263134 research outputs found
Sort by
Identity and bodily experiences in emerging adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D): a qualitative exploration
No full textOBJECTIVE: Much remains unknown about how type 1 diabetes (T1D) affects one's identity and bodily experiences in emerging adults. Two relevant frameworks have been introduced in this respect, namely the illness identity (e.g. Oris et al.) and the experience of embodiment framework (e.g. Piran). Guided by these theoretical perspectives, this qualitative study explores identity and bodily experiences of emerging adults living with T1D. METHODS: A total of 149 participants wrote a narrative about what it means to them to have T1D and how it may have affected their sense of self and bodily experiences. Data were analysed using template analysis. RESULTS: Analysis generated two main themes regarding identity: illness identity and feeling different. Five main themes emerged regarding bodily experiences: body connection, body discomfort, restricted agency and functionality, attuned diabetes care, and body objectification. In addition, social support, benefit finding, openness to others, perceived stigma, and visibility of diabetes emerged as significant related themes. CONCLUSION: This study highlights the specific challenges that emerging adults with T1D may face in harmonising their identity and bodily experiences with their diabetes. Clinicians should recognise these challenges in providing holistic care.sponsorship: The work conducted for this article was supported by research grants from the Internal Funds of the Research Council KU Leuven (C14/21/052) and from FWO Research Foundation Flanders, Belgium (G0D3521N). (Internal Funds of the Research Council KU Leuven|C14/21/052, FWO Research Foundation Flanders, Belgium|G0D3521N)status: Published onlin
How the goal-directed theory of emotions can account for valence and irrationality: Reply to objections
No full textsponsorship: The preparation of this article was supported by Grant C14/23/062 of the Research Fund of KU Leuven and Grant G0AQO25N of the Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (FWO). (Research Fund of KU Leuven|C14/23/062, Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (FWO)|G0AQO25N)status: Published onlin
Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialisme is humanisme, vertaald door Ger Groot (Gorredijk: Noordboek, 2024), blz. 112, ISBN 978-9464711967, € 17,90.
No full textstatus: Published onlin
Majority friendship and support for social change: Examining the role of ethnic and politicized identifications among Indigenous people in Chile
No full textThis study revisits an alleged ‘sedative’ effect of intergroup friendship on minority support for social change. Focusing on support for political action and empowering policies among Indigenous minorities in Chile, we examine both friendship with majority Chileans and personal discrimination; we distinguish ethnic and politicized minority identifications as hypothetical processes connecting intergroup contact with political outcomes; and we propose majority friends' perceived valuation of Indigenous minority friendships as a hypothetical buffer against sedation. Drawing on a large-scale stratified national sample of Indigenous peoples (N = 1856, aged 17–90), we tested half-longitudinal, (fully) cross-lagged models over 2 years. Qualifying earlier evidence of sedation, negative effects of majority friendship on minority support for social change were exclusively found cross-sectionally, and only when majority friends were perceived not to value minority friendships. In contrast, majority friendship had direct positive effects on support for social change over time. We also found that friendship promoted politicized identification over time, which in turn was associated with more support for social change. Personal discrimination predicted more support for social change both directly and indirectly. We conclude that majority friendship need not compromise and may instead promote minority group members' support for change towards equality.sponsorship: Chilean National Research and Development Agency, Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Research, Grant/Award Number: ANID/FONDAP#15110006; Chilean National Research and Development Agency, Center for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies, Grant/Award Number: ANID/FONDAP#15130009; Chilean National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development, Grant/Award Number: ANID/FONDECYT#1201788; Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO) Belgium, Grant/Award Number: GO81619N (Chilean National Research and Development Agency, Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Research|15110006, Chilean National Research and Development Agency, Center for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies|15130009, Chilean National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development|1201788, Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO) Belgium|GO81619N)status: Publishe
Essentiality Checks for Standard Essential Patents
No full textsponsorship: C. Wipusanawan gratefully acknowledges funding by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) - project number 443732464. (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)|443732464)status: Publishe
Aanzet tot datagedreven ontwikkeling van geïndividualiseerde menselijke hartmodellen vanuit schaalbare hartspierlagen
No full textHeart rhythm disorders like atrial and ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation can be treated in various ways. These arrhythmias are characterised by abnormal electrical activity in the heart such as re-entrant circuits—for instance spiral waves. Current interventions range from medication to surgical interventions like ablation or implantation of a pacemaker or defibrillator. The therapy of choice depends on a large variety of factors that, in the end, all come down to tweaking the electrical patterns to restore a healthy heart rhythm.
It is not always clear which treatment is the best for a particular patient and what outcome can be expected. The diagnosis and treatment of the cause of an arrhythmia, for instance by localisation of re-entrant circuits, is a complex process as it should also take into account the patient's unique anatomy and physiology. This is why personalised computational models of the heart—so-called cardiac digital twins—hold great promise for the future of cardiology.
Zooming in to the level of individual heart muscle cells, creating a computational model of their collective electrical activity remains challenging: The response of individual cells to stimuli must be measured and combined into a model that should then be able to predict behaviour on the tissue and organ level—which can be a big leap requiring a lot of validation.
In this dissertation, we explore computational methods for personalised modelling of cardiac electrophysiology. We create software packages to numerically simulate the reaction-diffusion equations for the electrical activity of the heart. We also develop methods to detect and study re-entrant circuits in the heart as phase defects. We describe arrhythmia formation via quasiparticles in Feynman-like diagrams. Lastly, we create data-driven models for cardiac electrophysiology directly from optical voltage mapping data of monolayers—videos of the excitation waves in two-dimensional tissue samples.
While the reaction-diffusion based software package can be used for highly detailed simulations of the electrical patterns in the heart, the novel data-driven approach allows streamlined creation of models specific to individual tissue samples at much lower computational cost. Spiral wave dynamics can be predicted from focal wave data only. The phase defect approach offers a new way to study re-entrant circuits in the heart: With the quasiparticle view, we uncovered deeper insights into the mechanisms of arrhythmia formation.
The presented methods are a few steps towards the creation of fully personalised cardiac digital twins. In the future, the data-driven model creation pipeline could be used to refine a general model of the cardiac excitation waves to a patient-specific one. In conjunction with the phase defect approach, this could lead to improved diagnosis and treatment strategies for heart rhythm disorders that are truly personal.status: Publishe
De joodse Ander en christelijke identiteit in de midden-Byzantijnse hagiografie
No full textIn my dissertation I examine a corpus of hagiographical works from the middle Byzantine period, with the aim of creating a clear study of the representation of Jews and Judaism in this corpus, in particular in works from the ninth to the eleventh century, which coincides with the rule of the emperors of the Macedonian dynasty.
The works included in my corpus are the Life of Andrew the Fool (BHG 115), Life of Niphon (BHG 1371z), Life of Basil the Younger (BHG 263-264d), Life of Theodore of Edessa (BHG 1744), Life of Antony the Younger (BHG 142), the Dossier of Saint Gregentios of Taphar (BHG 705-706i), Life of Constantine the former Jew (BHG 370), Life of Neilos of Rossano (BHG 1370) and the Life of Saint Nikon Metanoeite (BHG 1366-1367).
The selection criteria for inclusion in my research corpus are first thematical relevance, and then dating. The time range from which I have selected works, the ninth to eleventh centuries, corresponds with a period of heightened interest by the imperial regime and literate class in questions about the place of Jews within the Christian Roman empire. It is impossible to impose a rigid dating criterion on the works that are included, as many can only be dated approximately. My main method will be a critical close reading of my research corpus, with attention for the similarities and dissimilarities between included works, and informed by comparisons with other relevant primary and secondary literature, and the historical context in which they were produced. My first research question is therefore: "How are Jews and Judaism portrayed in middle Byzantine hagiography?"
Within my hagiographical corpus I have divided these works into three groups (apocalyptical works, embedded dialogues and narrative works), on the basis of shared thematical and formal elements. This division inspires several subquestions specific to the subcorpora.
In the chapter on apocalyptical visions in saints' Lives I will study the place of Jews in Byzantine visions of the End Times, both at the Last Judgement and the events leading up to it. Eschatological visions reflect on the context in which they are produced, and the position attributed to the Jews in imaginings of the End Times provides an insight into the role they occupied in contemporary ideology. In visions of the end of the world, contemporary divides are pushed to the extreme through the division between those who are saved and those who are condemned, or those who worship the Antichrist or are oppressed by him, to name just two examples. The central question in this chapter is: "What role do Jews play in apocalyptical visions in Byzantine saints' Lives, and what are the implications for imperial and Christian ideology and identity during the middle Byzantine period?"
In the following chapter I study embedded Jewish-Christian dialogues as a continuation of the adversus Iudaeos dialogue form within the hagiographical genre. The binary opposition of Christian and non-Christian (in my corpus meaning Jewish) interlocutors creates the opportunity for authors to reinforce the division between the two, and to characterize both participants in the disputation in contrast to the other. The attribution of certain characteristics and lines of argumentation to each interlocutor creates a picture in which the (always triumphant) Christian interlocutor becomes a spokesperson for hegemonic Christian ideology, starkly contrasted with his opponent, who stands in for the Jewish Other. In this chapter, I therefore study the characterization of both interlocutors, Christian and Jewish, as well as the rhetorics of their dialogues and the arguments used. They inform us about Christian perceptions of Jews and the presentation of the latter as the Other in direct opposition to the Christian Self.
In the third chapter I study a collection of narrative saints' Lives. This third group is less strictly defined, because unlike the apocalyptical visions and the dialogues, they do not represent the continuation of a literary tradition outside of the hagiographical genre. Therefore I study the texts separately from each other, comparing only when relevant. These Lives are quite different from each other. In these Lives, I mostly examine the way Jewish-Christian interactions are presented.
In the final section of the dissertation, I study four themes. The first is the question of individuality, realism and stereotypes in the hagiographical corpus. The second is a study on baptism and conversion, how they are depicted in my corpus, and how this relates to other sources on practices and the legal framework surrounding this subject. The third explores Jewish corporeality and its Othering through association with sin and disease, both on the individual and on the societal level. Finally, I study the Chosen People (or Elect Nation) identity, that Byzantine Christian authors appropriated for themselves in various ways, which inevitably leads them into attempts to disown Jews and Judaism from this status.
The overarching conclusion of my research is that the rhetorical construct of the Jews is an important component in the formation of Christian identity as represented in the hagiographical corpus. To prove that a certain idea or concept is Christian, is to prove that it is not Jewish. With some notable exceptions, Jews are dehumanized and reduced to charicatures that only serve to confirm the virtue of the Christian protagonists. This makes Jews constitutive Others in Christian identity.status: Publishe
Onderzoek rond Taalgedreven Navigatie: van Methoden tot Genuanceerde Evaluatie
No full textWith advancements in computer science, the expectations for intelligent agents have evolved beyond merely processing input instructions. We now envision agents capable of perceiving their surroundings through 'eyes,' understanding scenes, objects, and events, and engaging in natural human-like communication. This dissertation explores such agents through the lens of Vision-Language Navigation (VLN), where multimodal representation learning plays a central role. VLN requires agents to interpret visual scenes, process natural language instructions, and perform goal-oriented actions in diverse environments. This work is divided into two parts: methods and evaluation. In the methods section, we investigate VLN under two distinct settings: global information awareness, where agents operate in known environments, and local information reliance, where agents rely on heuristics derived from data in unseen environments. In the evaluation section, we propose a fine-grained framework to diagnose and benchmark VLN models, addressing shortcomings in current evaluation approaches. This research contributes to advancing both the capabilities and assessment of embodied AI systems, offering insights into developing robust and adaptable agents for real-world applications.status: Publishe
Prehabilitatie binnen de vaatchirurgie
No full textThe aging population presents several challenges in vascular surgery. As people age, they often develop one or multiple chronic conditions, such as an aneurysm of the abdominal aorta (AAA) and chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI). These conditions frequently require a surgical intervention to improve quality of life (QoL) and survival. However, postoperative complications are significant concerns, especially in elderly patients. A common and serious postoperative complication is delirium, which is associated with cognitive and functional decline, decreased QoL, prolonged length of hospital stay (LoS), and increased mortality. Delirium is difficult to treat, highlighting the importance of prevention.
Prehabilitation is a proactive intervention that focuses on enhancing patients' overall fitness prior to surgery. Its aim is to mitigate the impact of surgical stress, enhance recovery, and reduce the likelihood of postoperative complications, including delirium. Multimodal prehabilitation programs typically include physical, nutritional and cognitive support, along with interventions such as a comprehensive geriatric assessment, smoking cessation and anaemia treatment. This thesis explores the potential of multimodal prehabilitation to improve outcomes in older patients undergoing vascular surgery for AAA or CLTI. Through a systematic review and clinical studies, this thesis shows that prehabilitation is safe, well-received by patients, and associated with shorter hospital stays and fewer minor complications. While findings on delirium prevention were promising, larger studies are needed to confirm its impact.status: Publishe