10 tips to improve study performance by gaining focus and getting less distracted. These tips have been compiled on the basis of scientific insights from cognitive psychology, neuropsychology and educational science and from our own research into stress, engagement and study performance.
USE conference paper.Ever since the mid-1970s a multitude of studies linking corporate sustainability performance (CSP) measures and financial performance measures have been conducted. Until today a plethora of corporate sustainability performance measures heve been developed. A universally accepted CSP definition of construct does not (yet) exist. Since we don't exactley know what CSP entails, CSP measures should (at least) be considered conceptually flawed for that matter. These measures may measure CSP, but it cannot e excluded that other (overarching) phenomena are measured. There are leads suggesting that CSP measures are reflections or representations of corporate culture, suggesting that corporate culture drives FP. If so, managers should not focus on increasing CSP to boost FP, but create a high culture for sustainability If corporate culture drives financial performance, the investment community can also benefit through improving its decision making processes by including CSP measures that reflect corporate culture.
Research conducted by the Research Group Study Success indicates that many students experience performance pressure. In addition, we’ve noticed an increase in performance pressure in recent years. A little bit of performance pressure can be a good thing: it can facilitate concentration or hitting your deadlines. Are you feeling pressured over extensive periods of time, or are you experiencing stress, lack of sleep, or decreased concentration due to concerns about delivering on performance? Then it is probably a good plan to spring into action. With this info sheet we will explain what performance pressure entails, what causes it, and we will offer suggestions on how to handle performance pressure.
Students in Higher Music Education (HME) are not facilitated to develop both their artistic and academic musical competences. Conservatoires (professional education, or ‘HBO’) traditionally foster the development of musical craftsmanship, while university musicology departments (academic education, or ‘WO’) promote broader perspectives on music’s place in society. All the while, music professionals are increasingly required to combine musical and scholarly knowledge. Indeed, musicianship is more than performance, and musicology more than reflection—a robust musical practice requires people who are versed in both domains. It’s time our education mirrors this blended profession. This proposal entails collaborative projects between a conservatory and a university in two cities where musical performance and musicology equally thrive: Amsterdam (Conservatory and University of Amsterdam) and Utrecht (HKU Utrechts Conservatorium and Utrecht University). Each project will pilot a joint program of study, combining existing modules with newly developed ones. The feasibility of joint degrees will be explored: a combined bachelor’s degree in Amsterdam; and a combined master’s degree in Utrecht. The full innovation process will be translated to a transferable infrastructural model. For 125 students it will fuse praxis-based musical knowledge and skills, practice-led research and academic training. Beyond this, the partners will also use the Comenius funds as a springboard for collaboration between the two cities to enrich their respective BA and MA programs. In the end, the programme will diversify the educational possibilities for students of music in the Netherlands, and thereby increase their professional opportunities in today’s job market.
Currently, many novel innovative materials and manufacturing methods are developed in order to help businesses for improving their performance, developing new products, and also implement more sustainability into their current processes. For this purpose, additive manufacturing (AM) technology has been very successful in the fabrication of complex shape products, that cannot be manufactured by conventional approaches, and also using novel high-performance materials with more sustainable aspects. The application of bioplastics and biopolymers is growing fast in the 3D printing industry. Since they are good alternatives to petrochemical products that have negative impacts on environments, therefore, many research studies have been exploring and developing new biopolymers and 3D printing techniques for the fabrication of fully biobased products. In particular, 3D printing of smart biopolymers has attracted much attention due to the specific functionalities of the fabricated products. They have a unique ability to recover their original shape from a significant plastic deformation when a particular stimulus, like temperature, is applied. Therefore, the application of smart biopolymers in the 3D printing process gives an additional dimension (time) to this technology, called four-dimensional (4D) printing, and it highlights the promise for further development of 4D printing in the design and fabrication of smart structures and products. This performance in combination with specific complex designs, such as sandwich structures, allows the production of for example impact-resistant, stress-absorber panels, lightweight products for sporting goods, automotive, or many other applications. In this study, an experimental approach will be applied to fabricate a suitable biopolymer with a shape memory behavior and also investigate the impact of design and operational parameters on the functionality of 4D printed sandwich structures, especially, stress absorption rate and shape recovery behavior.
Nowadays, there is particular attention towards the additive manufacturing of medical devices and instruments. This is because of the unique capability of 3D printing technologies for designing and fabricating complex products like bone implants that can be highly customized for individual patients. NiTi shape memory alloys have gained significant attention in various medical applications due to their exceptional superelastic and shape memory properties, allowing them to recover their original shape after deformation. The integration of additive manufacturing technology has revolutionized the design possibilities for NiTi alloys, enabling the fabrication of intricately designed medical devices with precise geometries and tailored functionalities. The AM-SMART project is focused on exploring the suitability of NiTi architected structures for bone implants fabricated using laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technology. This is because of the lower stiffness of NiTi alloys compared to Ti alloys, closely aligning with the stiffness of bone. Additionally, their unique functional performance enables them to dissipate energy and recover the original shape, presenting another advantage that makes them well-suited for bone implants. In this investigation, various NiTi-based architected structures will be developed, featuring diverse cellular designs, and their long-term thermo-mechanical performance will be thoroughly evaluated. The findings of this study underscore the significant potential of these structures for application as bone implants, showcasing their adaptability for use also beyond the medical sector.
