Flemish Government Research Articles

Living Lab Electric vehicles Flanders (Belgium): The influence of testing an EV on the general appreciation of electric mobility

Numerous studies have already demonstrated the benefits and social relevance of electric vehicles. But why EVs are not yet visible in our streets? To provide an answer to this question the Flemish government has set up five living labs for the deployment of electric vehicles in 2011. Several studies presented in literature are focused on the consumer and his/her perception, but rarely take into account whether the consumer actually drove an EV. Therefor the iMove- and EVA-platform, as part of The Living Labs, form the ideal environment to investigate the perception of test users. Test drivers were asked to fill-in a same questionnaire before and after the test. Questions included inter alia judging the possible advantages and disadvantages, purchase potential. Many people were interested to test an electric car, although there basic knowledge about EVs was poor. Consumers confirm that the lower cost per kilometer is an important advantage, although it became less crucial after testing. Charging at home is perceived as an important advantage. The limited electric range still remains the main disadvantage, followed by the high purchase price. Consumers clearly underestimated the effect of a limited range. The willingness to purchase an EV within the future is related to the consumer’s idea of when an EV will be a full alternative. The majority consider buying an electric car in the near future (within 4 years). Related to this, one-third of the test population is willing to pay more for an electric car.

Of discourses, stakeholders and advocacy coalitions in media policy: Tracing negotiations towards the new management contract of Flemish public broadcaster VRT

Taking the run-up to the 2012–2016 management contract between Flemish public service broadcaster VRT and the Flemish government as a case study, this article analyses the role of the digital technology argument in debates and negotiations regarding the position of public service broadcasting (PSB) in the era of media convergence. It discusses the outcome of the 2011 contract negotiations as the result of the relative position and impact of different actors by means of a stakeholder analysis and advocacy coalition framework. Results suggest, first, that beneath surface discussions about PSB and new media are economic arguments and logics. They show, second, that two advocacy coalitions can be identified and that the negotiations’ outcome reflects a rupture of ties in the advocacy coalition between right-wing political parties and private media companies, favouring a market failure perspective, to the benefit of the advocacy coalition promoting the social responsibility perspective, reflected in the eventual 2012–2016 management contract.

Effect of tolerating macronutrient deficit on the development of intensive-care unit acquired weakness: a subanalysis of the EPaNIC trial

Patients who are critically ill can develop so-called intensive-care unit acquired weakness, which delays rehabilitation. Reduced muscle mass, quality, or both might have a role. The Early Parenteral Nutrition Completing Enteral Nutrition in Adult Critically Ill Patients (EPaNIC) trial (registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00512122) showed that tolerating macronutrient deficit for 1 week in intensive-care units (late parenteral nutrition [PN]) accelerated recovery compared with early PN. The role of weakness was unclear. Our aim was to assess whether late PN and early PN differentially affect muscle weakness and autophagic quality control of myofibres. In this prospectively planned subanalysis of the EPaNIC trial, weakness (MRC sum score) was assessed in 600 awake, cooperative patients. Skeletal muscle biopsies, harvested from 122 patients 8 days after randomisation and from 20 matched healthy controls, were studied for autophagy and atrophy. We determined the significance of differences with Mann-Whitney U, Median, Kruskal-Wallis, or χ(2) (exact) tests, as appropriate. With late PN, 105 (34%) of 305 patients had weakness on first assessment (median day 9 post-randomisation) compared with 127 (43%) of 295 patients given early PN (absolute difference -9%, 95% CI -16 to -1; p=0·030). Weakness recovered faster with late PN than with early PN (p=0·021). Myofibre cross-sectional area was less and density was lower in critically ill patients than in healthy controls, similarly with early PN and late PN. The LC3 (microtubule-associated protein light chain 3) II to LC3I ratio, related to autophagosome formation, was higher in patients given late PN than early PN (p=0·026), reaching values almost double those in the healthy control group (p=0·0016), and coinciding with less ubiquitin staining (p=0·019). A higher LC3II to LC3I ratio was independently associated with less weakness (p=0·047). Expression of mRNA encoding contractile myofibrillary proteins was lower and E3-ligase expression higher in muscle biopsies from patients than in control participants (p≤0·0006), but was unaffected by nutrition. Tolerating a substantial macronutrient deficit early during critical illness did not affect muscle wasting, but allowed more efficient activation of autophagic quality control of myofibres and reduced weakness. UZ Leuven, Research Foundation-Flanders, the Flemish Government, and the European Research Council.

TOWARDS “UNITY IN DIVERSITY” IN EUROPEAN DEVELOPMENT AID THROUGH DONOR HARMONIZATION AND DECENTRALIZED COOPERATION? A CASE STUDY OF FLANDERS AND BELGIUM

SUMMARYOfficial donors have over the past decade pledged to enhance aid effectiveness by improving donor harmonization. To this effect, the European Union (EU) launched initiatives on a division of labor among its Member States. At the same time, the EU encourages Europe's subnational authorities to engage in their own development cooperation. This however seems to undermine the same harmonization effort. Belgium, characterized by multiple levels of government, illustrates that these two approaches to aid effectiveness—collective division of labor at the national level and decentralized cooperation at lower levels—are only partially compatible. In partner countries where both the federal Belgian and regional Flemish governments are active donors, Belgium's composite aid is poorly harmonized. A principal–agent framework helps to explain such selfish positioning. This article argues that a higher degree of complementarity and harmonization among Belgium's various authorities is feasible, albeit in forms that are specific to recipient country and context. As both donors are not so much competing in aid supply policies but rather in terms of supply management, such technical arguments may assist in lessening the political pressure to selfishly emphasize diversity over unity. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

048 Development of First Aid Guidelines For Recreational Athletes By Belgian Red Cross-Flanders

BackgroundBelgian Red Cross-Flanders (BRCFl) is active in many fields including first aid training, for which BRCFl develops evidence-based guidelines according to AGREE II.ObjectivesDevelopment of evidence-based recommendations for recreational athletes who...

Institutionalized advisory systems: An analysis of member satisfaction of advice production and use across 9 strategic advisory councils in Flanders (Belgium)

Policy-making in Flanders (Belgium) is traditionally characterized by a dense advisory system with a high number of advisory councils, firmly integrated into the policy-making process. Recently, the Flemish government has reshaped its strategic advisory council system, responding to concerns over growing advice competition. This reorganization was part of a broader reform aimed at increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of policies. In this article, we analyze the defining aspects of this new advisory council system, and explore members’ satisfaction about the advisory process and the use of advice by policy-makers. The latter can be considered a prerequisite for advice to contribute to policy-making. Our analysis is based on a 2009 survey with the members of the new strategic advisory councils (response 72.4%). The results show that reorganizing the advisory council system has not led to uniformity regarding council size, budget or membership constitution. And although satisfaction with the advisory process is generally high, the influence of the advice is perceived as low, which poses a challenge to neo-corporatist policy-making in Flanders.

Using Fuzzy Logic to Introduce the Human Factor in the Failure Frequency Estimation of Storage Vessels in Chemical Plants

The frequency of an accident scenario is most commonly assessed by a generic failure frequency approach; the accuracy of the calculations is based on the quality of the data used. There exist different sources of generic failure frequencies such as the Reference Manual Bevi Risk Assessments (2009), the Failure Rate and Event Data for use within Risk Assessments of the HSE (2012), and the Handbook of Failure Frequencies of the Flemish Government (2009). The differences between them rely on the factors considered for their calculation and on the way the failures have been classified. Each one of the aforementioned sources takes into account different variables, but aspects such as the mechanical failures or the human factor are not explicitly detailed. Although the mechanical failures may have been considered indirectly, the human factor is difficult to quantify. The latter is a major cause of undesired events in process industries. Due to the complexity of quantifying human error and the causes that lead to it, this factor is not often considered in most of the generic failure frequencies databases. Through the use of fuzzy logic, the human factor is going to be introduced in the failure frequency estimation of storage vessels in chemical plants. This theory allows including qualitative variables not considered by traditional methods and deal with the uncertainty involved. In this way, the failure frequency estimation for storage vessels will be more realistic and accurate. To design the model the expert’s opinion is going to be taken into account through a questionnaire.

WE‐A‐134‐05: Comparison Between a Clinical Protocol and a Fast Automatic Update for Correlation Model Retraining During Gimballed Tumour Tracking: Impact On Margins and Target Dose Coverage

Purpose: to evaluate the reduction of correlation errors for both the clinical user‐dependent and an automatic correlation model (CM) retraining procedure based on patient data acquired during real‐time tumour tracking (RTTT). Methods: During clinical RTTT, tumour positions were detected using 0.5 Hz orthogonal kV fluoroscopy. Correlation models were retrained by three scenarios: (1) the current clinical procedure with a treatment interruption and rebuild of the correlation model using 20s fluoroscopy, (2) a single CM for the entire treatment without retraining and (3) a continuous retrained CM using an input of 0.5 Hz orthogonal verification images acquired during RTTT. The correlation errors (CE) were calculated by the difference between predicted and detected target positions. For all three retraining procedures, PTV margins were calculated using margin recipes. With the dose reconstruction by convolution of a static planned dose (5 mm PTV‐margin) with a point spread function based on CE, the coverage of the CTV periphery was evaluated for RTTT with the different CM update approaches Results: The clinical CM update procedure showed a 0.9 mm margin reduction compared with omission of intra‐fraction retraining. An additional 0.9 mm margin reduction was achieved by on‐the‐fly CM updating. Without interruptions for correlation remodelling, the treatment time could be reduced by 20% (1−5 minutes). On average, RTTT treatments showed a reduction of 2.4±3.1% for CTV D99 when using a clinical update and was equal to reconstructed CTV D99 values for a single CM treatment (1.6±3.3%) and for continuous CM update (1.6±2.0%). For 2 patients with a larger dose‐loss (>5%) on the CTV periphery using the clinical RTTT routine, the continuous CM approach reduced the dose‐loss to 2%. Conclusion: A fast automatic update of the correlation model reduced PTV‐margins and maintained an adequate CTV dose coverage for a large variety of breathing motion during RTTT. Corporate funding by BrainLab AG and Hercules Funding by the Flemish Government.

TH-A-137-11: First Clinical Experience Treating Patients with the Gimbaled Linac Tumor Tracking of the Vero SBRT System

Purpose: Reporting on the first group of patients treated with real‐time tumor tracking (RTTT) radiation therapy using the Vero gimbaled linac system and a single implanted fiducial marker. Methods: In total 8 patients diagnosed with NSCLC or oligo‐metastatic disease in lung or liver, and showing substantial breathing related tumor motion were included in this study. One single Visicoil fiducial marker was implanted inside or close to the tumor. SBRT schemes were applied with doses/fraction ranging from 5Gy up to 20Gy. Treatment planning was done using both the classic ITV approach as a reference using 5mm ITV‐PTV margin, and the RTTT planning applying a 5mm isotropic CTV‐PTV margin. RTTT was driven by a correlation model of external‐to‐internal motion and IR skin markers on the upper abdomen. The correlation model was rebuild multiple times per fraction. Data on the delivery process in terms of performance and time efficiency was accumulated. Results: The observed average peak‐to‐peak tumor motion reached up to 25mm, the average CTV volume was 9.0cc. An average PTV volume reduction was accomplished of 38%, ranging up to 52%. For this patient group, the average mean lung dose and mean liver dose were reduced from 2.6Gy to 2.0Gy, and from 11.7Gy to 9.4Gy respectively. Maximum average treatment time, including patient setup, ranged up to 35min. The correlation models were used for 6min 24 sec on average of which 2min 50sec was building time. The probability of the beams‐eye‐view tracking error to be less than 5mm averaged over all patients was exceeding 98%. Conclusion: A novel approach for real‐time tumor tracking using a gimbaled linac was successfully applied on a first group of patients. An initial evaluation was made of the possibilities of tracking to reduce the PTV volume and reestablish acceptable treatment fraction duration for respiratory correlated treatments. This collaborative work was supported by the Flemish government through the Hercules foundation, the Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Vlaanderen grants G.0486.06 and G.0412.08, and corporate funding from BrainLab AG.

Flood Risk Management in Flanders: Past Developments and Future Challenges

This paper presents the state of the art of flood risk management in Flanders, a low-lying region in the northern part of Belgium which is vulnerable to flooding. Possible flood hazard sources are not only the many rivers which pass through the Flemish inland, but also the North Sea, which is sensitive to the predicted sea level rise and which can affect large parts of the Flemish coastal area. Due to the expected increase in flood risks in the 21st century, the Flemish government has changed its flood management strategy from a flood control approach to a risk-based approach. Instead of focusing on protection against a certain water level, the objective now is to assure protection against the consequences of a flood, while considering its probability. In the first part, attention is given to the reasoning and functioning of the risk-based approach. Recent improvements to the approach are discussed, as well as the GIS-implementation of the entire model. The functioning of the approach is subsequently demonstrated in two case studies. The second part of the paper discusses future challenges for the flood risk management in Flanders. The driving force behind these challenges is the European Directive on the assessment and management of flood risks, which entered into force in 2007. The Flemish implementation of the directive is discussed and situated in the European landscape. Finally, attention is given to the communication of flood risks to the general public, since the “availability” of flood risk management plans is among the requirements of the EU Floods Directive.

Safety effects of reducing the speed limit from 90 km/h to 70 km/h

Speed is one of the main risk factors in traffic safety, as it increases both the chances and the severity of a crash. In order to achieve improved traffic safety by influencing the speed of travel, road authorities may decide to lower the legally imposed speed limits. In 2001 the Flemish government decided to lower speed limits from 90km/h to 70km/h on a considerable number of highways. The present study examines the effectiveness of this measure using a comparison group before- and after study to account for general trend effects in road safety. Sixty-one road sections with a total length of 116km were included. The speed limits for those locations were restricted in 2001 and 2002. The comparison group consisted of 19 road sections with a total length of 53km and an unchanged speed limit of 90km/h throughout the research period. Taking trend into account, the analyses showed a 5% decrease [0.88; 1.03] in the crash rates after the speed limit restriction. A greater effect was identified in the case of crashes involving serious injuries and fatalities, which showed a decrease of 33% [0.57; 0.79]. Separate analyses between crashes at intersections and at road sections showed a higher effectiveness at road sections. It can be concluded from this study that speed limit restrictions do have a favorable effect on traffic safety, especially on severe crashes. Future research should examine the cause for the difference in the effect between road sections and intersections that was identified, taking vehicle speeds into account.

Joint research coordination and programming for HLT for Dutch in the Low Countries

Since 1999, the Dutch Language Union (NTU) fosters the exchange of plans and policy initiatives amongst government officials of Flanders and the Netherlands on human language technology for Dutch (HLTD). One of the outcomes is the STEVIN R&D programme for HLTD, coordinated by the NTU and funded by the Flemish and Dutch governments. STEVIN is an example of successful joint research programming. Its set-up, highlights and scientific results are presented as well as an outlook to future initiatives.

Rationalizing the management of pregnancies of unknown location: temporal and external validation of a risk prediction model on 1962 pregnancies

Can we accurately define a group of pregnancies of unknown location (PULs) as low risk in order to safely reduce follow-up for these pregnancies and allocate resources to pregnancies at an increased risk of being ectopic? Prediction model M4 classified around 70% of PULs as low risk, of which around 97% were later characterized as failed PULs or intrauterine pregnancies (IUPs), while still classifying 88% of ectopic pregnancies as high risk. Depending on the level of suspicion of ectopic pregnancy (EP), women with a PUL receive a lengthy follow-up in order to confirm the location and viability of the pregnancy. A multi-centre diagnostic accuracy study of 1962 patients was carried out between 2003 and 2007 for retrospective temporal validation and between 2009 and 2011 for prospective external validation. The reference standard is the final characterization of PUL as failed pregnancies or IUPs (low risk), or as ectopic pregnancies (high risk). M4 is a multinomial logistic regression model based on the serum human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) levels at presentation and 48 h later. Temporal validation data from 1341 PULs collected at St George's Hospital in London were available, of which 53% were failed, 39% were intrauterine and 8% were ectopic pregnancies. External validation data from 621 PULs collected at four other London-based teaching hospitals were available, of which 63% were failed, 22% were intrauterine and 15% were ectopic pregnancies. The EP rate varied between 8 and 16% across the five hospitals. At St George's, 980 [73.1%, 95% confidence interval (CI): 70.5-75.4] PULs were considered low risk. Of these, 963 were failed PULs or IUPs (98.3%, 95% CI: 97.2-98.9) and 17 were ectopic pregnancies. At the other four hospitals, 62-75% were considered low risk, with 96-98% of these turning out to be failed PUL or IUP. Eighty-five percent (95% CI: 76.8-90.2) of the ectopic pregnancies were considered high risk at St George's, compared with 80-92% in the other hospitals. Of total, 120 patients had been excluded due to loss to follow-up, and a further 102 patients because of missing hCG levels due to differences in local clinical practice. There are variations in the definition of a PUL used in different countries. The suggested protocol could safely reduce the follow-up in the majority of PUL such that units could increase the focus on women at a risk of complications. This would lead to a change in the management of the majority of women with a PUL and a more efficient use of resources. At the end of the manuscript, we provide a link to enable clinicians to use the protocol. B.V.C. is supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). K.V.H. is supported by a fellowship from the Flanders' Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology (IWT-Vlaanderen), by the Research Council KU Leuven (GOA MaNet), by the Flemish Government (iMinds) and by the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (IUAP P7/DYSCO). T.B. is supported by the Imperial Healthcare NHS Trust NIHR Biomedical Research Centre. No competing interests are declared.

Super resolution reconstruction of diffusion tensor parameters from multi-oriented diffusion weighted images

Event Abstract Back to Event Super resolution reconstruction of diffusion tensor parameters from multi-oriented diffusion weighted images Gwendolyn Van Steenkiste1*, Ben Jeurissen1, Dirk H. Poot2 and Jan Sijbers1 1 University of Antwerp, Physics, Belgium 2 Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam, Medical informatics and Radiology, Netherlands Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is inherently a noisy imaging technique. Clinical time constraints prohibit the use of extensive averaging to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). To ensure that the SNR is sufficiently high, DTI acquisitions typically employ large voxels. As a result, many voxels consist of a mixture of signals from differently oriented structures, leading to partial volume effects and complicating DTI analysis. In this work, we propose a super resolution reconstruction (SRR) method to improve the trade-off between spatial resolution, SNR, and acquisition time. High resolution (HR) diffusion tensor parameters are estimated directly from a set of diffusion weighted (DW) images with thick slices and different slice-orientations. We simultaneously take into account the spatial transformations arising from the slice orientations [1], motion correction, and the DTI-model. This makes our method much more flexible in terms of image acquisition requirements than existing SRR methods for DTI [2, 3]. Including the DTI model results in a non-linear regularized least squares problem that is solved using a trust-region Newton method. Reconstruction quality of the proposed SRR methodology was evaluated using both simulations and real data. The SRR result was compared with a direct HR acquisition, obtained in the same scan time. Simulation experiments show a much lower mean squared error of fractional anisotropy and mean angular error of the first eigenvector for the proposed method compared to a direct HR acquisition. In real data, the reconstruction has a higher SNR than a direct HR acquisition, while still maintaining a good detail of the fine structures. We have developed a SRR method specifically designed for DTI that enables HR investigation of the brain in clinically feasible scan time. It enables DTI with unprecedented resolution, minimizing the partial volume effects and thereby revealing finer structures. Acknowledgements This work was financially supported by the iMinds-SuperMRI project (Interdisciplinary Institute for Technology, a research institute founded by the Flemish Government) References [1] D. H. J. Poot, V. Van Meir, and J. Sijbers, General and efficient super-resolution method for multi-slice MRI, 2010, MICCAI, 13(1), 615–22. [2] D. H. J. Poot, B. Jeurissen, Y. Bastiaensen, J. Veraart, W. Van Hecke, P. M. Parizel, and J. Sijbers, Super-resolution for multislice diffusion tensor imaging, 2013, Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 69(1) [3] B. Scherrer, A. Gholipour, and S. K. Warfield, Super-resolution reconstruction to increase the spatial resolution of diffusion weighted images from orthogonal anisotropic acquisitions., 2012, Medical image analysis, 16(7), 1465-1476 Keywords: MRI, diffusion MRI, Diffusion Tensor Imaging, super resolution, Motion Correction Conference: Imaging the brain at different scales: How to integrate multi-scale structural information?, Antwerp, Belgium, 2 Sep - 6 Sep, 2013. Presentation Type: Poster presentation Topic: Poster session Citation: Van Steenkiste G, Jeurissen B, Poot DH and Sijbers J (2013). Super resolution reconstruction of diffusion tensor parameters from multi-oriented diffusion weighted images. Front. Neuroinform. Conference Abstract: Imaging the brain at different scales: How to integrate multi-scale structural information?. doi: 10.3389/conf.fninf.2013.10.00031 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 31 Aug 2013; Published Online: 31 Aug 2013. * Correspondence: Miss. Gwendolyn Van Steenkiste, University of Antwerp, Physics, Antwerp, Belgium, gwendolyn.vansteenkiste@uantwerpen.be Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Gwendolyn Van Steenkiste Ben Jeurissen Dirk H Poot Jan Sijbers Google Gwendolyn Van Steenkiste Ben Jeurissen Dirk H Poot Jan Sijbers Google Scholar Gwendolyn Van Steenkiste Ben Jeurissen Dirk H Poot Jan Sijbers PubMed Gwendolyn Van Steenkiste Ben Jeurissen Dirk H Poot Jan Sijbers Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Liberalisation and Privatisation of Higher Education in Flanders: Passing the Point of No Return? A Case Study

The higher education system in Flanders is characterised by tight regulation and a tradition of excluding private providers from the sector. However, as in other European countries, the Belgian public sector has been confronted with the principles of New Public Management (NPM) and trends of liberalisation and privatisation. The same goes for the higher education sector where recently a private company has been recognised by the Flemish government as a higher education institution. This event triggers several questions: what are the consequences when the traditional providers seem to have lost their monopoly? What can this case tell us about the introduction of the principles of NPM in a closed system of higher education? This article comes to the conclusion that private actors still have to move within a framework that is highly conditional and that a closed higher education system can largely remain untouched by a clear-cut, well-defined ‘intrusion’ in the system. On the other hand, actors become aware that knowledge gaps in the market will be filled in by other providers, if the traditional providers do not react to them adequately themselves, and therefore need to optimise their behaviour in order to meet citizens' expectations.

An Evaluation of Public Spending: The Effectiveness of a Government-Supported Networking Program in Flanders

Most countries of the world have developed a wide array of government assistance programs for companies. However, it is only recently that researchers have started to evaluate the benefits of these programs empirically. This paper contributes to this emerging area of research by examining whether PLATO—a networking and training program sponsored by the Flemish government—increased the labor productivity of the participating companies. Our regression analysis of a panel dataset of Flemish small and medium-sized enterprises that existed between 1996 and 2008 confirms that PLATO participation indeed increases labor productivity. In addition, from a qualitative analysis of the PLATO program we infer some of its success factors, which could inform governments about how to design company support programs.

Living Labs for Electric Vehicles in Flandres

In 2011 the Flemish government launched the Living Labs Electric Vehicles, consisting of 5 different platforms each differing in technology, scope, size and use patterns. For the build-up of these platforms, the Flemish government relies on private companies, local authorities and research institutes. These platforms serve as an environment in which platform members as well as other partners can carry out experimental research related to the roll-out of electric vehicles (EVs) and EV fleets. A total financial investment of ±30 million € was made, equally divided between the private sector and the government, and an introduction of 600 electric vehicles and 600 new electric charging points is aimed for. The addressed research topics within these living labs include the assessment of the driving range of the EVs, the assessment of the implemented drivetrain technologies and charging infrastructure, travel- and purchase behaviour, market potential analyses, the development of new business cases, the development of new services and products, total cost of ownership analyses, environmental impact analyses, and social acceptance. In addition, with respect to the charging infrastructure, standardization issues, interoperability of the charging systems, and billing and roaming procedures are studied. A wide variety of stakeholders related to electric mobility is involved in these living labs, ranging from knowledge centres, automotive manufacturers, electricity producers and distributors, service providers. public transport companies and local authorities, to fleet owners and end users. This paper gives an overview of the 5 launched platforms: EVA, iMOVE, Olympus, EV TecLab and Volt-Air.

FULL SCALE IMPACT TESTS OF AN OVERTOPPING BORE ON A VERTICAL WALL IN THE LARGE WAVE FLUME (GWK) IN HANNOVER

To meet up with the requirements of the Flemish Government, the Belgian coastline needs a protection to a storm with a return period of 1000 years. At well-chosen locations, storm walls will be built, and for the structural design of these walls the impact loadings need to be known. Tests have been carried out at full scale in the Grosser Wellen Kanal, to determine the impact loads by overtopping bores. Wave overtopping over the crest of the dike occurs, and the overtopping bore progresses along the horizontal crest of the dike before impacting the storm wall. It is of major importance that such a wall can withstand the impacts. This paper describes the hydraulic process on the crest of the dike, expressed with parameters such as flow depth and flow velocity, and links them to the impact measured on the storm wall. Both pressures and forces are measured, and compared to each other.

10,000 Steps Flanders’: Evaluating the state-wide dissemination of a physical activity intervention in Belgium

Introduction: The whole-community intervention ‘10,000 Steps Ghent’ (2005–2006) which was based on socio-ecological models, showed to have positive effects on adults’ physical activity. As a result, in 2007 the Flemish government provided funding for the dissemination and implementation of ‘10,000 Steps’ in the entire region of Flanders (Flemish-speaking part of Belgium–6,250,000 inhabitants). The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of 4 years of this state-wide intervention ‘10,000 Steps Flanders’.

Towards Measurable and Auditable Efficiency Gains in the Flemish Public Sector

This article supports the Flemish Government’s efforts to improve the efficiency in the public sector, but points out that efficiency has to be considered in the broader context of a well-performing and well-functioning public sector. After describing the main motives for efficiency improvement, the article provides some insights into the concept of public sector efficiency gains. Within the discussion of their required characteristics, we focus mainly on the measurability and auditability conditions. We employ a phased approach for the measurement process of efficiency gains, going from the identification of potential savings to the reporting of the actual achieved results.