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The double-edged nature of modern technology, continuously balancing between risks and opportunities, manifests itself clearly in an emerging societal problem known as cyberbullying. To analyse the extent and nature of the issue in Belgium, 1318 adolescents were questioned explicitly about their involvement in cyberbullying, as well as implicitly about their experience with specific types of cyberbullying-related behaviour. This alternate questioning revealed higher victimisation and perpetration rates. The study also provides better insight into predictors associated with victimisation or perpetration in cyberbullying. Especially past involvement in cyberbullying and engaging in online risk behaviour increase the likelihood of victimisation; non-rejection of cyberbullying and online identity experimentation augment the likelihood of perpetration. Girls are more likely to become victims of cyberbullying, whereas boys are more inclined to engage in electronic bullying. Moreover, the incidence of cyberbullying increases slightly with age. Finally, teens spending much time on the Internet, reporting higher ICT expertise and owning a computer with privileged online access share an increased likelihood of online bullying behaviour. (Contains 4 tables.)

Parental knowledge about adolescents' activities is an identified protective factor in terms of adolescent adjustment. While research on parental knowledge has focused on adolescents' offline behavior, there is little empirical understanding of parental knowledge about adolescents' online behavior. This study investigates parental knowledge about adolescents' online activities and experiences with online risks, as well as the correlates of such knowledge. Building on former research, open communication and knowledge-generating monitoring practices are investigated as potential correlates of parental knowledge. Use is made of triadic data, relying on reports from children aged 13 to 18, mothers and fathers within the same family ( N = 357 families; 54.9 % female adolescents). The results showed that parents have little knowledge about the occurrence of online risks and their children's online activities. While mothers did not have more accurate knowledge compared to fathers, they did perceive themselves to be more knowledgeable than fathers. Associations between parental knowledge and hypothesized correlates were tested by means of one-way ANOVA tests and stepwise logistic regression models. Limited evidence was found for associations with parents' accurate knowledge about the occurrence of online risks. Engagement in knowledge-generating monitoring practices was linked to mothers and fathers' self-perceived knowledge about their children's online activities. For mothers, open communication with the child was linked to self-perceived knowledge. The findings suggest that parents need to be more aware of the possibility that online risks might occur and that more research needs to be done in order to understand what parents can do to improve their accurate knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Users of social network sites (SNSs) use three main strategies that help to manage the privacy of their profile information: (1)limiting the level of data revealed, (2)using privacy settingsto exert control over data and (3)audience/friendship managementby being restrictive about whom to accept as a ‘friend’. Extant research does not show whether these strategies operate as independent mechanisms or whether they are interdependent and work as asystem. Given what offline privacy theorist Irwin Altman (1977) designates as themulti-mechanic natureof privacy protection, we test a model in which we expect to find that the three discerned strategies are related to one another. Structural equation modelling analysis performed on the subsample (n = 1564) of our study’s data – collected among 1743 adolescents by means of a paper-and-pencil survey – demonstrates that, in line with Altman’s vision of privacy protection, the three discerned strategies effectively operate as an interdependent system. In congruence with the hypotheses derived from extant research, we found that adolescents’ level of disclosure influences adolescents’ involvement in the two other discerned strategies: Adolescents with high levels of personal information disclosure share an increased tendency to have many friends on SNSs and a lower level of using privacy settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The non-medical use of stimulants for academic performance enhancement is becoming a more common practice among college and university students. Objective: The objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of students' intention to use stimulant medication for the purpose of enhancing their academic performance. Based on an extended model of Ajzen's theory of planned behavior, we examined the predictive value of attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, psychological distress, procrastination, substance use, and alcohol use on students' intention to use stimulants to improve their academic performance. Methods: The sample consisted of 3,589 Flemish university and college students (mean age: 21.59, SD: 4.09), who participated anonymously in an online survey conducted in March and April 2013. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate the relationships among the study variables. Results: Our results indicate that subjective norm is the strongest predictor of students' intention to use stimulant medication, followed by attitude and perceived behavioral control. To a lesser extent, procrastinating tendencies, psychological distress, and substance abuse contribute to students' intention. Conclusions/ Importance: Based on these findings, we provide several recommendations on how to curtail students' intention to use stimulant medication for the purpose of improving their academic performance. In addition, we urge researchers to identify other psychological variables that might be related to students' intention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescent sexting – the electronic swapping of sexually intimate texts or images – has attracted significant media and policy attention. However, questions remain about the predictors of this phenomenon, in which mobile phones play a central role in adolescents’ exploration of sexuality. Therefore, a survey involving 498 adolescents aged between 15 and 18 years was conducted. The first aim of this study is to determine the predictive value of personal attitudes, subjective norm (SN) and perceived behavioural control by applying the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). As the second aim, we wish to assess the relative importance of the most salient beliefs underpinning the TPB components, since this will allow us to gain a more nuanced insight into the characteristics of adolescent sexting. Analyses reveal that SN is the most important predictor, followed by adolescents’ attitudes towards sexting. Perceived behavioural control is significantly but weakly associated with teenagers’ sexting intentions. Within SN, friends and romantic partners represent the most important sources of social pressure, while only positive behavioural outcomes are found to affect adolescents’ sexting intentions. The most important control belief affecting adolescents’ intention to sext is the belief that it occurs relatively more often among those whom adolescents feel they can trust entirely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims at exploring which factors predict the willingness of adolescents to disclose personal information in response to online marketing requests. Our analyses show that especially privacy concerns and perceived benefits explain a considerable portion of variance in both willingness to disclose profile data (e.g. age, hobbies, favourite products) and contact data (e.g. phone number, e-mail address, home address). An interesting interrelationship was found between profile data and contact data disclosure. Contrary to our expectations, parental mediation strategies were only a weak predictor of teenagers' willingness to disclose contact information. Policy implications that emerge from the central findings of this study are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Environmental impact assessments of pharmaceuticals typically consider only a part of the pharmaceutical supply chain, e.g. tablet formulation. While the environmental impact can be expressed in environmental Human Health burden due to resource use and emissions, the Human Health benefit of the pharmaceutical treatment of patients is currently not simultaneously taken into account. The study aims include a cradle-to-grave assessment of all Human Health impacts of the production, administration and disposal of two antipsychotics for the treatment of schizophrenia. This is complemented with the environmental impact of health care providers such as hospitals. The aim is to holistically quantify to what extent the environmental Human Health burden compares to the Human Health benefit associated with the treatment.Methods: We applied an overall framework which included Life Cycle Assessment to model the environmental Human Health impacts of the pharmaceutical supply chain, administration and disposal of the drug and health care providers. To model the patient benefit, this was complemented with a Markov model with a 1-year time horizon. Three patient groups were modeled: medicine coverage of paliperidone palmitate for either one month (PP1M) or three months (PP3M) at a time, and compared to Treatment Interruption (TI) as a control group. Outcomes were quantified using Years of Life Lost (YLL), Years Lived with Disability (YLD) and Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY).Results: The main environmental impacts were visits to the psychiatrist and psychiatric hospitals. The pharmaceutical supply chain had a limited impact. For 1000 patients for 1 year, PP1M and PP3M respectively avoided 0.38 and 0.49 environmental DALYs compared to TI. PP1M and PP3M further avoided 45.60 and 57.87 YLL and 23.31 and 29.91 YLD compared to TI. The main outcome was the sum of environmental DALYs, YLL and YLD, in which PP1M and PP3M respectively avoided 69.29 and 88.26 DALYs. Alternative analysis of Quality-Adjusted Life Years confirmed the results.Conclusions: The overall environmental burden was lower for PP1M and PP3M treatment than Treatment Interruption because patients are kept more stable, which reduces the environmental burden due to hospitals. Moreover, the Human Health burden was outweighed by the Human Health benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sharenting, parents’ sharing of personal information about children on social media is becoming increasingly controversial. Its potential risks have drawn some parents to engage in mindful sharenting: parents’ application of strategies to reduce the potentially negative effects of sharenting, as they are aware of the impact sharenting can have on the child’s privacy. Objective: This study aims to investigate parents’ motives for engaging in mindful sharenting, the strategies they implement and how relatives and acquaintances react. Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with eight mother–father dyads in Belgium. At least one of both respondents had to be born between 1980 and 2000 (i.e., millennial parents), having a child aged between 0 and 6 years. Conversations were transcribed ad verbatim, coded in Nvivo, and were analyzed thematically. Results: The reasons leading parents to engage in mindful sharenting were previous negative experiences they encountered or heard of from acquaintances. In addition, parents aimed to safeguard their child’s privacy and prevent any misuse of their identity or any other forms of aggression. Furthermore, certain parents wish to grant their children the freedom to choose which media content about them is shared online at a later stage in life. As parents are aware of potential benefits of sharenting, they employ strategies to ensure their child’s privacy, while still enjoying the benefits sharenting offers them. These strategies include photographing the child from a distance, the child looking away from the camera, focusing only on a body part, covering the face with an emoticon, blurring the face, or cutting recognizable parts from the photo. However, parents engaging in mindful sharenting are also confronted with questions and negative comments from family members and acquaintances. This makes them feel like they must justify their decision. Moreover, they are sometimes confronted with family members posting identifiable pictures of their child, which leads to privacy turbulence, and parents having to clarify and renegotiate the privacy boundaries concerning image sharing. Conclusion: Parents deciding to engage in mindful sharenting engage in several strategies to balance between the opportunities sharenting can offer them, the social pressure they experience to post child-related updates, and their objective to protect their child’s privacy. However, some parents face criticism, making them feel pressured to justify their decision and having to clearly explain to family members not to make identifiable pictures of their child available online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article narrates the history of Belgian Sinology both before and since the birth of Sinology (1814) and of Belgium (1830). The overview also embraces a broader group of scholars by including Sinologists who were from Belgium but did not necessarily work there. The first part of the article focuses on Sinological practices by the early missionaries in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The second part covers the nineteenth and twentieth centuries until the Open-Door Policy of the 1970s. This part combines a broad chronological perspective with the history of individual persons and institutions. It includes topics such as the development of oriental studies and studies of religion, the teaching of Chinese language for commercial reasons, and the establishment of Chinese and Oriental institutes within and outside the universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sharenting, the practice whereby parents disclose information about their children on social media, is ubiquitous in our digital society. Even though grandparents take on a considerable role in their grandchildren's lives and use social media, little is known about grandparents' sharenting behavior (i.e., grandsharenting). This study explores grandparents' motives for grandsharenting and privacy management strategies using Communication Privacy Management theory. Based on 17 interviews with grandparents (Facebook users aged between 52 and 83) in Flanders (Belgium), six motives for grandsharenting were identified: informing others about their grandchildren's development; interacting with other grandparents; giving advice; role confirmation; showing pride towards their grandchildren or happiness of being a grandparent and saving memories. Grandparents indicated they cared about their grandchildren's digital identities and applied cost-mitigating strategies to protect grandchildren's privacy. Although cost-mitigating strategies varied by the grandchild's age, respondents said to consider the content they post, to ask permission to their grandchild before sharing information to respect privacy boundaries and to avoid privacy turbulence. As only grandparents with minor grandchildren were interviewed, parental involvement was deemed important. Grandparents intervened when they experienced grandchildren's privacy had been violated. Findings contribute to research on privacy regulation, impression management and intergenerational relations in a digital landscape. Prior state of knowledge: Research on sharenting predominantly focuses on the motives for parental sharenting and outlines the privacy risks sharenting contains. Moreover, in line with Communication Privacy Management theory, research lays bare the cost-mitigating strategies parents adopt to protect their child's privacy online. Novel contributions: As grandparents often take on a considerable role in their grandchildren's lives and increasingly use social media, this study contributes to communication and family studies by investigating grandparents' motives for sharenting and by examining how they engage in privacy management. Practical implications: We recommend grandparents to discuss their grandsharenting behavior with their grandchild or the parents of the child before sharing content about the grandchild on social media. Moreover, we encourage grandparents to respect privacy rules in order to avoid intra-familial conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In north-western Europe, the Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt rivers have created a large river delta over the past 3 million years. Geological phenomena in the Scheldt region in north-western Belgium and in the southern Netherlands testify from a highly dynamic landscape, showing a range from very old (50 MY) to very young (recent) geological processes. The great diversity in geological processes and resulting landscapes is unprecedented on a global scale and has had its impact on the region's cultural and economic history, shaping today's reality in the global polycrisis. However, the area is usually observed by people as a flat and featureless type of terrain, although sometimes, unexpected elevation differences and sharp contrasts in landscapes occur alternating with omnipresent waterways. Therefore, here, the seven most conspicuous landforms are reviewed and presented in conjunction with the geological history of the area, including the typical lowland theme of the human battle against water. This study aims to (a) reconstruct the Tertiary and Quaternary to Holocene Dutch–Flemish Schelde Delta history, (b) review a cultural history that evolves into the present of the Anthropocene, and (c) project the desired future for sustainable landscapes in the aspiring UNESCO Global Geopark Schelde Delta between plural landscape management scenarios of Revitalised Land- and Waterscape and Improved Biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite indications that password sharing is prevalent among early adolescents, limited empirical research has sought to understand why young teenagers share their passwords with others. This exploratory study aims to address this research gap by investigating early adolescents' perceptions of the motivations and consequences of sharing passwords with friends. In February and March 2020, we conducted nine focus groups with 51 participants (n = 24 boys, 47%; n = 27 girls, 53%). The participants were between 13 and 16 years old (Mage = 14.35; SDage = 0.74). The results indicate that password sharing is normative among adolescents. We identified five main motivations for sharing passwords. The results indicate that password sharing can either be a very deliberate behavior or occur rather spontaneously. The respondents perceived impersonation, hacking, and posting insulting content as the main negative outcomes of password sharing. The results of our exploratory study provide stepping stones for future theory-driven research and underscore the need for media literacy research to focus on practical technical skills as well as interpersonal skills to educate early adolescents about unsafe password sharing. Prior State of Knowledge: Prior studies show that password sharing with friends is a common behavior among early adolescents. The context, motivations and consequences of password sharing behavior within adolescents' friendships are poorly understood. Novel Contributions: The results of our study indicated that password sharing can either be a very deliberate behavior or occur rather spontaneously. The respondents perceived impersonation, hacking, and posting insulting content as the main negative outcomes of password sharing. Practical Implications: Educational programs should focus on technical skills for keeping accounts safe after a password has been shared and should discuss the interpersonal aspects of password sharing (e.g. teaching how to tell someone that they no longer want to share a password). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Present-day scholarship on Black Lives Matter and the decolonization of public space has largely focused on the monuments that have raised societal criticism. Commemorative markers for missionaries have so far largely fallen beyond these debates. This article asks why this has been the case, how missionaries are remembered and in which ways they connect to the present-day criticism of problematic memorials. More particularly, it analyzes the memorialization of martyrs, i.e. missionaries who were killed during their mission, and works with the case of Belgium, a country that has witnessed campaigns against statues of Leopold II and his collaborators in the Congo Free State. The article reveals that the only direct references to colonial violence in Belgian public space are tributes to martyred missionaries. Although explicit reference to martyrdom has gradually faded (but not completely disappeared), colonial language and frames have not, white individuals' commitment and victimhood being emphasized and contrasted with collective and anonymous indigenous savagery. At the same time, the article demonstrates the complexity of dealing with these monuments. They also serve as sites of mourning and family reunion and honor individuals that are not associated with colonialism but, on the contrary, are being venerated beyond Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Late Glacial coversand landscapes are important archives of environmental change during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition as well as of Final Paleolithic human adaptation to these changes. However, extensive reconstruction of these landscapes is hampered by the fact that they are often preserved best when covered with later eolian, alluvial and/or marine sediments. These paleolandscapes are generally mapped by means of manual or mechanical coring to date, which is rather expensive and labor‐intensive. This study aims to develop a more efficient methodology to map paleolandscapes buried within the coversand and below Holocene floodplain deposits, using a case study in NW Belgium. Electric cone penetration testing is established as a primary technique for mapping the paleotopography of thin organic rich layers within the coversand, in combination with core sampling for lithostratigraphic correlation and validation. Radiocarbon dating and pollen analyses are used to investigate the chronological and biostratigraphic context, respectively. The results reveal the paleotopography of three undulating organic rich stabilization surfaces within the coversand, which were formed from the GI‐1d to GI‐1a. These paleosurfaces provide valuable contexts for studying Final Paleolithic archaeology in the coversand region specifically, but the developed methodology is applicable to Paleolithic archaeology in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Just as with other forms of abuse such as bullying, dating violence is no longer limited to physical spaces. Several forms of dating violence can also be perpetrated by means of technology. Few studies have used a theoretical perspective to investigate cyber dating abuse. This study addresses this gap in the literature by focusing on the perpetration of digital monitoring behaviors—a form of cyber dating abuse—from a social learning perspective. We investigate the extent to which perceived social norms about cyber dating abuse, witnessing controlling behaviors among parents, and endorsing gender stereotypes are linked with adolescents' engagement in digital monitoring behaviors. The study draws on data from 466 secondary school students (71.0% girls, n = 331) aged between 16 and 22 years (M = 17.99 years, SD = 0.92) in Flanders, Belgium, who were in a romantic relationship. Linear regression analysis indicates that being female, being older, the perceived social norms of peers, the endorsement of gender stereotypes, and having observed intrusive controlling behaviors by the father are significantly and positively related to adolescents' perpetration of digital monitoring behaviors. The findings have implications for practice and underscore the need for prevention efforts to address and lower the influence of these perceived social norms. Further implications include the need for prevention efforts to focus on diminishing the impact of gender stereotypical attitudes and the influence of witnessing controlling behaviors within the family context on cyber dating abuse perpetration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There has been increasing attention in both popular and scientific circles to the misuse of prescription stimulants by students. However, it is unclear which student groups are most vulnerable and what environmental factors could influence this misuse. Medical students might be more at risk because of high levels of competition and related stress in medical school, making them a relevant population to explore these interrelationships. Objectives: This study aims to answer two research questions: (1) Does competition lead to higher stress and greater likelihood of misuse? and (2) Do the levels of and interrelationships between competition, stress and misuse vary between students with different post-graduate aspirations? Methods: In total, 3159 Flemish medical students (48.99% response rate) participated anonymously in a 2016 questionnaire on stimulants. Misuse was defined as use to enhance study performance, but not as part of an applicable treatment. We performed (multiple group) structural equation modeling to answer the research questions. Results: Results indicate significant associations between competition, stress and misuse: the higher the perception of medical school as being competitive, the higher the stress level and the more likely the misuse. Against our expectations, the association between competition and stress was significantly stronger for future general practitioners (GPs) compared to future specialists. Conclusion: The competitive climate in medical school creates high stress levels, rendering students vulnerable to misuse of stimulants. Students need to be educated about how to cope with stress in a non-pharmaceutical way, making them more resilient to stress during studentship and in their future careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares the anti-nuclear weapon campaigns in the Netherlands and Belgium during the political struggle against the NATO Double-Track Decision of December 1979 to deploy new nuclear missiles in Western Europe. While the traditional view is that the Dutch peace movement, and more specifically the Inter-Church Peace Council (IKV), was unique for leading the Europe-wide protests against nuclear weapons, this comparison reveals that the IKV campaign was in most aspects not very different from the anti-nuclear campaign of its counterpart in Belgium, the Flemish Action Committee Against Nuclear Weapons (VAKA). Both peace movements used similar methods, strategies and forms of actions, and both succeeded in making their respective governments repeatedly delay the final decision on cruise missile deployment until 1985. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Previous research has suggested that social anxiety is associated with victimization and perpetration of (cyber)bullying. The direction and causality of this relationship has not yet been empirically supported for both traditional and cyberbullying involvement. This study examined short-term longitudinal associations between feelings of social anxiety and involvement in traditional bullying and cyberbullying among 2128 adolescents aged 10-17 (56.6 % girls). A cross-lagged panel analysis provided evidence for the contribution of social anxiety to later victimization of bullying, both on- and off-line. The possibility of a reciprocal relationship was also examined, although it was not supported. Furthermore, longitudinal bidirectional relationships between social anxiety and the perpetration of bullying were investigated. Only one significant longitudinal association was found: the perpetration of traditional bullying predicted subsequent higher levels of social anxiety. The implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nutritional value of food and its environmental impact have received considerable attention, however an assessment of environmental sustainability of catered meals is lacking. We therefore assessed the nutritional value and resource consumption of a specific catered meal, pork tenderloin with potato croquettes, carrots and mushroom sauce (‘Canteen Pork’). The outcomes are compared with that of an identical meal cooked at home (‘Home’), for which ‘Low’ and ‘High’ scoring hypothetical alternatives were defined (e.g. whether or not frying oil as a waste product was reprocessed or recycled), as well as with that of a vegetarian alternative: Quorn™. The resource consumption impact is assessed from cradle-to-disposal, expressed as the Cumulative Exergy Extraction from the Natural Environment (CEENE). Exergy is the amount of useful energy. The CEENE approach accounts for all resource types and is unique since it considers the deprived natural net primary production (expressed in exergy) as the impact for human land occupation, highly relevant for crop and thus food production. The food production, processing and packaging stage accounts for the largest amount of resource consumption compared to food preparation and waste management. The ‘Home Pork High’ scenario has the highest resource consumption at 83 MJex meal −1 . ‘Home Pork Low’, ‘Home Quorn™ High’, ‘Canteen Pork’, ‘Home Quorn™ Low’ and ‘Canteen Quorn’ have a 15, 18, 26, 32 and 40% lower resource consumption compared to ‘Home Pork High’, respectively. For all scenarios, biomass resources contribute 52–64% of the total CEENE, mainly through land occupation. The nutritional analysis, via nutritional density scoring (the higher the better), resulted in a score of 18.1 and 31.2 for the ‘Home Quorn Low’ and ‘High’, 10.4 and 23.4 for the ‘Home Pork High’ and ‘Low’ scenario and 17.0 and 27.3 for the ‘Canteen Pork’ and ‘Canteen Quorn™’, respectively. To conclude, the vegetarian meal scores best on both attributes, however, this effect diminishes considerably if one considers outcomes per energy or protein amount. With regards to catered vs home cooked meals, resource consumption is lower in canteen prepared meals than in the case of the home-cooked meal. However, the nutritional value can be lower or higher depending on consumer behaviour, namely the extent of the use, type and application of butter is key in altering this result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a Mechelen urban chronicle written around 1500 by Mechelen citizen Jan de Wilde, much attention is devoted to the city's patron, Saint Rumbold. The author based his chronicle mainly on Brabantine historiography, but added passages on Rumbold from various sources. Among these are not only an older vita describing Rumbold's life and miracles, but possibly also archival sources which are still kept in the city archives today. The article shows that Jan de Wilde was true to his sources, but at the same time consciously increased the importance of Rumbold in his narrative. His version of Mechelen's history, infused with Rumbold's vita, fits within a broader context of intensified devotion towards the city patron in the late fifteenth century that increasingly associated the Saint with the city's urban identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When bystanders want to help victims of harassment on social network sites, they can be guided by the affordances of different communication modalities in order to make a communicative choice. Elaborating on the data of a previous experimental study with 453 adolescents, we compared bystanders’ behavioural intentions to help the victim according to their ‘mediacy’ (via communication technologies (CT) or face-to-face) and their ‘privacy’ (in public or in private). Furthermore, we investigated whether the context of the harassing incident (incident severity, identity and behaviour of other bystanders) influenced the ‘mediacy’ and ‘privacy’ of bystanders’ helping intentions. The results showed that in general bystanders had higher behavioural intentions to help the victim in private (vs. in public) and via CT (vs. face-to-face). While incident severity influenced the ‘mediacy’ of bystanders’ helping intentions, the identity and behaviour of other bystanders affected the ‘privacy’ of their helping intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We previously reported that Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of Chagas disease, induces in congenitally infected fetuses a strong, adult-like parasite-specific CD8 T cell response producing IFN-γ (Hermann et al. in Blood 100:2153-2158, ). This suggests that the parasite is able to overcome the immaturity of neonatal antigen presenting cells, an issue which has not been previously addressed. We therefore investigated in vitro the ability of T. cruzi to activate cord blood DCs and compared its effect to that on adult cells. We show that T. cruzi induces phenotypic maturation of cord blood CD11c myeloid DCs (mDCs), by enhancing surface expression of CD40, CD80, and CD83, and that parasite-specific IgG purified from cord blood of neonates born to T. cruzi-infected mothers amplify such expression. CD83, considered as the best marker of mature DCs, reaches higher level on cord blood than on adult mDCs. Allo-stimulation experiments showed that T. cruzi-activated cord blood mononuclear cells enriched in DCs (eDCs) stimulate proliferation of cord blood and adult CD3 T cells to a similar extent. Of note, T. cruzi-activated eDCs from cord blood trigger more potent proliferation of CD8 than CD8 (mainly CD4) adult T cells, a feature not observed with adult eDCs. T cell proliferation is associated with IFN-γ release and down-regulation of IL-13 production. These data show that T. cruzi potently activates human cord blood mDCs and endows eDCs to trigger CD8 T cell proliferation and favor type 1 immune response. Interestingly, maternal antibodies can strengthen the development of mature DCs that might contribute to overcome the immunological immaturity associated with early life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the Revolution of 1830, the new Belgian nation-state was in a patriotic mood. It celebrated its national glory in pantheons: imaginary temples in which the heroes from the national past were represented and accumulated. These pantheons were almost omnipresent in the public spaces of the kingdom. They familiarised the Belgians with their heroic 'forefathers' and with their legacy. The meaning and message of the pantheons were easily accessible. The sculpted, painted and written specimens of the genre could adopt various forms and composed according to different schemes. By the end of the nineteenth century, the pantheon had lost its prestige. Only within the framework of the debate on the 'layered' Belgian nationality, did a certain revival occur. As an expression of the historical culture, it had become marginal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Before his international breakthrough shortly before the turn of the century, Belgian painter Raoul De Keyser (1930–2012) had a long career that reaches back to the 1960s, when he was associated with Roger Raveel and the so-called Nieuwe Visie (New Vision in Dutch), Belgium's variation on postwar figurative painting that also entails Anglo-Saxon Pop Art and French nouveau réalisme. Dealing with De Keyser's works of the 1960s and 1970s, this article discusses the reception of American late-modernist art currents such as Color-Field Painting, Hard Edge, Pop Art, and Minimal Art in Belgium. Drawing on contemporaneous reflections (by, among others, poet and critic Roland Jooris) as well as on recently resurfaced materials from the artist's personal archives, this essay focuses on the ways innovations associated with these American trends were appropriated by De Keyser, particularly in the production of his so-called Linen Boxes and Slices. Made between 1967 and 1971, Linen Boxes and Slices are paintings that evolved into three-dimensional objects, free-standing on the floor or leaning against the wall. Apart from situating these constructions in De Keyser's oeuvre, this article interprets Linen Boxes and Slices as particular variations on Pop Art's fascination for consumer items and on Minimalism's interest in the spatial and material aspects of "specific objects". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the use of the abundance/biomass comparison (ABC) method for detecting environmental stress such as pollution on macrozoobenthos and bird communities in the Netherlands and Belgium. Environmental stress related to a long tidal exposure time of the plot or to human disturbance; Difficulty of using the method in estuarine areas.