A Minimal Theory of Creative Ability

Despite decades of extensive research on creativity, the field still combats psychometric problems when measuring individual differences in creative ability. We think these seemingly technical issues have a conceptual origin. We therefore propose a minimal theory of creative ability (MTCA) to create a consistent conceptual theory to guide investigations of individual differences in creative ability. Our theory argues that creative ability, at a minimum, must include two facets: intelligence and expertise. So, the MTCA simply claims that whenever we do something creative, we use most of our cognitive abilities combined with relevant expertise to be creative. MTCA has important implications for creativity theory, measurement, and practice. But, the MTCA isn’t necessarily true, it is a minimal theory. We discuss and reject several objections to the MTCA and conclude with a falsification challenge

Corrections on the Thermometer Reading in an Air Stream

A method is described for checking a correction formula, based partly on theoretical considerations, for adiabatic compression and friction in flight tests and determining the value of the constant. It is necessary to apply a threefold correction to each thermometer reading. They are a correction for adiabatic compression, friction and for time lag

Systems innovations in agriculture in the Netherlands

In recent years scientists of Wageningen UR (University & Research centre) dedicated much effort to systems innovations in agriculture and horticulture. Complex and persistent environmental problems require new approaches, new so-called proof of principles that should offer farmers and growers of the future new perspectives in a development course towards more sustainable farm management systems. And this course was – and still is - characterised by intensive cooperation with a large number of stakeholders: farmers and growers and their representatives, businesses in various links of the chain, regional organisations, service industries and knowledge institutions, societal organisations and authorities. This is because development and implementation of sustainable farming requires the development of new techniques as well as – at the same time - acquiring support for the implementation of such changes among all stakeholders. This is why communication and knowledge transfer were playing such an important role in the systems innovation programmes. This report presents the four innovation projects and their results, together with a short description of the embedding of these projects in the future explorations that have been conducted together with stakeholders

Improving the quality of palliative and terminal care in the hospital by a network of palliative care nurse champions: The study protocol of the PalTeC-H project

Background: The quality of care of patients dying in the hospital is often judged as insufficient. This article describes the protocol of a study to assess the quality of care of the dying patient and the contribution of an intervention targeted on staff nurses of inpatient wards of a large university hospital in the Netherlands. Methods/Design. We designed a controlled before and after study. The intervention is the establishment of a network for palliative care nurse champions, aiming to improve the quality of hospital end-of-life care. Assessments are performed among bereaved relatives, nurses and physicians on seven wards before and after introduction of the intervention and on 11 control wards where the intervention is not applied. We focus on care provided during the last three days of life, covered in global ratings of the quality of life in the last three days of life and the quality of dying, and various secondary endpoints of treatment and care affecting quality of life and dying. Discussion. With this study we aim to improve the understanding of and attention for patients' needs, and the quality of care in the dying phase in the hospital and measure the impact of a quality improvement intervention targeted at nurses