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Abstract: In this paper an economic evaluation of photovoltaic grid connected systems (PVGCS) for companies situated in Flanders (Belgium) is conducted by using a generic Excel model. The model is unique in that it includes the dimension of taxation. This inclusion is required, otherwise the fiscal benefit of using solar panels is not accounted for. The model uses the cash flow projection method. This technique allows the calculation of the following classical evaluation criteria: net present value, internal rate of return, payback period, discounted payback period, profitability index, yield unit cost, yield unit revenue and break-even turnkey cost. Their outcome makes it possible to answer the question whether installing a PVGCS in Flanders is a responsible financial investment for companies. Furthermore, the paper estimates whether the corporate environment is ready for a subsidy legislation change. This change has recently been announced and as such it is possible to gauge whether the current market situation is profitable given future legislation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Representative Elementary Watershed (REW) approach for modeling the hydrologic response of watersheds is based on the discretization of a catchment into hydrologically sensitive control volumes. Global balance laws for mass, momentum (and energy) are formulated for the volumes. An implementation of the approach requires closing unknown REW-scale mass fluxes and forces exchanged across the REW-internal control volume boundaries and between REWs. In the present paper we focus exclusively on the horizontal groundwater flow, while neglecting other hydrological processes such as surface runoff, subsurface stormflow and surface-groundwater interaction. Here we describe a simplified groundwater modeling approach, which is based on the parsimonious estimation of mass fluxes exchanged laterally between REWs. The procedure employs principles of mass and energy conservation as stated by the Kirchhoff laws. The problem is reduced to the solution of a coupled system of linear equations in terms of inter-REW groundwater fluxes and a dimensionless ratio Θ between the local saturated zone depths ys and spatial length scales Λ over which piezometric head gaps are dissipated. The equation system is solved by successive approximation, as suggested by the Cross method, which is used in engineering practice for resolving resistor networks under steady state conditions. The procedure converges rapidly for complex network configurations. It is shown that for given boundary fluxes imposed at the watershed edges, mass fluxes exchanged in-between REWs can be calculated in an unique and consistent fashion. The paper briefly reviews the essential governing equations, introduces the formulation of the problem in terms of the Kirchoff laws and shows the numerical solution of the network. Simulation results for an application to the Hesbaye groundwater system in Belgium are presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents the impact of fuel price increases on the market area of intermodal transport terminals. Aim of this research is to determine whether an increase in fuel prices is sufficient enough to raise the market area of intermodal transport to the same degree that would be accomplished by stimulating intermodal transport through policy instruments. Therefore, several fuel price scenarios are analysed in order to verify the impact of different fuel price evolutions on the market area of unimodal road transport compared to intermodal transport in Belgium. The LAMBIT-model (Location Analysis for Belgian Intermodal Terminals), which is a GIS-based model (), is used to analyse the different fuel price increases and enables a visualisation of the impact on the market area. The LAMBIT model incorporates the different network layers for each transport mode by setting up a GIS network that includes four different layers: the road network, the rail network, the inland waterways network and the final haulage network. The geographic locations of the intermodal terminals and the port of Antwerp are added as nodes in the network and the Belgian municipality centres are defined and connected to the different network layers. Based on the different fuel price scenarios representing respectively a fuel price increase with 10% (low price case), 50% (business as usual case) and 90% (high price case), the results of the LAMBIT model show that the market areas rise in favour of intermodal barge/road and intermodal rail/road. Depending on the scenario, the degree of modal shift however differs. Additionally, in order to compare policy measures with the effect of a fuel price increase, the internalisation of the external costs is analysed with the LAMBIT model. For some years, the European Commission is supporting the idea that transportation costs should reflect the true impacts on environment and society, and is relentlessly pushing towards the so called ‘internalisation of external costs’ as a policy instrument in order to establish fair and efficient pricing of different transport modes. This requires monetarizing the external effects of transport and adding them to the already internalized costs in order to give the correct price signals. Results of this comparative analysis performed with the LAMBIT model are also presented in this paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A paper describing the conceptual idea of using passive neutron assay for the verification of large size uranium samples in fuel fabrication plants was first presented at the 2001 ESARDA conference. The advantages of this technique, as a replacement of active interrogation using the PHOto-Neutron Interrogation Device (PHONID) device, were evident provided that a suitable detector with higher efficiency than those commercially available would be realised. The previous paper also included a feasibility study based on the experimental data. To implement this technique, a high-efficiency passive counter (HEPC) has been designed by the JRC, Ispra. JRC has also built a first smaller-scale prototype. This paper will describe the tests made in the PERLA laboratory and report the performance of the prototype. In parallel, the design of the large HEPC has been finalised for Euratom safeguards. Two units for the fuel fabrication plants in Dessel (B) and Juzbado (E) have been produced by a commercial manufacturer under JRC specifications. The two detectors have been installed in the two sites in summer 2004 after an extensive test campaign in PERLA. Since then they are in use and some feedback on the experience gained is reported at the end of this paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper compares the spatial structure of car accessibility to towns and to railway stations during peak and off-peak hours in Belgium for the country’s 2616 municipalities. A clustering method is applied. It is shown that in a highly urbanised country, the situation is far from being spatially equitable in terms of accessibility, and some areas are more favoured than others. Congestion increases spatial inequalities, differently according to absolute or relative measures of change. By means of examples, this paper shows that even simple accessibility indicators could be useful to support decisions taken by planners and politicians (e.g. as regards the development of residential, industrial and business park areas). Maps indicate the spatial inequalities in terms of accessibility to urban centres and transport nodes, and the impact of congestion on these inequalities. The absolute and relative time losses due to congestion affect different areas in different ways. The location of new developments further increases the congestion problem and the spatial disparities. This paper also insists on the caution that should be adopted when measuring and interpreting “accessibility”, its measurements, its inputs, its temporal changes in absolute and relative terms as well as the need for spatially disaggregated data. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The ability of inorganic geochemistry to record environmental change and especially human impact has been evidenced by several studies across Europe, especially in peat, where it is possible to record the impact of agriculture, mining and other industries. However, despite the numerous investigations on the impact of ancient human activities such as ore mining and smelting, little attention has been paid to geochemistry as a tool to solve problems of palaeopollution in the surroundings of archaeological sites. This paper presents geochemical evidence of the impact of a possible early Roman road built in SE Belgian peatland. Increased Zn and Pb concentrations suggest that Pb–Zn ores were transported on the road. Lead isotope analyses suggest that these ores are locally derived, being compatible with those found in the nearby Pb–Zn ore deposits from East Belgium. Present results provide direct evidence that East Belgian Pb–Zn ores were already being mined during Roman times, i.e. earlier than previously suspected (i.e. 14th century) and that Zn appears to be relatively immobile here. On a broader scale, it also demonstrates that such an early road already had an impact on the environment in terms of metal pollution. This paper enlarges on the range of possibilities offered by geochemistry in the field of geoarchaeology. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

[Display omitted] • Development of two benchmark models for post-world war II residential buildings. • Average energy use intensity per household (archetypes A and B) were 166 and 155 kWh/m2/year. • Models validated with four-year monitoring data on energy consumption. • Households are dominated by senior adults and their occupancy profiles are presented. • Findings on energy needs and use intensity are useful in temperate and continental climates. In the context of the European carbon neutrality targets, building benchmarks are a key issue for the renovation of existing buildings. Although there are various benchmark methods for energy efficiency characterization, their application to the residential sector is still limited. This paper developed two building simulation models for post-world war II houses in Belgium based on data from post-occupancy measurements and field survey campaigns. The study reports the energy characteristics and occupancy profiled of detached single-family houses. An analysis of energy consumption (electricity and natural gas) and a walkthrough survey were conducted between 2016 and 2019. The benchmark model's validity has been further checked against public statistics and verified through model calibration and monthly energy bill comparison. Two reference models representing 633.702 post-WWII single-family houses in Belgium were created and validated. The first archetype has an average energy use intensity of 166 kWh/m2/year and represents detached single-family houses built between 1945 and 1969. The second archetype has an average energy use intensity of 155 kWh/m2/year and represents detached single-family houses built between 1970 and 1990. The paper provides a timely opportunity to evaluate the real performance of post-world war II most common archetypes concerning design assumptions and how building professionals can turn the energy performance gap challenge to their advantage. The findings on energy needs and intensity are useful for creating future renovation scenarios for similar archetypes in Western European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Modern means of communication are increasingly being used for the provision of financial services. This paper shows that although in Belgium it is legally possible to conclude an agreement relating to financial services completely online, in practice it often remains impossible to perform all legal acts to conclude the contract electronically. However, this does not mean that Belgian consumers actually have to go to their financial institution to sign the contract, since many institutions enable consumers to enter into a distance contract. In view of this, this paper also aims at examining whether the techniques which are being used by the legislator to protect consumers – i.e. the obligation to provide certain information and the right to withdraw from the contract – are effective. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper reports findings from visits to palliative care settings and research units in the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands. The aim was to learn about clinicians’ (both nurses and doctors) and academic researchers’ understandings and experiences of palliative sedation for managing suffering at the end of life, and their views regarding its clinical, ethical and social implications. The project was linked to two larger studies of technologies used in palliative care. Eleven doctors, 14 nurses and 10 researchers took part in informal interviews. Relevant reports and papers from the academic, clinical and popular press were also collected from the three countries. The study took place in a context in which attention has been drawn towards palliative sedation by the legalisation of euthanasia in the Netherlands and Belgium, and by the re-examination of the legal position on assisted dying in the UK. In this context, palliative sedation has been posited by some as an alternative path of action. We report respondents’ views under four headings: understanding and responding to suffering; the relationship between palliative sedation and euthanasia; palliative sedation and artificial hydration; and risks and uncertainties in the clinician-patient/family relationship. We conclude that the three countries can learn from one another about the difficult issues involved in giving compassionate care to those who are suffering immediately before death. Future research should be directed at enabling dialogue between countries: this has already been shown to open the door to the development of improved palliative care and to enhance respect for the different values and histories in each. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Introduction: In this paper a sensitivity analysis is performed to investigate how big the impact would be on the current ranking of crash locations in Flanders (Belgium) when only taking into account the most serious injury per crash instead of all the injured occupants. Results: Results show that this would lead to a different selection of 23.8% of the 800 sites that are currently considered as dangerous. Conclusions: Considering this impact quantity, the researchers want to sensitize government that giving weight to the severity of the crash can correct for the bias that occurs when the number of occupants of the vehicles are subject to coincidence. Additionally, probability plots are generated to provide policy makers with a scientific instrument with intuitive appeal to select dangerous road locations on a statistically sound basis. Impact on industry Considering the impact quantity of giving weight to the severity of the crash instead of to all the injured occupants of the vehicle on the ranking of crash sites, the authors want to sensitize government to carefully choose the criteria for ranking and selecting crash locations in order to achieve an enduring and successful traffic safety policy. Indeed, giving weight to the severity of the crash can correct for the bias that occurs when the number of occupants of the vehicles are subject to coincidence. However, it is up to the government to decide which priorities should be stressed in the traffic safety policy. Then, the appropriate weighting value combination can be chosen to rank and select the most dangerous crash locations. Additionally, the probability plots proposed in this paper can provide policy makers with a scientific instrument with intuitive appeal to select dangerous road locations on a statistically sound basis. Note that, in practice, one should not only rank the crash locations based on the benefits that can be achieved from tackling these locations. Future research is also needed to incorporate the costs of infrastructure measures and other actions that these crash sites require in order to enhance the safety on these locations. By balancing these costs and benefits against each other, the crash locations can then be ranked according to the order in which they should be prioritized. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

With the help of the public, a wide collection of old apple cultivars (cvs) was established progressively at our Department from 1975 onwards. Currently, more than 1400 apple accessions are being maintained and three quarters of them are subjected to field evaluation for disease resistance and agronomic characters. This paper presents results of the ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) contents of old cvs combining interesting disease resistance and agronomic features in order to promote them as cvs adapted to production systems which are more environmentally friendly or to be used as parents in breeding programmes. First, a methodological study shows the importance of the variability of ascorbic acid content depending on fruit position in the trees, fruit size, fruit skin colour and maturity stage. Statistical analyses show that the sample size of six fruits per cv is sufficient to detect a difference of 20% between cvs. Old apple cvs such as GrenadierRGF, Transparente de Croncels, Bramley’s Seedling, Reinette des Capucins, Reinette Libotte and Reinette de Waleffe contain three and seven times more ascorbic acid than the commercial cvs Gala and Elstar, respectively. The paper highlights the need to evaluate the rich potential in our genetic resources. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The operational energy use is responsible for an important share of the life cycle environmental impact of buildings. In the national LCA method for buildings in Belgium, as in most environmental impact assessments, operational energy use and associated impacts are kept unchanged throughout the 60-year service life of the building. The energy mix will however change over the building life cycle and this will influence the impact of the operational energy use. The overall aim of this paper is to analyse how long term temporal changes in the electricity mix in Belgium might influence the life cycle environmental impact of buildings using an attributional approach. This paper focuses on three aspects. First, it analyses future scenarios for the Belgian electricity mix as it is uncertain how it will change over time. Second, the environmental impact of these changes in the mix is evaluated using the Belgian life cycle impact assessment method for buildings considering a broad set of indicators. Finally, it is investigated how these changes in the electricity mix during the building service life can be included in the attributional life cycle assessment and how this influences the overall environmental impact of the operational phase. Within this study, three dynamic scenarios are defined and compared with the static approach, i.e. current electricity mix remains unchanged during the next 60 years. The analysis reveals differences in the building life cycle environmental impact of −29% and +34% compared to the current static approach, while differences in the life cycle carbon footprint range from −59% to +33%. This highlights the importance of considering changes in the electricity mix in LCA of buildings and in considering a broad range of environmental indicators instead of solely focussing on greenhouse gas emissions when making policy decisions. In general, a major challenge for the next decade seems to be phasing out nuclear power, without increasing the environmental impact of the electricity mix. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Deep attention ConvLSTM is first proposed for photovoltaic (PV) power forecast. • Attention mechanism is first introduced into PV power forecast. • Attention adaptatively fuses clear-sky prior knowledge and historical information. • Significantly improvement than conventional PV power forecast methods is achieved. Photovoltaic (PV) power is an important way to utilize solar energy. Accurate PV power forecast is crucial to the large-scale application of PV power and the stability of electricity grid. This paper proposes a novel method for short-term photovoltaic power forecast using deep attention convolutional long short-term memory (ConvLSTM) network and kernel density estimation (KDE). ConvLSTM has strong ability to automatically extract the information from multiple variables related to PV power and the temporal information from historical PV data. Considering that clear-sky solar radiation is an important physical prior knowledge in PV power generation, attention mechanism is innovatively introduced into ConvLSTM to dynamically and adaptively adjust the weights of the physical prior knowledge and the historical PV data in forecast. KDE is used for estimating the joint probabilistic density function and giving the probabilistic confidence interval. Experiments in the three-year actual photovoltaic power data of two provinces in Belgium verified the effectiveness of the proposed method. Comparison experiments were made with naive persistence and other eight conventional methods including autoregressive integrated moving average with exogenous variable (ARIMAX) model, convolutional neural network (CNN), long short-term memory (LSTM) network, multilayer perceptron (MLP), support vector regression (SVR), extreme learning machine (ELM), classification and regression tree (CART) and gradient boosting decision tree (GBDT). Experiments show that the proposed method can realize the optimal fusion of the historical data and clear-sky prior knowledge, and significantly improve the PV power forecast accuracy in all seasons of a year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We introduce an "Hourly Risk Index" to assess fatigue-related work schedule risk. • We consider the relative risk of cumulative, time-of-day, and time-on-duty effects. • We validate with a large-scale dataset from Belgian railway traffic control centers. • The Hourly Risk Index outperforms its predecessor, the Risk Index. • Error severity is significantly related to a further increase in risk. Around-the-clock staffing in safety-critical environments calls for an accurate risk assessment of work schedules. In this paper we introduce and evaluate an hourly version of the "Risk Index", an established risk model in the UK rail industry. This "Hourly Risk Index" is the first risk-based model that allows the prediction of risk at the hourly level, and is founded on the most recent scientific insights in fatigue-related accident risk. It considers the build-up of risk over consecutive shifts, recovery during days off, quick returns, and time-of-day and time-on-duty effects. Improved understanding of hourly risk is highly relevant for both ex-ante (staff rostering) and ex-post (accident and incident analysis) evaluations. We evaluated the performance of the Hourly Risk Index by analyzing a purpose-built real-world dataset from Belgium's railway traffic control centers (containing close to 8 million round-the-clock working hours in the period 2013–2018). Results not only show that the occurrence of safety-critical errors is significantly associated with higher Hourly Risk Index values, but also that error severity is significantly related to a further increase in risk. In addition, the Hourly Risk Index outperformed the original Risk Index. Our empirical results also emphasize the importance of job demands, by indicating a higher performance of the Hourly Risk Index under conditions of low or high workload. Given these outcomes, it is currently being deployed and tested at Belgian national railways. This should allow the further refinement of the Hourly Risk Index in an iterative manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The circular economy (CE) has gained prominence in recent years in government and business policies, as well as academic research. Yet, its alleged wholesomeness is increasingly questioned and few quantitative studies include both the outer (e.g. recycling) and inner circles (e.g. reduce or reuse), respectively the ex-ante least and most efficient CE strategies. By developing a supply chain equilibrium model , based on general equilibrium theory, this paper presents a modelling framework where a product-service system is introduced as a circular alternative to conventional products. Through generalised prices that cover inner and outer circle variables, targeted economic and fiscal policy measures affect overall price levels and, by consequence, operational levels of the supply chain. The rationale behind this approach relies on combining material and economic efficiency by integrating material/product life cycles with market interactions. To illustrate its performance, the model examines the rollout of a reusable plastic bottle initiative in Belgium. The results show that if circular products are perceived as substitutes for conventional products, well-targeted policies can reduce material use substantially. Furthermore, coordinating circular policies along the supply chain can improve their outcomes. However, the absence of CE data impedes model development and risks undermining the validity of the results. • Desirability of circular economy measures depends on societal outcomes and varies case by case. • Supply chain equilibrium captures material and economic efficiency of circular policies. • Perceived substitutability of circular and conventional products shapes policy outcomes. • Coordinating circular policies along supply chain can induce synergies. • Data availability can enhance circular economy model development and validity of outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In Belgium, offenders who are deemed criminally irresponsible for their criminal actions because of mental illness or intellectual disability are subject to a specific safety measure with the dual objective of protecting society and providing mandated care to the offender. While Belgian law requires that offenders who are deemed criminally irresponsible should be in a hospital, clinic or other appropriate institution outside of prison, in practice, about one-third of all such offenders still reside in prison. Whether imprisoned or living in settings outside prison, there is a dearth of knowledge on the characteristics of the aging population among the criminally irresponsible offenders.Objective: This paper aimed to explore the characteristics of older offenders categorized as criminally irresponsible in Flanders (northern Belgium) with a focus on the differences between imprisoned older offenders deemed criminally irresponsible and their peers who are residing outside prison.Method: A retrospective case note study of all offenders deemed criminally irresponsible, >60years of age (n=174), was conducted in the four Commissions of Social Defense, which implement the procedure in the case of those deemed criminally irresponsible in Flanders. The files were screened for (1) demographic characteristics, (2) criminal history as well as (3) mental and physical health issues.Results: One-fourth of the population were >70years of age. A total of 30.5% were in prison. Compared to their non-imprisoned peers, the imprisoned offenders had a history of having committed more serious violent crimes towards persons, such as homicides and sexual crimes. In addition, imprisoned older offenders categorized as criminally irresponsible are characterized more explicitly by personality traits that are likely to reduce their chances of being transferred to more appropriate settings in the community.Implications: A comprehensive and systematic screening of all older offenders deemed criminally irresponsible with regard to health needs and social functioning, including age-related deterioration, alcoholism, and other causes of social disadvantages, is warranted to detect potentially hidden problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Belgium, compatibility studies are performed in view of the final disposal of nitrate-containing bituminised intermediate-level radioactive waste in Boom Clay, which is considered as a potential host formation. Due to the presence of large amounts of nitrate in the waste, a slow release of nitrate (and to a smaller extent also nitrite) into the Boom Clay is expected. Nitrate and/or nitrite reduction by redox-active components of the host rock may cause a geochemical perturbation of the clay and subsequently might affect its barrier function against the migration of radionuclides. This paper therefore addresses the possible oxidation of one of the main redox-active components of the Boom Clay, i.e. dissolved organic matter, by nitrate and nitrite. For this, abiotic and microbially mediated nitrate and nitrite reduction was studied during long-term batch tests (2–2.5 years) in Boom Clay pore water, containing 155 ± 15 mg C/l present as humic and fulvic acids. Changes in the reducing capacity of the DOM due to oxidation were assessed successfully using two oxidants, namely ferricyanide and ferric citrate. The results of these experiments indicate that an abiotic reaction between DOM and nitrate does not occur or is characterised by very slow kinetics. On the other hand, a slow microbial nitrate reduction to nitrite was observed and the associated oxidation of DOM was confirmed by a decrease in the (partial) reducing capacity of DOM for ferric citrate. In contrast to nitrate, nitrite was shown to oxidise DOM both abiotically and mediated by microbes through (chemo)denitrification, although these reactions also seem to occur only at a rather slow rate. No significant change in the maximally obtainable reducing capacity of DOM (using ferricyanide) was detected during any of the observed reactions, suggesting that the impact of such a slow heterotrophic nitrate reduction is very limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automatically generating timetables has been an active research area for some time, but the application of this research in practice has been limited. We believe this is due to two reasons. Firstly, some of the models in the literature impose artificial upper bounds on time supplements. This causes a high risk of generating infeasibilities. Secondly, some models that leave out these upper bounds often generate solutions that contain some very large time supplements because these supplements are not penalised in the objective function. The reason is that these objective functions often do not completely correspond to the true goal of a timetable. We solve both problems by minimising our objective function: total passenger travel time, expected in practice . Since this function evaluates and indirectly steers all time related decision variables in the system, we do not need to further restrict the ranges of any of these variables. As a result, our model does not suffer from infeasibilities generated by such artificial upper bounds for supplements. Furthermore, some measures are taken to significantly speed up the solver times of our model. These combined features result in our model being solved more quickly than previous models. As a result, our method can be used for timetabling in practice. We demonstrate our claims by optimising, in about two hours only, the timetable of all 196 hourly passenger trains in Belgium. Assuming primary delay-distributions with an average of 2% on the minima of each activity, the optimised timetable reduces expected passenger time in practice, as evaluated on the macroscopic level, by 3.8% during peak hours. This paper demonstrates that we added two important missing steps to make cyclic timetabling for passengers really useable in practice: (i) the addition of the objective function of expected passenger time in practice and (ii) the reduction of computation time by addition of well chosen additional constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: Injury severity scores are important in the context of developing European and national goals on traffic safety, health-care benchmarking and improving patient communication. Various severity scores are available and are mostly based on Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) or International Classification of Diseases (ICD). The aim of this paper is to compare the predictive value for in-hospital mortality between the various severity scores if only International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision, Clinical Modification ICD-9-CM is reported.Methodology: To estimate severity scores based on the AIS lexicon, ICD-9-CM codes were converted with ICD Programmes for Injury Categorization (ICDPIC) and four AIS-based severity scores were derived: Maximum AIS (MaxAIS), Injury Severity Score (ISS), New Injury Severity Score (NISS) and Exponential Injury Severity Score (EISS). Based on ICD-9-CM, six severity scores were calculated. Determined by the number of injuries taken into account and the means by which survival risk ratios (SRRs) were calculated, four different approaches were used to calculate the ICD-9-based Injury Severity Scores (ICISS). The Trauma Mortality Prediction Model (TMPM) was calculated with the ICD-9-CM-based model averaged regression coefficients (MARC) for both the single worst injury and multiple injuries. Severity scores were compared via model discrimination and calibration. Model comparisons were performed separately for the severity scores based on the single worst injury and multiple injuries.Results: For ICD-9-based scales, estimation of area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) ranges between 0.94 and 0.96, while AIS-based scales range between 0.72 and 0.76, respectively. The intercept in the calibration plots is not significantly different from 0 for MaxAIS, ICISS and TMPM.Discussion: When only ICD-9-CM codes are reported, ICD-9-CM-based severity scores perform better than severity scores based on the conversion to AIS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bituminous mixture is the premier material for road construction in Belgium. Innovative technologies to improve energy efficiency of pavement constructions are necessary. Warm mix asphalt may provide significant energy savings to the asphalt industry, but the environmental impact of the total life cycle has to be investigated. The use of additives may counteract the reduced environmental impact due to energy savings. This paper presents the results of an environmental impact assessment of four wearing course test sections. Using life cycle assessment, hot mix asphalt is compared to a cold asphalt mix with emulsion and warm mix asphalt with two types of additives: a synthetic zeolite and an organic Fischer–Tropsch wax. Neither hot nor warm mix asphalt could be preferred based on the results of this study, because the additive has a major influence on the environmental results. It was seen that the production of bitumen, the transport and energy in order to generate heat mainly contribute to the total environmental impact. The results from the sensitivity analyses show that the total environmental impact of the life of the pavement can vary significantly based on the choice of the specific data source and service life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the fact that freight transport has a huge impact on the economy and the environment, Belgian datasets have always been scarce or restricted to very small a-spatial samples. Spatial data collected in Belgium for toll-paying trucks are here examined, and geographical structures and dynamics are extracted from this massive dataset. The originality of this dataset is its exhaustivity and its real-time approach: the location of all the trucks circulating in Belgium is collected every 30 s. The paper first relates to the methodology applied when using and transforming big data generated by On Board Units GNSS (cleaning, transforming and pre-processing). Second, it maps and comments on the movements (traffic) and stops of trucks within the whole country, providing a clear picture of the Belgian situation, useful for regional planners and logistics companies. Finally, the flows of trucks observed between Belgian locations enable the country to be divided into mathematical communities of places that interact the most. Analyses are performed for sub-categories based on the country of registration, underlining the spatial specificities of freight transit in Belgium. This exploratory spatial data analysis enables to reveal not only multi-level spatial structures associated with urban hierarchies and the transport infrastructure, but also firm locations or political organizations and to consider the complexity and interconnectivity of any measure taken for a more sustainable future. With a clear methodological framework to cope with the data pre-processing, this paper opens the way to various potential applications linked with freight transportation in Belgium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Establishing police demand is important to optimally allocate scarce police resources in space and time. To contribute to the existing knowledge on the optimization of policing and crime prevention strategies worldwide, we examine the spatiotemporal pattern of calls for service (CFS), with a focus on the urgency of the calls (as measured by the police priority codes), in Antwerp (2017–2020), Belgium. To disentangle the space-time pattern of the priority codes, we apply the average nearest neighbour statistic, global and local Moran's I, Getis-Ord Gi*, and emerging hot spot analysis. Our results demonstrate that the spatial, temporal, and space-time patterns of the priority codes differ and that more urgent CFS are more demanding in terms of allocated police vehicles than less urgent CFS. Based on the findings of this paper, we recommend to include priority codes in future police patrol routing solutions to make patrol strategies more realistic. An important aspect will be to increase/decrease the number of available units depending on the spatiotemporal pattern of the CFS per priority code. Instead of only working with fixed shifts, there is a need to deploy peak shifts during times of peak demand. • The most urgent calls for police service are spatially the least clustered. • Urgent calls for service cluster on Friday and Saturday evening/night. • Critical calls are incidentally more demanding but take up structurally less resources. • The implementation of urgency will lead to more realistic police patrol strategies. • Deploy peak shifts during times of peak demand to prevent system overload. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper a dynamic Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model called Meta-ANN is developed for forecasting the short-term grid load. The primary ingredient of the model is a base module which is an ANN trained over a large historical data set to learn the long-term trend and seasonality of grid load. To capture the nonstationary pattern of the grid load, an error-correction module based on the idea of meta-learning is integrated into the model. This module finetunes the base module according to most recent prediction errors. For each day of interest, Meta-ANN generates a new ANN model started from the base module by tracing the gradient of the prediction loss on recent observations weighted by learning rates with specific structures. The full Meta-ANN model is trained by jointly optimizing the base module and error-correction module via gradient descent algorithms. The implementation based on gradient descent algorithms is detailed with streamlined mathematical formulations. The proposed model is tested on the open-access data from Elia, a Belgian transmission system operator, for forecasting the daily mean load and load profile. The numerical study shows that Meta-ANN makes more accurate and robust prediction by effectively capturing the nonstationary pattern in grid loads. • Meta-learning is used to build a dynamical ANN for short term load forecasting. • The model input is very concise and easily interpretable. • The Meta-ANN model and its implementation are detailed in streamlined math forms. • The proposed model is validated on open-access real data from Elia, a Belgium TSO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Heating and cooling tests on a fully monitored large-scale pavement solar collector. • Thermal performance investigation of a controllable and configurable prototype. • Sensitivity analysis of design and operational parameters on system performance. • A great potential in reducing asphalt surface temperature to mitigate UHI effects. Solar energy harvesting as a renewable and sustainable energy source has been widely investigated in recent years across engineering fields. The use of Pavement Solar Collectors (PSC) can lead to clean energy production, an increase in road safety, prolong the service life of asphalt pavement, and can mitigate the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. This study describes a controllable large-scale research PSC prototype with high configuration flexibility, and full monitoring capability at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Since small- or laboratory-scale setups do not reflect the behavior of actual projects, the present paper investigates the thermal response of a large-scale PSC in the Western European climate, including heating load, heat extraction capacity, and asphalt surface and profile temperature changes during heating and cooling experiments. The study shows that a low supply temperature compared to high (14 °C vs. 28 °C) can reduce the depletion rate of the stored thermal energy in borehole thermal energy storage up to 7 times. The sensitivity analysis indicates that an increase in flow rate from laminar to transient regime requires twice as much thermal power compared to the same flow rate changes within transient and turbulent regimes. The maximum average daily efficiency of the PSC could reach 34% with a flow rate of 4 l/min. The experimental results showed that increasing the pipe length from 50 m to 200 m reduces the cumulative power extraction capacity by up to 48%. Furthermore, the PSC system shows great potential in reducing the asphalt surface temperature (up to 12 °C) to mitigate the UHI effects. Finally, the PSC system effectively controls the temperatures of the interface zones to reduce the rutting distress in the summertime and lower the potential of cold thermal crack developments and brittle shear failure behavior in wintertime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• In the light of the decomposition and ensemble mechanism, the designed system decomposes the original PV power series, reduces the high-frequency noise, so as to reconstructs the sequences. • A novel combination of denoising parameter intelligent optimization, and weights determined strategy. • On the basis of four ANNs, the features of the PV power sequences can be better gained and used. • To further explore the efficiency of the designed system, we have theoretically proved that the hybrid predictive system can obtained the pareto optimal solution. As the penetration rate of solar energy in the grid continues to enhance, solar power photovoltaic generation forecasts have become an indispensable aspect of mechanism mobilization and maintenance of the stability of the power system. In this regard, many researchers have done a lot of study, and put forward some predictive models. However, many individual prediction systems only consider the prediction accuracy rate without further considering the prediction utility and stability. To fill this gap, a comprehensive system is designed in this paper, which is on the basis of automatic optimization of variational mode decomposition mechanism, and the weight of system is determined by multi objective intelligent optimization algorithm. In particular, it can be proved theoretically that the developed predictive system can achieve the pareto optimal solution. And the designed system is shown to be very effective in forecasting the 2021 photovoltaic power data obtained from Belgium. The empirical study reports that the combination of variational mode decomposition strategy based on genetic algorithm and multi objective grasshopper optimization algorithm is found to be the satisfactory strategy to optimize the predictive system compared with other common mechanism. And the results of several numerical studies show that the designed predictive system achieves the superior performance as compared to the control systems, and in multi-step forecasting, the designed system has better stability than the comparison systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constraining depositional phases in braided river deposits can be challenging if only based on sedimentology or geochronology. In this paper, we explored how different data sources can provide complementary information on the depositional history of Pleistocene fluvial deposits. The study was realized on the Zutendaal gravels that outcrop in Northeastern Belgium. In an 8 m high exposure of gravel sheets, we collected bulk samples that were processed for grain size, elemental geochemistry and cosmogenic radionuclides. After dry sieving, we derived the D10, D50, D90, gravel and sand content. From the elemental geochemistry of the bulk samples, we calculated the Ti/Zr and Cr/Zr ratios as proxies for provenance, the Al 2 O 3 /SiO 2 and Ba/Sr ratios for hydrolysis, and the MnO, Fe 2 O 3 concentrations and the F e 2 O 3 + MnO A l 2 O 3 ratio for oxidation. The 10Be concentration-depth profiles are informative to identify phases of landscape stability characterized by depositional hiatuses. To verify the existence of any aberrant variation in 10Be concentration associated to provenance, the in-situ 10Be concentrations were contrasted with provenance and weathering indices. Differences in grain size, elemental geochemistry and in-situ 10Be between sedimentary units were evaluated based on Mann-Whitney tests, while Spearman correlation tests informed us on the co-variation between data sources. The outcrop in the Zutendaal gravels contains three depositional units with significant differences in grain size and chemical weathering extent, and representing distinct 10Be accumulation phases. The absence of correlation between provenance and oxidation proxies indicates that weathering is essentially intraformational or post-depositional. Sedimentary hiatuses were identified based on fining upward sequences and 10Be concentration-depth profiles, whereby local deviation in 10Be concentration at the top of the fining upward sequence provided information on the duration of the hiatus. The case study illustrates how co-variations in weathering, provenance, granulometry indices and 10Be concentration are informative for the depositional history of fluvial sediments, and landscape stability during the Pleistocene. [Display omitted] • Fluvial dynamics of Pleistocene braided river from northwestern Europe. • Grain size, chemical weathering and provenance complement 10Be depth profiles. • Hiatuses in deposition are identified based on 10Be depth profiles and grain size. • Environmental conditions can be reconstructed based on weathering proxies. • Analysis of provenance allows one to flag samples before 10Be analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we attempt to build a new microeconomic approach that could be considered as a basis of the degrowth macroeconomic view. As degrowth is a critique of the dominant macroeconomic model of the endless search for economic growth, its microeconomic foundations can be built by searching a relevant grass-root economic initiative to theorise. Our approach is based upon the case study research of a self-harvesting Community Supported Agriculture in Belgium. The mainstream microeconomic model is based on the well-known Homo economicus assumption of individual self-interest and competitive behaviour. By contrast, our model is based on a holistic approach of producers and consumers, based upon trust, cooperation and ecologically responsible behaviours. This contribution participates to the flourishing literature on degrowth in Ecological Economics. We begin by reviewing the debate on degrowth and economic behaviour. We discuss the case study and its accounting expression that departs from the capitalist profit-seeking model. We conclude by explaining the limits and challenges of our model that implements degrowth on a small scale and in a capitalist environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents three approaches to find optimized grids for atmospheric dispersion measurements and calculations in emergency planning. This can be useful for deriving optimal positions for mobile monitoring stations, or help to reduce discretization errors and improve recommendations. Indeed, threshold-based recommendations or conclusions may differ strongly on the shape and size of the grid on which atmospheric dispersion measurements or calculations of pollutants are based. Therefore, relatively sparse grids that retain as much information as possible, are required. The grid optimization procedure proposed here is first demonstrated with a simple Gaussian plume model as adopted in atmospheric dispersion calculations, which provides fast calculations. The optimized grids are compared to the Noodplan grid, currently used for emergency planning in Belgium, and to the exact solution. We then demonstrate how it can be used in more realistic dispersion models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role of political representation in explaining geographical variation in social security and income tax transfers. To quantify the causal link going from political representation to transfers, we identify two sets of exogenous changes in political representation and use an instrumental variable approach. Using Belgian data for the 1995–2010 period, we find that transfers to inhabitants of a particular electoral district increase significantly with every extra federal minister originating from that electoral district. Given that social security and income tax transfers appear to be largely formula-based this result is surprising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper undertakes an environmental evaluation of bioethanol production, using wheat cultivated in Belgium. Cultivation steps are modelled using Belgian specific data. Wheat transformation in ethanol relies on industrial data. GHG emissions of the whole life cycle are calculated and compared with the default values given by the European Renewable Energy Directive. Belgian wheat bioethanol achieves a 5% higher GHG reduction than the one mentioned in the European directive but impact repartition is different with a higher importance of cultivation step in our case. Belgian wheat bioethanol complies with the current sustainability criteria but is also able to conform to further ones. Sensitivity analyses are performed on the importance of N fertilizers and associated emissions known as main important parameters. These analyses reveal non negligible variations and then a range of available GHG reduction when using wheat bioethanol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the impact of three freight transport policies aiming to promote railroad intermodal transport in Europe, and examines the case of Belgium as a testing ground. These policies consist in subsidizing intermodal transport operations (such as in Belgium, to stimulate rail transport), internalizing external costs (as recommended by the European Union in order to foster cleaner modes), and adopting a system perspective when optimizing the location of inland intermodal terminals. The study proposes an innovative mixed integer intermodal freight location-allocation model based on hub-location theory and deals with non-linear transport costs in order to replicate economies of distance. Our analysis suggests that subsidizing has a significant impact on the volumes transported by intermodal transport, and, to a lesser extent, that optimizing terminal location increases the competitiveness of intermodal transport. On the other hand, according to our assumptions, internalizing external costs can negatively impact the promotion of intermodality. This finding indicates that innovative last-mile transports are needed in order to reduce the external impacts of drayage operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the booming research on the environmental footprint of, for example, electrical vehicles, heat pumps and other (smart) electricity consuming appliances, there is a clear need to know the hourly CO 2 content of one kW h of electricity. Since the CO 2 footprint of electricity can vary every hour; the footprint of for example an electric vehicle is influenced by the time when the vehicle is charged. With the availability of the hourly CO 2 content of one kW h, a decision support tool is provided to fully exploit the advantages of a future smart grid. In this paper, the GWP (Global Warming Potential) per kW h for each hour of the year is calculated for Belgium using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach. This enables evaluating the influence of the electricity demand on the greenhouse gas emissions. Because of the LCA approach, the CO 2 equivalent content does not only reflect activities related to the production of the electricity within a power plant, but includes carbon emissions related to the building of the infrastructure and the fuel supply chain. The considered feedstocks are nuclear combustible, oil, coal, natural gas, biowaste, blast furnace gas, and wood. Furthermore, renewable electricity production technologies like photovoltaic cells, hydro installations and wind turbines are covered by the research. The production of the wind turbines and solar panels is more carbon intensive (expressed per generated kW h of electricity) than the production of other conventional power plants, due to the lower electricity output. The overall average GWP per kW h is 0.184 kg CO 2 eq/kW h. Throughout the 2011 this value ranges from a minimum of 0.102 kg CO 2 eq/kW h to a maximum of 0.262 kg CO 2 eq/kW h depending on the timing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of mapping indoor radon risk, an important step is to define geological units well-correlated with indoor radon. The present paper examines this question for the Walloon region of Belgium, using a database of more than 18,000 indoor radon measurements. With a few exceptions like the Carboniferous (to be divided into Tournaisian, Visean and Namurian-Westphalian) and the Tertiary (in which all Series may be treated together), the Series/Epoch stratigraphic level is found to be the most appropriate geological unit to classify the radon risk. A further division according to the geological massif or region is necessary to define units with a reasonable uniformity of the radon risk. In particular, Paleozoic series from Cambrian to Devonian show strong differences between different massifs. Local hot-spots are also observed in the Brabant massif. Finally, 35 geological units are defined according to their radon risk, 6 of which still present a clear weak homogeneity. In the case of 4 of these units (Jurassic, Middle Devonian of Condroz and of Fagne-Famenne, Ordovician of the Stavelot massif) homogeneity is moderate, but the data are strongly inhomogeneous for Visean in Condroz and in the Brabant massif. The 35 geological units are used in an ANOVA analysis, to evaluate the part of indoor radon variability which can be attributed to geology. The result (15.4-17.7%) agrees with the values observed in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper investigates the relevance of different interpolation techniques to improve the spatial resolution of urban noise maps, in complement to measurements achieved at fixed stations. Interpolation techniques based on mobile measurements are compared to usual spatial interpolations techniques, namely Inverse Distance Weighting and Kriging. The analyses rely on a measurement campaign, which consisted of nearly 8h of geo-referenced mobile noise measurements performed at random moments of the day, conducted simultaneously with continuous measurements collected at five fixed stations located on the inner city of Gent, Belgium. Firstly, a procedure is proposed to build a noise map with a high spatial resolution (one point every 5m). The procedure relies on both mobile and fixed measurements: the mobile measurements are used to capture spatial variations on the network, and the measurements at fixed stations are used to capture the temporal variations. The map produced is then used as reference to compare the interpolation techniques based on a significantly more sparse measurement set. The spatial interpolation techniques tested fail in predicting accurately the noise level variations within streets. The explanation given is that they do not offer a sufficient covering of the network, and assume spatial variations which are not coherent with traffic dynamics or street configurations. Inversely, mobile measurements cover the entire network. As a result, they allow a more accurate prediction of noise levels even if very short samples are used, provided that the procedure used to estimate noise levels includes a spatial aggregation, which aims at smoothing the high spatial variations inevitable with short samples. Moreover, mobile measurements can advantageously be used to optimize, through a Genetic Algorithm, the locations where to install fixed stations, promising an efficient noise monitoring at reduced operational costs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines the extent to which home-school trip length in northern Belgium is influenced by the spatial distribution of the school sites, and to what extent this distribution contemporarily functions according to propositions of central place theory. Furthermore, from a sustainable mobility perspective, it is evaluated if the primary school network's density supports a daily urban system based on short distances. The results indicate that the overall system's density meets the requirements of a non-motorized system, while the distribution confirms central place mechanisms. The majority of the pupils live within walking or cycling distance from their school, while opportunities exist to further reduce this distance by choosing an alternative school. However, depending on the structure of the concerned settlement, school accessibility varies considerably. Finally, the results suggest that recent increases in school trip length and motorization are mainly caused by non-spatial factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a functional autoregressive model with stochastic functional covariates, denoted by FARSX, to depict high-resolution data dynamics. An easy-to-implement procedure is proposed to estimate the model parameters under the frameworks of an expansion of multiresolution B-spline basis functions and an adaptive lasso criterion with a two-layer sparsity assumption. We derive the consistency of the proposed estimators under mild conditions. The effectiveness of the estimation procedure allows us to further construct a FARSX model with time-varying parameters under a rolling window framework to capture stochastic effects of functional covariates timely and enhance the prediction accuracy. In the empirical study, the FARSX method with time-varying parameters is applied to the high-resolution electricity consumption and intraday temperatures in Belgium and the U.S. separately. The investigation results reveal that the FARSX model with time-varying parameters provides more reliable day-ahead predictions than several existing models. • Propose a more realistic functional time series model for high-resolution data. • Theoretical results are derived in a more general setting. • Apply the proposed model to real data and obtain a better day-ahead prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optimal coordination of maintenances is becoming increasingly important to guarantee the security of supply in renewable-dominated power systems. However, current planning tools are plagued with tractability issues arising from the need to comply with operational security standards. The grid must indeed safely accommodate any unexpected contingency occurring during the scheduled maintenances, which requires simulating many different scenarios. To alleviate this computational burden, this paper proposes to leverage machine learning models to predict the outcome of contingency analyses in a fast and reliable manner. The methodology is tested on the full regional transmission grid of Belgium, covering the voltage levels from 150 kV down to 30 kV. Different models, including naive Bayes classifiers, support vector machines and tree-based models, are tested and compared. Outcomes reveal that random forests consistently outperform other benchmarks, by identifying with an accuracy higher than 90% the time periods during which maintenances can be safely performed. Also, we show that the expected rise in renewable generation will impact the maintainability of the future system, with an increase of up to 20% of unsuitable periods to perform maintenances in some grid areas. [Display omitted] • Machine learning is used to predict the feasibility of maintenance actions. • Different models are applied to the grid assets of the Belgian system. • Random forests achieve a success rate steadily higher than 90%. • These models are used to assess the long-term maintainability of power systems. • In the Belgian system, a reduction of 20% of safe maintenance periods may occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents extensive research results on the verification of a new transport equation for dry and moist sand at field sites and is a continuation of earlier work (Van Rijn and Strypsteen, 2020). A new trap-type instrument (LVRS-sampler) for measuring the sand transport rate of sliding, rolling and saltating particles was designed and used at many natural beach sites in Belgium and The Netherlands. A short mast equipped with three mini wind cup meters was used to measure the velocity distribution in the lowest 1 m of the boundary layer flow. Many new data sets (81 data) of aeolian sand transport for dry and moist beach surface conditions were obtained using the new equipment and used for verification of the new prediction method. Older field data (48 data points) from the literature were also used for verification. The score of the predicted sand transport based on the new VR-method is 87% within a factor of 2 of measured values for dry sand and 91% for moist sand. The modified Bagnold-transport equation was also used for verification of the available field data with scores of 79% and 67%. As a practical example, the new VR-sand transport equation was applied to calculate the annual aeolian sand transport on a Dutch beach site using wind velocity and rainfall data from a local weather station including rain fall effects (moist sand) and conversion of inland wind velocities to beach velocities (upscaling of results). • New and extensive field data set of wind-driven transport of dry and moist sand at natural beaches. • Analysis of the effect of moist sand on aeolian transport. • Verification of new transport model for dry and moist sand based on the new field data. • Formulation of new procedure for the inclusion of moisture effects and the drying process of beach sand. • Application of new sand transport model for longterm (annual) sand transport predictions at natural beaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper quantifies the effect of a number of input parameters on the emission levels of road transport emissions calculated by means of a bottom-up methodology. The input parameters considered cover small diesel cars, calculation of additional fuel consumption due to the use of mobile air conditioning in passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, fine-tuning of trip lengths and definition of road types for Belgium in 2010. The effect is significant for CO 2 , and even more pronounced for other pollutants such as NO x , PM 2.5 , and VOCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The OSPAR convention signed in 1992 by 15 European states including Belgium and France pledged to reduce the nutrient (nitrogen N and phosphorus P) loads from land-based sources to the Channel and the North Sea to half of what they were in 1985. In this paper, we use a river basin–coastal sea chain model to describe the evolution of nutrient loads to the Belgian Costal Zone originating from the Seine, Somme and Scheldt watersheds from 1984 to 2007 in order to assess the N and P reduction with respect to the OSPAR goals and the resulting effect on coastal eutrophication, especially Phaeocystis blooms. Since the early 1990s, most nutrient reduction actions have been devoted to domestic and industrial wastewater treatment, resulting in a sharp P decrease between 1984 and 2007: from 260 to 90kgPkm−2 for the Seine River and from 215 to 110kgPkm−2 for the Scheldt River. In spite of improved N treatment of wastewater, there is no clear decrease of N loads, which mostly originate from leaching intensively cultivated arable lands. N fluxes at the outlet of the Seine and Scheldt rivers were, respectively, 1990 and 2210kgNkm−2 in 1984 and 1830 and 1390kgNkm−2 in 2007. However, this relatively low decrease appears to be more influenced by hydrological conditions than by better efficiency of N use in agriculture. We conclude from this analysis that the OSPAR objectives for P have been achieved, whereas for N radical changes in agricultural practices are still required. The P reduction achieved allows, for the period of concern, a 50% decrease of Phaeocystis colony blooms in the Belgian Coastal Zone, both in magnitude and duration. However, the simulated decrease, of maximum abundance, i.e., from 60·106 in 1984 to 30·106 cellsl−1 in 2007, is still insufficient when compared to the ecological-quality indicator of 4·106 cellsl−1. A further decrease of nutrients is still necessary to decrease undesirable blooms more satisfactorily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Assisted by designers and contractors, dwelling owners have historically based their decisions (including the choice of building services) on investment costs. Given the increasing interest in the environmental dimension of the built environment, it is also important to include environmental impact in the decision-making process. This paper focuses on the life cycle environmental impact and financial costs of heating and ventilation alternatives for new dwellings in Belgium. Insight into the environmental impact and financial costs of correctly dimensioned configurations over the entire life cycle could enable better choices. Commonly used alternatives are considered, as well as more advanced ones. These are compared and the optima are determined, identifying the best choice within a limited budget. The analysis indicates that, in addition to energy-efficiency measures regarding the building skin, a well-designed heating and ventilation system plays an important role in reducing financial costs and environmental impact over the lifespan of a dwelling. Different heating and ventilation solutions are likely to be selected when initial and life cycle costs are juxtaposed with environmental, financial and total costs. Nevertheless, preferences based on total costs generally coincide with those based on financial costs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents new geo-archaeological perspectives on the Late Glacial and Early Holocene human occupation around a large palaeolake, the Moervaart palaeolake (∼25 km2). Intensive fieldwork, using invasive and non-invasive survey techniques, combined with modelling of the palaeotopography and palaeogroundwater and multi-proxy palaeoecological analyses have resulted in a detailed reconstruction of the landscape during the Final Palaeolithic and Early Mesolithic occupation of the area. A major shift in the occupation from the Federmesser Culture to the Early Mesolithic was contemporaneous with a sudden and drastic change in the palaeohydrology of the area between ca. 13,300 and 13,000 cal BP (end of Allerød), which coincided with a short but abrupt cooling event known as the Intra Allerød Cold Period (IACP) GI 1b. It is assumed that this event triggered the sudden drying up of the Moervaart palaeolake and surrounding ponds, which until then had provided Federmesser hunter-gatherers with extensive and fertile grounds for hunting, gathering and drinking water. The population decline which followed this hydrological event was reinforced by the prevailing cold and harsh conditions of the Younger Dryas and probably lasted until the Pre-boreal. Hunter-gatherers returned to the area in the Boreal, now settling along the proximal floodplain regions of a meandering channel which was connected with the southern Scheldt River. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Publicly reported statistics on the production of fisheries refer to ‘landings’ as opposed to ‘catch’. However, well-informed decisions and evaluation of the impacts of fisheries on ecosystems must be based on total removals, so including the part of the catch that is discarded at sea or not reported as landings. Total removals by Belgian fisheries from all ICES fishing areas and from the Belgian part of the North Sea (BNS) from 1929 to 2010, were reconstructed by including unreported and misreported landings of the commercial fleet, unreported landings by the recreational and artisanal/subsistence fisheries and by estimating discards for the most important fisheries. Total reconstructed removals were estimated at 5.2milliont or 42% higher than the 3.7milliont publicly reported over this period. Unreported landings and discards were estimated to represent respectively 3.5% (0.2milliont) and 26% (1.3milliont) of these total reconstructed removals. The reconstructed total removals on the BNS were estimated to be 55% higher than the 0.8milliont publicly reported over this period. Discards represent an average annual of 34% of the total removals on the BNS over the entire period. The results suggest that since the 2000s, approximately 50% of all Belgian removals from its EEZ are unreported landings and discards (IUU). The unreported landings and discards are increasingly taken by non-commercial, small-scale (<12m) vessels that are not subject to reporting and not taken into consideration in planning, monitoring and enforcement. While the present paper provides a first attempt to reconstruct historical total removals for Belgium's sea fisheries, it also addresses the gaps in data and information that need to be resolved to improve the reliability of the estimates of unaccounted removals. The reconstructed time series provides a context for the wider debate about how to move to more sustainable fisheries, what the role of small-scale fisheries are, how to achieve the agreed policy targets in Belgian marine waters and in particular in the marine areas protected under the EU Habitat and Bird directives [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In our globalizing world, health care professionals and organizations increasingly experience cross-cultural challenges in care relationships, which give rise to ethical questions regarding “the right thing to do” in such situations. For the time being, the international literature lacks examples of elaborated ethical guidelines for cross-cultural healthcare on the organizational level. As such, the ethical responsibility of healthcare organizations in realizing cross-cultural care remains underexposed. This paper aims to fill this gap by offering a case-study that illustrates the bioethical practice on a large-scale organizational level by presenting the ethical guideline developed in the period 2007–2011 by the Ethics Committee of Zorgnet Vlaanderen , a Christian-inspired umbrella organization for over 500 social profit healthcare organizations in Flanders, Belgium. The guideline offers an ethical framework within which fundamental ethical values are being analyzed within the context of cross-cultural care. The case study concludes with implications for healthcare practice on four different levels: (1) the level of the healthcare organization, (2) staff, (3) care receivers, and (4) the level of care supply. The study combines content-based ethics with process-based benchmarks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Empirical evidence is mounting that good urban design fosters the formation of social fabric. Existing evidence is however limited in at least two respects. First, empirical studies have focused largely on social interactions taking place within the residential neighborhood, while leaving social encounters near the workplace unconsidered. Second, while various studies have examined the impact of the built environment on realized social behavior, there is as yet no empirical research on the potential for having social contact. A deeper understanding of the geography of social interaction potential is nonetheless important, for it is individuals’ social opportunities rather than their preferences and actual choices that are most directly amenable to policy intervention. This paper seeks to address both issues in an empirical case study in Flanders and Brussels (Belgium). An exploratory spatial analysis is conducted to uncover spatial trends in the potential for social interaction in order to better understand the role of urban spatial structure in the production of social interaction potential. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Recent observations show that the river Zenne (Belgium) remains well below the water quality goals stated by the European Union Water Framework Directive. An interuniversity, multidisciplinary research project was therefore launched to evaluate the effects of wastewater management plans on the ecological functioning of the river. To this end, different water quantity and quality processes had to be considered and modelled, e.g., the hydrology in the river basin, hydraulics in the river and sewers, erosion and sediment transport, faecal bacteria transport and decay. This paper considers the development of an Open Modelling Interface (OpenMI) based integrated model for the purpose of simulating the river's sediment dynamics. We used the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to model water and sediment fluxes from rural areas. The Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) was used to simulate the hydraulics of the river, canal, and sewer systems in urban catchments. New model codes for sediment transport and stream water temperature were developed to complement SWMM. The results show that the integrated sediment transport model reproduced the sediment concentrations in the river Zenne with ‘good’ to ‘satisfactory’ accuracy. We may therefore conclude that the OpenMI has been successfully implemented to integrate water quality models into a hydraulic one. While the OpenMI run-time data communication inflicted calculation time overhead, we found that the overhead was not significant with respect to the total run-time of the integrated model. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Campine region is diffusely contaminated with heavy metals like cadmium. Since traditional excavation techniques are too expensive, phytoremediation is preferred as a remediation technique. In a previous study, the biomass potential from phytoremediation of contaminated agricultural land in the Campine region in Belgium was assessed. Based on recently upgraded figures of willow potential from phytoremediation on agricultural land in the seven most contaminated municipalities of the Belgian Campine region, the current paper uses GIS-knowledge to investigate which of three previously identified locations is most suitable for a biomass plant, taking into account the spatial distribution of the contaminated willow supply and the total cost of willow transport. Biomass transport distance from the centroid of each contaminated agricultural parcel to each of the three potential biomass plant locations was determined following Euclidian distance calculations and distance calculations over the existing road network. A transport cost model consisting of distance fixed and distance dependent biomass transport costs was developed. Of the locations identified, the Overpelt Fabriek site results in the lowest biomass transport distance and costs. When willow allocation for each parcel occurs based on the nearest potential plant location, transport costs are on average 23% lower than when all biomass is transported to the single Overpelt Fabriek site location. Therefore, when only considering transport costs, installing a smaller plant at each of the three potential plant locations would be less expensive than when installing a single biomass plant at the Overpelt Fabriek site. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: During a storm in October 2002, wind induced ovalling vibrations were observed on several empty silos of a closely spaced group of eight by five thin-walled silos in the port of Antwerp (Belgium). To determine realistic dynamic wind loads and hence clarify the cause of the wind induced ovalling vibrations in the silo group, 2D URANS simulations are performed for seven angles of incidence between 0° and 90°. The emphasis in this paper is on the extensive verification and validation of the simulations to ascertain the accuracy of the numerical results. Subsequent analysis of the fluctuating wind pressures on the silo surfaces shows that ovalling oscillations of the eigenmodes with three and four circumferential wavelengths will be induced at the lee side of the silo group, corresponding to the lowest structural eigenfrequencies of the silos and the pattern of the visually detected vibrations during the 2002 storm. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The local outdoor climate and building characteristics influence the energy use of a building to an important extent. To design energy efficient and climate robust buildings, it is important to get insights into the energy demand over the building's service life from the early design phase onwards. This paper presents an overview of the different variants of the heating and cooling degree day method. A convection-permitting climate model is furthermore used to obtain heating and cooling degree days (for a baseline temperature of 18 °C) for the RCP 8.5 (high-end) climate change scenario for Belgium on a high-resolution grid of 2.8 km. Area of focus for this paper is Belgium. The results demonstrate a decrease of the HDD with 27% between 1976–2004 (3189 HDD) and 2070–2098 (2337 HDD). In contrast, the CDD were found to increase with a factor 2.4 from 167 CDD to 401 CDD in the same timeline. Smaller reductions in average HDD were moreover found in urban areas compared to rural areas. For the CDD, a higher absolute increase was found for urban areas and the Northeast of Belgium. Image, graphical abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Ignoring trade potentials affect technology choices and domestic welfare. • Congestion rents constitute an important welfare component in planning exercises. • Including foreign dispatch decisions is the recommended modeling approach. • Approaches based on annual average trade potentials are not recommended. Long-term energy system optimization models can be designed to model systems with a broad geographical scope that comprises multiple countries. However, due to computational limitations, often the geographical scope is restricted to a single country. This raises the problem of correctly accounting for cross-border trade of electricity in models with a limited geographical scope. Therefore, this paper assesses the impact of not correctly representing cross-border trade flows in geographically restricted long-term planning models. To this end, we use a planning model for the interconnected Central-Western European power system to compare technology choices and welfare estimates for Belgium when (i) cross-border trade of electricity is ignored and (ii) cross-border trade flows are an endogenous part of the planning model. Furthermore, this paper presents two sets of methodologies to account for transmission flows in planning models. A first methodology is to extend the model's geographical scope and fix the capacity variables in the neighboring countries in line with pre-designed scenarios for those countries. A second methodology further reduces the computational cost by using specially tailored import and export curves to represent each country's trade opportunities. The results indicate that for highly interconnected systems, neglecting cross-border trade or having a highly stylized representation of cross-border flows can lead to inaccurate welfare estimates and technology biases. In addition, a key insight presented in this paper is that congestion rents can constitute a major share of the welfare gains attained by trading electricity. Finally, endogenizing the dispatch decisions in neighboring countries is the most accurate method to deal with cross-border trade, while by correctly designing cross-border trade curves computational time can be reduced, but planning model outcomes become less accurate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]