Brussels Capital Region Research Articles

Belgian general practitioners’ perception and use of physical activity on prescription

Abstract Background Physical activity (PA) reduces 19.5% of the attributable burden of chronic diseases (CDs), i.e. healthy life years lost due to morbidity and mortality. In addition, 29.5% of Belgians self-declared having at least one chronic disease. Moreover, almost 30% of the population above 15 years old is at health risk due to physical inactivity. Evidence shows physical activity on prescription (PAP) has a positive impact on PA level and metabolic health. General Practitioners (GPs) can use PAP as a prevention intervention. In Belgium, overall 94,1% of citizens have a referring General Practitioner (GP) or are affiliated with a general practice. There is no national policy on PAP, only a regional policy in Flanders. Therefore, the aim of the study is to investigate the perception and the (potential) provision of PAP by Belgian GPs. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Belgian GPs between January and end of March 2023. The survey has 41 (ordinal or multiple choice) questions. Descriptive statistics were performed. Results 134 GPs completed the survey of which 56% were female. 66.4% work in Flanders, 19.4% in Wallonia and 14.2% in Brussels-Capital region. Among respondents, 44% only discuss the benefits of PA with patients with a CD. Interestingly, less than 2% never discuss PA. 86.8% (would) prescribe if patients’ health status would be remedied by increasing PA, while 35.8% (would) use PAP if patients are inactive, regardless of their health status. About 75% identified chronic disease and exercise initiation as incentives for PAP. 41% would refer to PA (motivational) coaches, 55.2% to (adapted) PA courses. Lack of training (12.7%), time (49.3%), and knowledge of local PA offer (74%) were cited as barriers to using PAP. Conclusions The majority of responding GPs linked PAP with CD. Although there is no national implementation and regulation of PAP, GPs used (were ready to use) PAP in their practice. However, several barriers still hinder the use of PAP. Key messages • PAP is identified by Belgian GPs as a non-medical therapeutic strategy to counter health risks due to inactivity. • There is a need to harmonise and facilitate PAP in Belgian primary care.

Patterns in tobacco attributed mortality in Belgium for 2019

Abstract Introduction Tobacco use is one of largest contributors to preventable disease burden in the world. In Belgium, tobacco use is a public health concern and prominent on the policy agenda. To monitor tobacco use and understand the impact on associated outcomes, we estimated the population attributable fraction (PAF) to tobacco use in Belgium and used that to compute the attributable mortality. Methods We used comparative risk assessment to calculate PAF and attributable mortality to tobacco use. Using estimates of tobacco use from a time series based on five waves of the Belgian Health Interview Survey and relative risk estimates from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019, we calculated PAFs for risk-outcome pairs by age and sex for the three regions of Belgium for 2019. We then used these fractions to estimate the deaths attributable to tobacco use with mortality estimates taken from the Belgian Burden of Disease Study. Results In Belgium, 9323 deaths among adults 30+ years in 2019 were attributable to tobacco use (PAF=13%). Tobacco-attributable deaths were highest in the Wallonia (PAF=16%, n = 3786) followed by the Brussels-Capital region (PAF=15%, n = 894) and Flanders (PAF=11%, n = 4642). Almost three times as many attributable deaths occurred in men as women (19%, n = 6803 vs PAF=7%, n = 2519, respectively). Almost half attributable deaths occurred in people under 70 (n = 4469). The majority of tobacco-related deaths were due to cancer of the trachea, bronchus and lung (PAF=50%, n = 3671) followed by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (PAF=29%, n = 1580), and ischemic heart disease (PAF=7% n = 673). Conclusions Tobacco use is a major contributor to mortality in Belgium. The majority of deaths attributable to tobacco use are considered premature. Tobacco prevention and control should remain high on the public health agenda. Key messages • Tobacco use contributed to 13% of deaths in tobacco associated outcomes in Belgium among adults in 2019. • Tobacco control and prevention should remain high on the Belgian public health agenda.

Urban manufacturing and the role of industrial relatedness in sustaining it: the case of the Brussels Capital Region

Abstract This paper revisits the ongoing discussion on the concept of industrial relatedness by applying it to manufacturing industries in urban areas. The analysis uses a sample of firms operating in the Brussels Capital Region area and observed over the period 2009–2015. Based on a two-step quantile regression, results show that industrial relatedness is the agglomeration force that mostly sustains the performance of urban manufacturing, whereas this is not the case for other types of agglomeration externalities. Moreover, among the measures of industrial relatedness, the input–output relationship matters more than product similarity in the perspective of a relocation of manufacturing firms in urban areas.

Integrating public perceptions of proximity and quality in the modelling of urban green space access

Access to urban green space (UGS) is associated with a number of physical and social benefits. Recognizing the importance of UGS access for people’s wellbeing, several methods have been proposed to model UGS accessibility and highlight areas underserviced by UGS. However, existing methodologies have several limitations. Models often make use of universal, normative maximum travel distances, which may not reflect the distances people actually travel to reach UGS they regularly visit. Additionally, many of these analyses do not consider UGS quality, which will largely influence use and experience of these spaces and may act as a pull factor affecting the distance people are willing to travel to visit a UGS. Those methods that do integrate quality often rely on proxies, such as size or number of amenities, and fail to consider perceived quality. To address these limitations, we propose a methodology that integrates user perception and the actual distance people are prepared to travel into a quality-accessibility (QA) analysis applied at the building block scale. Information on travel distance and quality are gathered from a public participation GIS survey conducted in the Brussels Capital Region. The results of the analysis highlight inequalities in access to specific, essential UGS experiences throughout the region. Insights provided by this analysis can help planners prioritize interventions to improve access to experiences provided by UGS in parts of the city where interventions are most needed.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on gram-negative bacteria susceptibility patterns in respiratory samples of intensive care units in the Brussels Capital Region, 2010-2021

The effect of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on gram-negative bacterianonsusceptibility to antibiotics is unclear. Between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2021, the respiratory samples of intensive care unit patients at 3 University Hospitals in Brussels were retrieved. Based on the nonsusceptibility to antimicrobial classes, drug-resistance patterns were defined as multi-drug-resistant, extensively drug-resistant, and pan-drug-resistant. The study time frame was divided into 6 periods of 2 years each, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (last period: 2020-2021) was assessed. During the current study, 10,577 samples were identified from 5,889 patients. While a significant augmentation of multi-drug-resistant isolates was noticed once comparing 2 prepandemic periods (2012-2013 and 2014-2015), all 3 patterns of nonsusceptibility significantly increased, comparing the years before and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic (2018-2019 and 2020-2021). Globally, the greatest increase in antimicrobial nonsusceptibility, comparing the last 2 periods, was reported for piperacillin-tazobactam (from 28% to 38%). Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most isolated species, and the most involved in the appearance of resistance, with an augmentation of nonsusceptibility percentage to meropenem of 22% (from 25% to 47%), between the prepandemic and the pandemic periods. The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with increasing trends of antimicrobial resistance in respiratory samples of patients admitted to the intensive care units in university hospitals with well-implemented antibiotic stewardship programs.

Do optimism and moralization predict vaccination? A five-wave longitudinal study.

To examine if personal and comparative optimism, perceived effectiveness, and moralization of vaccination predict people's decision to get vaccinated. We measured self-reported vaccination decisions in a five-wave longitudinal study (N ≍ 5,000/wave) in Belgium over a six months period (December 2020-May 2021) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the predictors were demographic factors, personal and comparative optimism for three aspects of COVID-19 (infection, severe disease, good outcome), perceived effectiveness of vaccination, and the extent to which vaccination is being viewed in prosocial terms (altruism, civic spirit) versus as instrumental in one's self-interest (common sense, concern about one's health). The actual availability of vaccines changed people's outlook on vaccination. Marked differences emerged in vaccination decision between linguistic-cultural regions (Flemish Region, Walloon Region, Brussels Capital Region). Personal and comparative optimism predicted vaccination decisions to different extents depending on participants' age and on whether the optimism was for infection, severe disease, or a good outcome. In older participants, vaccination decision was mostly predicted by personal optimism; in younger participants, it was mostly predicted by comparative optimism. Moralizing vaccination predicted a lower likelihood of a positive vaccination decision, that is, higher vaccine hesitancy or refusal, particularly in older participants. Assessments of risk perception serving to inform vaccination campaigns should differentiate between expectations concerning the risk of infection and expectations concerning the outcome of an infection. Public health messages should address comparative optimism, particularly when targeting younger populations. Contrary to popular belief, moralizing vaccination may reduce the willingness to get vaccinated. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Do birds of a feather flock together? Patterns of ethnolinguistic group representation in the Brussels Capital Region

AbstractConsociational democracy is commonly discussed through the assumed premise of co‐ethnic group representation whereby representatives are institutionally incentivized to represent co‐ethnic interests. However, little attention has been paid to the process of group representation in consociations, in particular the link between descriptive and substantive ethnic group representation. This article considers representative claim‐making on behalf of ethnolinguistic groups in the Brussels Capital Region (Belgium), which is politically divided into Dutch and French speakers. Brussels constitutes an interesting case, because while we would expect co‐ethnic claim‐making to be the norm, Brussels MPs also receive electoral incentives to make representative claims on behalf of the other ethnolinguistic group (i.e., cross‐ethnic claim‐making). Based on a quantitative analysis of representative claims in parliamentary documents (2009–2019) from the Brussels Parliament, we find that cross‐ethnic claim‐making remains limited compared to co‐ethnic claim‐making, and that Dutch speakers and ethnic outbidders are more likely to speak on behalf of co‐ethnics.

Social and clinical risk factors associated with hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Brussels's deprived and multiethnic areas.

In Belgium, the Brussels-Capital region was severely affected by the COVID-19 epidemic. Various hypotheses were mentioned in order to explain Brussels' excess disease spreading and mortality rate, but socioeconomic risk factors are increasingly recognized. This study's objective was to analyze clinical and social profiles of patients hospitalized for COVID-19, by nationality groups, in two hospitals located in Brussels's deprived and multiethnic areas. Data covered hospitalized COVID-19 patients from two Brussels hospitals (n = 787) between the 1st of March 2020 and the 31st of June 2020. Social data was collected using hospital records, and clinical data was extracted from hospitals' COVID-19 databases. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds ratios (OR) of the association between two outcomes (Intensive Care Unit admission and mortality) and risk factors (social and clinical). Patients from Sub-Saharan Africa were younger, had a higher prevalence of obesity, lacked health insurance, and had the highest proportion of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission (27.7%) but the lowest mortality rates than other nationality groups. Patients from North Africa had a higher prevalence of diabetes compared to other nationality groups and a high proportion of European patients came from nursing homes. Patients deprived of health insurance had a higher risk of ICU admission compared to those who had insurance (OR IC95%; 1,9 1.1-3.6, p = 0.03). Other risk factors as sex and obesity were significantly associated to ICU admission and, age and hypertension were significantly associated to mortality. Social and clinical profile of the patients differs between the nationality groups, and some risk factors for Intensive Care Unit admission and mortality were linked to more patients' precarious situation as the availability of health insurance. This study underlines the role of selected social health determinants and the importance of routinely collecting social along with clinical data.

The (Legal) Concept of Waste: An Obstacle for Exnovating Linear Economic Activities and the Transition to a Circular Economy (In the Brussels Capital Region)?

This contribution examines whether and how the legal framework regarding waste, as applicable, is an obstacle or not to exnovating the linear economy. After providing an overview of the applicable legal framework regarding waste and the role of waste in the context of exnovating the linear economy (or put differently in the transition to a circular economy) (section II) the contribution dives into the concept of waste (section III) and examines the criteria that are to be fulfilled to qualify a product as waste. Once qualified as waste, a substance or good can also lose again this status if it complies with the conditions of the so-called ‘end-of-waste status’. This contribution examines how these criteria impact a circular economy. The conclusions of the assessment are bundled in section IV. This contribution is part of the interdisciplinary ULB/VUB research project Gosete, financed by Innoviris Brussels (Belgium). Gosete examines the governance issues related to the transition to a sustainable economy and in that context different case studies focused on the Brussels Capital Region (BCR) have been performed. This contribution thus also focuses on the legal framework as applicable to the BCR. However, to the extent this legal framework derives from EU legislation this contribution includes a more general assessment.

Controversies in Heterogeneous Classrooms, Adolescents’ Experiences of Social Cohesion in Brussels and Its Schools

As globalisation changes the sociocultural architecture of urban areas, adolescents increasingly interact with different sets of values and worldviews, which can be a potential cause of conflict and anxiety. To date, there is little empirical research on how adolescents perceive and experience social cohesion in a superdiverse metropolitan context such as the Brussels Capital Region. In this study, we elaborate on the relationship between social cohesion and ethnic diversity, using controversial topics as instruments to examine the erosion of social cohesion. To expose these processes, 34 in-depth interviews were conducted with pupils from Dutch-speaking secondary schools in Brussels. Through thematic analysis, the data revealed four overarching themes of controversies: Brussels, religion/philosophy, ethnicity/national belonging and political horizon, epitomising a paradox of conflict and consensus. Notably, during the interviews, the adolescents reported a climate shaped by actions of ‘silencing’, ‘avoiding’ and ‘voicing’ when discussing controversies in a heterogeneous classroom context. This analysis of adolescents’ perceptions of social cohesion hence corroborates the premise that conflict is not the opposite of cohesiveness, but rather an integral part of a pluralistic society.

Rerouting urban construction transport flows to avoid air pollution hotspots

Currently, over 96% of the urban population is exposed to exceeding air pollution concentrations. Freight transport daily engenders €61,604 of air pollution health costs in the Brussels-Capital Region (BCR), of which 60% is incurred by vulnerable population segments. The construction sector is responsible for 26.40% of truck traffic in the BCR. This paper examines the exposure effects when off-site construction logistics flows are redirected around air pollution hotspots. Consequently, alternative routing scenarios are computed, and its emission dispersed assuming a Gaussian relation. Concentrations are then associated to spatiotemporal receptor densities. The health impact is monetized using hospital exposure-response functions. While overall emissions increase across all scenarios, health costs are mitigated up to 25.53% by rerouting existing flows. This study suggests to decouple policies from absolute transport emissions and focus on its health impact, considering spatiotemporal dynamics of both emissions and receptors.

A survey on the availability of geriatric-friendly protocols, equipment and physical environment across emergency departments in Flanders, Belgium

BackgroundThe acquisition of geriatric-friendly resources is an important part of adapting emergency department (ED) care to the needs of vulnerable older patients. The aim of this study was to explore the availability of geriatric-friendly protocols, equipment and physical environment criteria in EDs and to identify related improvement opportunities.MethodsThe head nurse of 63 EDs in Flanders and Brussels Capital Region was invited to complete a survey in collaboration with the chief physician of the ED. The questionnaire was inspired by the American College of Emergency Physicians Geriatric ED Accreditation Program and explored the availability, relevance and feasibility of geriatric-friendly protocols, equipment and physical environment. Descriptive analyses were performed. A region-wide improvement opportunity was defined as a resource that was never to occasionally (0–50%) available on Flemish EDs and was scored (rather or very) relevant by at least 75% of respondents.ResultsA total of 32 questionnaires were analysed. The response rate was 50.8%. All surveyed resources were available in at least one ED. Eighteen out of 52 resources (34.6%) were available in more than half of EDs. Ten region-wide improvement opportunities were identified. These comprised seven protocols and three physical environment characteristics: 1) a geriatric approach initiated from physical triage, 2) elder abuse, 3) discharge to residential facility, 4) frequent geriatric pathologies, 5) access to geriatric specific follow-up clinics, 6) medication reconciliation, 7) minimising ‘nihil per os’ designation, 8) a large-face, analogue clock in each patient room, 9) raised toilet seats and 10) non-slip floors.ConclusionsCurrently available resources supporting optimal ED care for older patients in Flanders are very heterogeneous. Researchers, clinicians and policy makers need to define which geriatric-friendly protocols, equipment and physical environment criteria should become region-wide minimum operational standards. Findings of this study are relevant to facilitate the development process of this endeavour.

They live under our streets: ant nests (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in urban pavements.

In the context of global insect decline, the urbanisation process plays a key role. However, urban pavements, which are considered to be impervious to biodiversity, can harbour ground-nesting insects under certain conditions. Recent observations have revealed the presence of Formicidae nests under urban pavements. The aim of this work is to determine the species richness of Formicidae nesting under urban pavements in the Brussels-Capital Region (Belgium) and to characterise their nest environment and soil texture. Seven ant species were identified in 120 nesting sites: Lasiusniger, Lasiusbrunneus, Lasiusflavus, Lasiusfuliginosus, Tetramoriumcaespitum, Tetramoriumimpurum and Myrmicarugulosa. Concrete slabs or natural stones with a sandy sub-layer are the main structures in which ants nest. In addition, nests were mainly found under modular pavements with degraded rigid joints. The results of this work highlight the capacity of urban structures to host part of ant biodiversity in cities.

The health impact of freight transport-related air pollution on vulnerable population groups

Every year, over 364,200 people in Europe die prematurely due to the effects of air pollution, in which the transportation sector plays an important role. In Brussels, freight transport generates €61,604 of air pollution health costs daily. Research has shown that dynamic spatiotemporal modeling of both emission sources and exposed people (using mobile phone data) renders more accurate impact results when analyzed in microenvironments. However, mobile data underrepresent population segments that are more sensitive to the effects of air pollution, such as toddlers, children and elderly individuals. This paper examined the link between vulnerable people aged 0–3, 3–18 and >65 years and freight transport-related air pollution concentrations in the Brussels-Capital Region (BCR). To this end, dynamic tailpipe emissions and their spatiotemporal dispersion were calculated using output from the Transport Agent-Based Model (TRABAM) on a daily basis. Population densities were calculated as a function of the residences’ occupancy rate and school/class size and opening hours. The effects of exposure were then evaluated using age- and sex-differentiated exposure-response functions and monetized using local hospital cost factors. Data were compiled for 2021. A strong overlap between people’s presence at the institutions’ locations was noticed with a peak in (freight) transportation movements in the city. The results showed that €37,000 [€34,517.47–€40,047.13] of freight transport-related air pollution health costs were incurred daily by vulnerable population segments. While these vulnerable groups made up 25.34% of the total BCR population, they incurred 60% [56.03%–65.01%] of the engendered transportation air pollution costs. The results were then geographically analyzed to identify 465 traffic-related air pollution hotspots across the territory, which accounted for €36,000 [€33,677.85–€39,101.31] of total costs. The latter can be used in future studies to assess sector-specific freight transportation policies, which should take into consideration spatiotemporal population densities on the local level.

Traffic event detection as a slot filling problem

Social media platforms, such as Twitter, can be used to extract information related to traffic events. Previous works focused mainly on classifying tweets into predefined categories (i.e., traffic or non-traffic) without many details of traffic events. However, extracting traffic-related fine-grained information from tweets is essential to build an intelligent transportation system. In this work, we address for the first time the problem of detecting traffic events using Twitter as two subtasks: (i) identifying whether a tweet is traffic-related or not as a text classification subtask, and (ii) extracting more fine-grained information (i.e., “what”, “when”, “where”, and the “consequence” of the traffic event) as a slot filling subtask. We also publish two Dutch Traffic Twitter datasets from Belgium and the Brussels capital region. We propose using deep learning based methods that process the two subtasks separately or jointly. Experimental results indicate that the proposed architectures achieve high performance scores (i.e., more than 95% F1 score) on the constructed datasets for both subtasks, even in a transfer learning scenario. In addition, incorporating tweet-level information in each of the tokens comprising the tweet (for the BERT-based model) can lead to a performance improvement for the joint setting. Our datasets and code are available on GitHub.11https://github.com/Glovesme/TrafficEventDetectionBE.

Development of a Droplet Digital PCR to Monitor SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant BA.2 in Wastewater Samples

Wastewater-based surveillance can be used as a complementary method to other SARS-CoV-2 surveillance systems. It allows the emergence and spread of infections and SARS-CoV-2 variants to be monitored in time and place. This study presents an RT-ddPCR method that targets the T19I amino acid mutation in the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 genomes, which is specific to the BA.2 variant (omicron). The T19I assay was evaluated both in silico and in vitro for its inclusivity, sensitivity, and specificity. Moreover, wastewater samples were used as a proof of concept to monitor and quantify the emergence of the BA.2 variant from January until May 2022 in the Brussels-Capital Region which covers a population of more than 1.2 million inhabitants. The in silico analysis showed that more than 99% of the BA.2 genomes could be characterized using the T19I assay. Subsequently, the sensitivity and specificity of the T19I assay were successfully experimentally evaluated. Thanks to our specific method design, the positive signal from the mutant probe and wild-type probe of the T19I assay was measured and the proportion of genomes with the T19I mutation, characteristic of the BA.2 mutant, compared to the entire SARS-CoV-2 population was calculated. The applicability of the proposed RT-ddPCR method was evaluated to monitor and quantify the emergence of the BA.2 variant over time. To validate this assay as a proof of concept, the measurement of the proportion of a specific circulating variant with genomes containing the T19I mutation in comparison to the total viral population was carried out in wastewater samples from wastewater treatment plants in the Brussels-Capital Region in the winter and spring of 2022. This emergence and proportional increase in BA.2 genomes correspond to what was observed in the surveillance using respiratory samples; however, the emergence was observed slightly earlier, which suggests that wastewater sampling could be an early warning system and could be an interesting alternative to extensive human testing.

Incidence and clinical and microbiological features of invasive and probable invasive streptococcal group A infections in children and adults in the Brussels-Capital Region, 2005–2020

Assess the incidence, risk factors, clinical and microbiological features, and outcome of both probable invasive and invasive group A Streptococcus (GAS) infections in children and adults in the BrusselsCapital Region between 2005 and 2020. A retrospective, multicentric study was performed in three university hospitals in Brussels. Patients were identified through the centralized laboratory information system. Epidemiological and clinical data were collected from patients' hospital records. A total of 467 cases were identified. Incidence has increased from 2.1 to 10.9/100,000 inhabitants between 2009 and 2019 in non-homeless adults while it was above 100/100,000 on homeless in years with available denominators. Most of GAS were isolated from blood (43.6%), and the most common clinical presentation was skin and soft tissue infections (42.8%). A third of all the patients needed surgery, a quarter was admitted to the intensive care unit, and 10% of the adult patients died. Wounds and chickenpox disease were the main risk factors for children. Tobacco, alcohol abuse, wounds or chronic skin lesion, being homeless, and diabetes were identified as major predisposing factors for adults. The most common emm clusters were D4, E4, and AC3; 64% of the isolates were theoretically covered by the 30-valent M-protein vaccine. The burden of invasive and probable invasive GAS infections is on the rise in the studied adult population. We identified potential interventions that could contribute to decrease this burden: appropriate care of wounds, specifically among homeless and patients with risk factors such as diabetes and systematic chickenpox vaccination for children.

Priorities and Future of the ISBER Standards Community of Practice and Pediatric Special Interest Group

Priorities and Future of the ISBER Standards Community of Practice and Pediatric Special Interest Group

Identifying proxies and mapping heavy metals concentrations in city road dusts: A case study in the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium

This paper investigates the spatial distribution of heavy metals (HMs) concentrations in road dusts over a part of the Brussels-Capital Region (BCR), with the aim of identifying the most relevant factors impacting these concentrations and subsequently mapping them over all road segments. For this goal, a set of 128 samples of road dusts was collected over a three years time span in the Anderlecht municipality, that covers about a tenth of the BCR area. The concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn have been measured in the finest fraction (⌀<250 μm) using ICP-OES. In parallel, continuous and categorical-valued proxies have been collected over all road segments. Using a multivariate linear modeling (MLR) approach, the most influential proxies that have been identified are the distance to the center of the BCR, land use, road hierarchy and roadside parking occupation. The performance of the MLR models remains however limited, with adjusted R2 values around 0.5 for all HMs. From a spatial analysis of the regression residuals, it is likely that some useful proxies could have been overlooked. Although these models have clear limitations for reliably predicting HMs concentrations at specific locations, the corresponding maps drawn over all road segments provide a useful overview and help designing sound monitoring policies as well appropriate implementation of mitigation measures at places where road dust pollutants tend to concentrate. Further studies are needed to confirm this, but it is expected that our models will perform reasonably well over a large part of the BCR. It is believed too that our findings are relevant for modeling road dusts pollution in other cities as well.

Modeling the behavior of an autonomous shuttle for the evaluation of last-mile solutions

This paper models the behavior of an autonomous shuttle for last-mile application scenarios. To simulate the energy consumption, the real-world dynamical and electrical data of an autonomous pilot shuttle tested in the Brussels Capital Region are measured. Simulation results show 94.5-96.4% accuracy after validation. To simulate the speed profile of future scenarios, the trajectory is divided into eight sections, each with particular characteristics regarding the type of the road and, thus, different maximum opera- tional speeds. The shuttle's speed profile is reconstructed using the Gipps model based on the segmentation. As the speed profile simulation results match the shuttle's real-world behavior, the model is applied for speed profile generation of future scenarios. Last-mile scenarios’ evaluation is accomplished using the presented model.