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The first low-energy Coulomb-excitation measurement of the radioactive, semi-magic, two proton-hole nucleus $^{206}$Hg, was performed at CERN's recently-commissioned HIE-ISOLDE facility. Two γ rays depopulating low-lying states in $^{206}$Hg were observed. From the data, a reduced transition strength B(E2;21+→01+)=4.4(6) W.u. was determined, the first such value for an N=126 nucleus south of $^{208}$Pb, which is found to be slightly lower than that predicted by shell-model calculations. In addition, a collective octupole state was identified at an excitation energy of 2705 keV, for which a reduced B(E3) transition probability of 30−13+10 W.u. was extracted. These results are crucial for understanding both quadrupole and octupole collectivity in the vicinity of the heaviest doubly-magic nucleus $^{208}$Pb, and for benchmarking a number of theoretical approaches in this key region. This is of particular importance given the paucity of data on transition strengths in this region, which could be used, in principle, to test calculations relevant to the astrophysical r-process.

International audience; The first low-energy Coulomb-excitation measurement of the radioactive, semi-magic, two proton-hole nucleus 206Hg, was performed at CERN's recently-commissioned HIE-ISOLDE facility. Two γ rays depopulating low-lying states in 206Hg were observed. From the data, a reduced transition strength B(E2;21+→01+)=4.4(6) W.u. was determined, the first such value for an N=126 nucleus south of 208Pb, which is found to be slightly lower than that predicted by shell-model calculations. In addition, a collective octupole state was identified at an excitation energy of 2705 keV, for which a reduced B(E3) transition probability of 30−13+10 W.u. was extracted. These results are crucial for understanding both quadrupole and octupole collectivity in the vicinity of the heaviest doubly-magic nucleus 208Pb, and for benchmarking a number of theoretical approaches in this key region. This is of particular importance given the paucity of data on transition strengths in this region, which could be used, in principle, to test calculations relevant to the astrophysical r-process.

This is a mixed-methods field experiment on the effects of an evidence-based creativity training program on public servants’ creativity as a developable skill. Its aim is to determine the effects of an evidence-based creativity training program on multiple dimensions of public servants’ creativity and scrutinize the underlying causal mechanisms. Specifically, it aims to scrutinize whether the training results in positive results on the dimensions ‘radicalism, ‘proactivism’, ‘idealism’ and ‘practices’ of public sector creativity: 1) more radical ideas, 2) more proactive ideas, 3) an increase in idealistic evaluations of ideas and 4) an increase in the degree and diversity of applied practices. Public sector creativity is central to public sector organizations’ performance. Public sector creativity—defined as “public servants coming up with novel and useful ideas through various practices” (Houtgraaf et al. 2021: 3)—is the crucial front-end of the innovation process (Amabile 1996; Anderson, Potocnik, and Zhou 2014); the ideas that public servants generate are the origin of public sector innovations. Public sector creativity is thereby paramount to public sector organizations’ innovativeness and thus their ability to optimally serve the public interest. The salience of public sector creativity has resulted in an increasing focus on this skill and how to improve it. Creativity in the public sector, however, appears atypical. Initially, the public sector was assumed hospitable to stereotypical uncreative public servants (Chen and Bozeman 2014) and inhospitable to creativity (Bommert 2010) due to salient bureaucratic conditions that are at odds with creativity (see e.g., Houtgraaf et al. 2022; Boyne 2002; Chen and Bozeman 2014; Borins 2000; Bozeman and Feeney 2011; Wise 1999; Rainey 1999). However, recent explorations of public sector creativity indicate that public sector creativity has to be approached multidimensionally (Houtgraaf et al. in progress; Rangarajan 2008). Public servants are in fact creative, albeit pragmatic in nature, exemplified by the dimensions of the predominant incremental magnitude of ideas, reactive triggering of creativity and realistic evaluations of ideas (Houtgraaf et al. 2021; Houtgraaf et al. in progress; Houtgraaf in review; Kruyen & Van Genugten 2017); public servants appear to predominantly generate incremental ideas reactively through application of various practices, with usefulness and feasibility as most valued characteristics of the ideas. This illustrates that the concept of public sector creativity encapsulates four dimensions. These dimensions encompass magnitude of ideas (incremental/radical), triggers of ideas (reactive/proactive), perspective on creativity (realism/idealism) as well as the creative practices generally applied (autonomous creative thinking, networking, experimenting etc.) (Houtgraaf 2022; Houtgraaf et al. 2022; Houtgraaf et al. 2021). The pragmatic nature of public sector creativity indicates that there appears to be room for improvement in terms of four dimensions of public sector creativity: radicalism, proactivism, idealism and practices. Creativity training programs may result in the improvements on these four dimensions of public sector creativity. Accordingly, multiple public sector organizations aim to improve their workforce’s creativity. One of the most direct means to accomplish this goal, is through a training in creativity, focusing on improvement in terms of the four dimensions of public sector creativity. However, literature on the effects of creativity training in the public sector is absent. Creativity training programs are implemented in the public sector, but without any scientific underpinnings. Prior training programs generally lacked theoretical substantiation and quantified insight into their effects. In the Netherlands, there are multiple organizations that train public servants in becoming more creative. The largest training organization is Ynnovate; a public sector creativity training organization with an ongoing active network of over 50 organizations featuring over 1500 public servants. In cooperation with Ynnovate, a new training was developed based on the results of novel scientific findings regarding creativity in the public sector (Houtgraaf et al. 2022; Houtgraaf 2022; Houtgraaf et al. 2021). This cooperation allowed for an evidence-based public sector creativity training program regarding creativity in the public sector that is substantiated by valid measurements of its effects, as well as allowing insight into the underlying causal dynamics. Therefore, the researchers and Ynnovate collaborated in the development of the training program and the subsequent measurements of its effects. This led to the ‘Ynnovate in je Werk’ training that is the subject of this research. The aim of this research is to scrutinize whether evidence-based creativity training programs—and the ‘Ynnovate in je Werk’ training program in particular—have an effect on public servants’ creativity, on which dimensions of their creativity these effects apply and what causal dynamics underly these effects. Whether training programs in creativity have effects, is disputed. Firstly, there is a paucity of research on the effect of creativity training (Klijn & Tomic 2010; Ma 2009), a general narrow focus (Woodman et al. 1993) and a complete absence of such research regarding the public sector specifically. For example, some authors argue that creativity in general is not a fixed trait-like quality of individuals, but rather a skill that can be taught, learned, practices and improved (Amabile and Pillemer 2012; Shalley & Gilson 2004). Others argue a more detailed stance, namely that creativity training programs’ effectiveness are contingent on a number of factors, such as the individual versus group-based training programs (Woodman et al. 1993), the stage of the creative process as well as the degree leadership (Basadur 1997) and other social support (Khessina et al. 2014), though also these findings did not always replicate (Klijn & Tomic 2010). However, to the best of our knowledge, this training program is the first to be developed based on scientific theory and in collaboration with academics. Furthermore, the effects of creativity training programs on public sector creativity specifically, despite all its idiosyncrasies, is yet to be scrutinized. Therefore, this research focuses on determining the effects of an evidence-based creativity training program on the four dimensions of public servants’ creativity by means of a quasi-experiment and scrutinize the underlying causal mechanisms by means of semi-structured qualitative interviews.

The project brings two lines of earlier research together: neuropolitical research and the BPA. Neuropolitical research aims to understand the neural mechanisms underlying political information processing and decision making, focusing on specific brain regions that are involved in affective and evaluative processing such as the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), the insular cortex and the amygdala (Haas et al., 2020; Jost et al., 2014). Jost et al.’s review study also shows that a more conservative political preference is positively associated with certain personality traits: resistance to change, negativity bias, authoritarianism, need for closure, sensitivity or fear of threats, anxiety, and conscientiousness. It is negatively associated with openness to new experiences, complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity. Several of these variables have also been studied in the BPA studies and proven to be related to citizens’ opinions and satisfaction with public service delivery (cf. references above). Therefore, we aim to explore whether there is also a direct or indirect effect of personality traits and cognitive neural correlates on citizens’ knowledge, preferences and expectations of public service delivery.

Reliable detection of sleep positions is essential for the development of technical aids for patients with position-dependent sleep-related breathing disorders. We compare personalized and generalizable sleeping position classifiers using unobtrusive eight-channel pressure-sensing mats. Data of six male patients with confirmed position-dependent sleep apnea was recorded during three subsequent nights. Personalized position classifiers trained using leave-one-night-out cross-validation on average reached an F1-score of 61.3% for supine/non-supine and an F1-score of 46.2% for supine/lateral-left/lateral-right classification. The generalizable classifiers reached average F1-scores of 62.1% and 49.1% for supine/non-supine and supine/lateral-left/lateral-right classification, respectively. In-bed presence ('bed occupancy') could be detected with an average F1-score of 98.1%. This work shows that personalized sleep-position classifiers trained with data from two nights have comparable performance to classifiers trained with large interpatient datasets. Simple eight-channel sensor mattresses can be used to accurately detect in-bed presence required for closed-loop systems but their use to classify sleep-positions is limited.