Governmental Service Channel Positioning: History and Strategies for the Future

Governmental agencies have various service channels at their disposal for the service interactions with their citizens. The rise of the Internet as a service channel led many to believe the Internet would make all other service channels obsolete. Until now this expectation remains unfulfilled, as research discussed in this paper makes clear. All other channels still exist and the Internet in many cases did not lead to a decrease in the usage of other channels. Across the globe organizations are re-shaping their service channel mix, to find the optimal mix of service channels. This article reviews various historical phases in service channel positioning and discusses the strategies in use during the phases. The paper concludes with presenting a new multi-channel channel positioning strategy that combines private organization

Channel Choice Determinants; an exploration of the factors that determine the choice of a service channel in citizen initiated contacts

Citizens have various service channels at their disposal to interact with governmental agencies. In this paper we explore citizens’ motives to choose a certain channel in a certain situation. We conducted a qualitative study to accumulate the most important behavioral determinants. Six groups of determinants were found; habit, channel characteristics, task characteristics, situational constraints, experiences and personal characteristics. People appear to generally follow two lines of decision making when choosing channels, the first is based on habits. When task complexity and ambiguity increase, people start reasoning and follow the second line; channel choice based on a thorough elaboration between task and channel characteristics

Quantified Self: Groningen zet stappen

Of het nu gaat om het kwantitatief in kaart brengen van het beweeggedrag van een groep kinderen, het overbrengen van kennis over lichaamsbeweging of het creëren van bewustwording over gezond beweeggedrag, er liggen tal van kansen om met nieuwe technologie het vak bewegingsonderwijs te verrijken. In dit artikel is beschreven op welke wijze het project 'Groningen zet stappen' dit in de praktijk heeft toegepast

Electrical modulation of the sympathetic nervous system in order to augment cerebral blood flow: a protocol for an experimental study

Introduction: Cerebral blood flow (CBF) is regulated by several mechanisms. Neurogenic control has been a matter of debate, even though several publications reported the effects of changes in sympathetic tone on CBF. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and spinal-cord stimulation have been shown to influence peripheral and cerebral blood flow through a sympathetic pathway. The authors hypothesise that certain pathological conditions result in a relative increase in the neurogenic regulation of CBF and that this regulation can be modulated electrically. Methods and analysis: Patients with cerebral vasospasm after subarachnoid haemorrhage will be included. The experimental set-up measures several parameters that are involved in cerebral blood flow regulation in patients with cerebral vasospasm after subarachnoid haemorrhage. Measurements are taken at baseline and with stimulation in several frequencies. An ad hoc statistical analysis is used to evaluate different settings of the electrical stimulation. Autoregulation is evaluated with transfer function analysis and autoregulatory index calculations. Ethics and dissemination: Ethical registration was granted by Medical Review Ethics Committee Groningen (ID METc 2010.123). All participants provide written informed consent on participation. Upon finishing a pilot study to investigate feasibility and effect, either future prospective (randomised) studies will be designed, or other modalities of electrical stimulation will be explored using the same set-up

Comparison of two enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and one rapid immunoblot assay for detection of herpes simplex virus type 2-specific antibodies in serum

The sensitivities and specificities of three immunoassays for the detection of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2)-specific immunoglobulin G antibodies in serum, including the one-strip rapid immunoblot assay (RIBA; Chiron Corporation) and two indirect enzyme immunosorbent assays (EIA; Gull Laboratories and Centocor), were compared by testing a panel of 1,250 serum samples from individuals attending an outpatient clinic for sexually transmitted diseases. A qualitative agreement among the three assays was observed with 1,080 serum samples (86.4%); 291 of the serum samples (23.3%) were positive, 789 samples (63.1%) were negative, and 170 serum samples (13.6%) gave a discordant result. Results were considered conclusive when a concordant result was obtained with two of three assays. The sensitivities and specificities of the RIBA, the Gull EIA, and the Centocor EIA proved to be 99.2, 99.7, and 89.9% and 97.1, 96.7, and 99.3%, respectively. These results indicate that the Chiron RIBA and the Gull EIA are especially useful and reliable fo

The influence of transcutaneous electrical neurostimulation (TENS) on human cerebral blood flow velocities

It has been shown that transcutaneous electrical neurostimulation (TENS) reduces sympathetic tone. Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) has proven qualities to improve coronary, peripheral, and cerebral blood circulation. Therefore, we postulate that TENS and SCS affect the autonomic nervous system in analogous ways. In this line of thought, cervical application of TENS might be a useful and simple adjunct in the treatment of cerebrovascular disease by improving cerebral blood flow. Experiments were performed in order to assess whether cervical TENS is safe and whether an effect on cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) can be shown in healthy subjects. A controlled, non-randomized, phase 1 study was performed with 20 healthy volunteers. Cervical TENS was applied in several frequencies, with and without hyperventilation. Continuous registration of blood pressure, pulse, CBFV (estimated by transcranial Doppler sonography) and end-tidal carbon dioxide concentration was performed. Cervical TENS was well-tolerated by all subjects. Despite small effects on heart rate (HR) and mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), a significant effect on middle cerebral artery (MCA) blood flow velocity was not demonstrated. No effect of age, gender, current or session order on MCA, HR, or MAP was found. TENS did not influence the effect of hyperventilation. In these experiments, application of cervical TENS is proven to be a safe procedure. However, no effects on cerebral blood flow velocity could be detected, perhaps due to the intact cerebral autoregulation in the healthy volunteers

Estimating infarct severity from the ECG using a realistic heart model

The early phase of myocardial infarction is accompanied by changes in the ST segment of the ECG. This makes the ST segment the clinical marker for the detection of acute myocardial infarction. The determination of the infarct severity, location and size of the myocardial tissue at risk will support clinical decision making. In this study we used an inverse procedure to estimate the location and size of the infarcted heart region. The method estimates the local transmembrane amplitude based on the ECG amplitude near the J-point of the standard 12 leads signals using a patient specific volume conductor model. For the 5 available patient cases the positions as well as the size of the estimated infarct region were in accordance with results based on MRI

An early start at a professional soccer academy is no prerequisite for world cup soccer participation

Introduction829 players from 32 nations on five continents participated in the 2022 men's World Cup tournament in Qatar. Not much is known about the youth careers of World Cup players from all over the world, especially about the age at which they began playing youth soccer in a professional academy. This study aimed to provide insights in the age national team players participating in World Cup Qatar 2022 started playing for a professional soccer academy and whether their starting age relates to continent and their current playing position (i.e., goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, and forwards).MethodSystematic online desk research was conducted to determine the age at which World Cup players started playing for professional youth soccer organizations. The median and interquartile ranges were expressed for the starting age in professional youth soccer organizations and the current age at the World Cup. The variables were compared with playing position, the continent of the player's World Cup nation, and the continent on which the player was raised.ResultsThe results reveal that World Cup Qatar 2022 players started playing for professional soccer academies at a median age of 13.2 years (range: 4.2–22.6). In Europe, players started playing for professional youth soccer organizations earlier than players on other continents [χ2 (4) = 142.0, p < 0.001]. We also found a younger starting age in forwards than goalkeepers (p < 0.05).DiscussionIn most established soccer nations in Europe and South-America, World Cup players started playing for professional soccer academies before the age of 12. However, a significant number of players started later, especially players on other continents, which reveals the different pathways youth players can follow to the elites