hacer una revisión de la investigación sobre el efecto de los niveles de procesamiento y la naturaleza de la tarea de memoria en la facilitación y inhibición de la producción de falsos recuerdos con listas de asociados semánticos.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)Centro de Investigação em Psicologia da Universidade do Minho (CIPsi