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The conference program offered the unique opportunity to visit some
of the premier research facilities in and around Wageningen.
- Experimental Zoology Group (Department
of Animal Sciences, Wageningen University)
The Experimental Zoology group
applies mechanical principles to understand the architecture and functions (in
particular locomotion) of animals. The tour will give an overview of a selection
of ongoing projects on fish swimming and bone remodelling. Among the techniques
that will be demonstrated are high-speed video analysis, digital particle image
velocimetry (DPIV) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to analyse the body
motions and the related flow around swimming fish. For more information see: www.zod.wau.nl/ezo/index.html.
- Laboratory of Entomology (Department of Plant Sciences,
Wageningen University)
One of the research themes of this Laboratory is
chemical ecology of insects, directed at understanding how chemical cues are exploited
by insects to find their food source. This includes herbivorous insects, carnivorous
insects that prey on herbivores, and haematophagous insects. Examples are malaria
mosquitoes that exploit human odours, parasitic wasps that exploit their host's
pheromones or SOS-odours from plants and butterflies or beetles that exploit plant
odours. The research extends from production of the chemicals, through an analysis
of their perception by the insects towards the behavioural responses. The equipment
used for this includes windtunnels, olfactometers and electrophysiological and
neurobiological setups. The equipment is used on the one hand for assessing the
active components from complex mixtures of compounds and on the other for gaining
knowledge in understanding the biology of chemical information exploitation by
insects. For more information see: www.dpw.wau.nl/ento/english.
- Green Dino Virtual Realities
Green
Dino Virtual Realities is the Dutch specialist in Intelligent Instruction Systems
for training and education. We started in 1992 as a spin-off from Wageningen University.
Through research and development Green Dino offers state of the art technology,
tailored to the client's needs and tested for validity. This research is done
in cooperation with Delft University and Twente University. We develop the Dutch
Driving Simulator, a new tool in category B driver education. With the aid of
this compact simulator students learn to perform different driving tasks. This
is done under supervision of a Virtual Driving Instructor that adapts its instruction
to the performance level of the student. The data form automatic registration
of events is used to improve the intelligence of the system. The architecture
of the driving simulator is generic and can be used for all kinds of procedure
training for operators. The automated instruction with a Virtual Instructor is
the key for cost effective training! The performance of simulator students is
better than students who followed lessons in a car with real instructor. The Dutch
Driving Simulator was awarded with the National ICT Award MKB 2004. During the
scientific tour we will demonstrate the Dutch Driving Simulator and give insight
in the architecture. For more information see: www.dutchsimulators.com.
- Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW)
Bird character, insect
learning, global change, and favourite-food foraging to name just a few of the
ingredients of the tour at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) in
Heteren, near Wageningen. The bird Parus major is one of the model species,
especially for research on the 'personality' of animals and the ecological consequences
thereof. Next to behavioural studies, also the effect of global climate change
on ecosystems' food chains are an important research issue. Other species studied
are water birds - for which the Netherlands are invaluable as breeding or wintering
grounds. How are their interactions with water plants structured, and how does
that influence their feeding behaviour? Thirdly, the insects are considered. Their
interactions with plant life and each other can not easily be overestimated, as
they are influencing the food chain several steps down the line. And then we have
not even mentioned the DNA lab, the soil research, and our own FBI (fungal-bacterial
interactions). We'll visit one out of NIOO's three ecological centres in the Netherlands
- NIOO forms the largest group of fundamental ecologists in the country. For more
information see: www.nioo.knaw.nl.
- Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN)
The Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN) is specialised
in consultancy and research for the maritime industry. The institute
was founded in 1932, today it is a company with 250 employees and
state-of-the art model test facilities and simulation tools. MARIN
executes research and design studies for the offshore industry, ship
builders, shipping companies, navies, governments and other companies
in the maritime world. MARIN's nautical centre MSCN is executing studies
for the design of ports and fairways, set up of maritime operations
and the safety of shipping. Furthermore they provide training for
pilots and captains of sea going vessels. For this purpose they have
two full mission manoeuvring simulators and four part task simulators.
Occasionally these simulators are also used to measure the workload
of navigators when executing a specific task. During the visit to
MARIN the simulators will be demonstrated. For more information see:
www.marin.nl.
- Numico Research
Numico Research is the innovative life science organisation of Royal
Numico serving among others Nutricia and Milupa. Numico Research focuses
on the core activities of the company: Baby Food and Clinical Nutrition.
The role of Numico Research is to develop, test and validate hypotheses
resulting into new scientific insights, principles and concepts. These
will then be transformed into safe and responsible specialized nutritional
products. The development of innovative product concepts requires
a thorough study and understanding of the mechanisms of action within
the involved metabolic pathways. Thus, basic in vitro and in vivo
model studies are being complemented with clinical efficacy and safety
studies. Over 60 bio test systems are used at molecular, cell and
tissue level in combination with clinical trials in a world-wide-network.
Numico Research has an extensive range of laboratories and a pilot
plant. Activities are:
- Discovery of new ingredients and product opportunities
- Identification of new biological activities and health benefits
- Pre-clinical research
For more information see: www.numico.com.
- Agrotechnology & Food Innovations
A&F is
an applied research institute within Wageningen University and Research Center.
The department of Consumer & Market Insight studies eating and drinking behavior
of humans and the factors that influence this behavior. The department participates
in the Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences. During the lab tour, we show our sensory/physiological
facilities where sensory measurements are performed simultaneously with physiological
measurements. In addition, we will show our instrumentation to gain insight into
processes as they occur in the mouth during oral processing of foods. Finally,
we will present our plans for the new research facilities (opening no later than
December 2005), in which we aim at establishing an interactive future-oriented
research centre where factors underlying food choice and eating and drinking behavior
are investigated. The factors are studied in a behavioural context, which ensures
validity larger than is usually encountered in many current research paradigms.
The facilities will be housed in a new research centre, which will include a restaurant
equipped with video surveillance and possibilities to simulate different environments
and excellent sensory and physiology laboratories. The centre is set up with different
partners and will operate on a 'facility-sharing' basis with its research partners.
For more information see see: www.agrotechnologyandfood.wur.nl.
- Experience Lab, Noldus Information Technology BV
Noldus Information Technology develops innovative software tools and
integrated solutions for behavioral research. In our new office building
we have constructed a state-of-the-art Experience Lab, equipped with
the latest computer and digital video technology. The lab has been
designed for human-computer interaction studies, multimodal user experience
research, focus groups, and usability testing of hardware and software.
The Experience Lab includes a user room and observation room, separated
by a one-way screen, and a conference room. By unobtrusively watching
and recording user behavior, we can measure the usability of product
prototypes from a user's point of view. The user room can easily be
converted from an office environment into a living room, thus allowing
us to evaluate a large variety of applications and devices in various
environments. Endpoints of usability tests assess the effectiveness,
efficiency and satisfaction with which specified users achieve specified
goals in particular environments (ISO 9241). During the tour you will
see demonstrations of remotely controlled and IP-based video cameras,
multi-channel video and audio recording, digital screen capture, event
logging and multimodal data integration. The facility is used by our
internal Research & Development department, but is also available
for rent. Come over and have a look inside the place where the next
generation of The Observer, EthoVision and other applications are
tested and improved. For more information: www.noldus.com/usability.
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