Universite Libre De Bruxelles Research Articles

Precision Shape Control of Ultra-thin Shells with Strain Actuators

This paper is part of an effort conducted at Universite libre de Bruxelles (ULB) on behalf of European Space Agency (ESA) to control the shape of thin polymer shell structures with a unimorph layer of strain actuators (Polyvinylidenefluoride-co-trifluoroethylene, PVDF-TrFE), to achieve high quality light-weight foldable reflectors for space observation. The paper discusses the influence of the electrode size on the morphing capability of the system and addresses the difficulty associated with the ill-conditioning when controlling a very large set of electrodes. The final part of the paper describes a technology demonstrator currently under development and presents some simulation results fitting low order optical modes.

Towards Analytical Chaotic Evolutions in Brusselators

Abstract The Brusselator is a mathematical model for autocatalytic reaction, which was proposed by Ilya Prigogine and his collaborators at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles. The dynamics of the Bru...

In Memoriam: Paul-Henri Heenen (1947–2019)

Paul-Henri Heenen, Professor emeritus of the Universite Libre de Bruxelles and a renowned nuclear physicist, passed away on 1 June 2019 at the age of 71. Born in Brussels, he received his master's ...

Labour party adaptation to multilevel politics: evidence from British general election manifestos

We are grateful to participants at the March 2018 ‘Manifesto Co-ordination in Multi-Level Settings’ workshop at Universite Libre de Bruxelles and Waseda University for feedback on an earlier version of this paper. We are also grateful to the three anonymous reviewers for their extremely helpful comments.

“Why Private Property?”

Le texte suivant est la transcription de la table ronde qui a clôturé la conférence internationale « Pourquoi la propriété privée ? » (organisée à l’Université libre de Bruxelles en juin 2018). Philippe Van Parijs a accepté d’animer la discussion et d’organiser la confrontation des thèses de Jean-Fabien Spitz, Hillel Steiner et Karl Widerquist sur la propriété privée. La discussion est divisée en trois moments principaux. Tout d’abord, les orateurs clarifient leur propre approche de la propriété privée et la place qu’occupe ce concept dans leur théorie de la justice. Ces clarifications mènent le débat à la question des biens communs (commons) et soulève le problème de leur compatibilité avec les thèses de Jean-Fabien Spitz et Hillel Steiner. Dans un second temps, les conférenciers évaluent comment la dématérialisation de l’économie et le développement des droits de propriété intellectuelle posent de nouveaux défis au concept de propriété privée. Ces évolutions contemporaines sont-elles d’une telle importance qu’ils peuvent les amener à revoir leur position sur la propriété privée ? Et de manière générale, la propriété privée est-elle légitime dans le domaine intellectuel ? Enfin, les trois orateurs répondent à différentes questions du public. Ces questions les amènent à évoquer la tragédie des communs, la nature de la prospérité et les limites légitimes au droit de propriété privée. Cette discussion permet aux trois orateurs de clarifier leurs positions et de faire état explicitement de leurs désaccords (et des raisons qui les fondent) sur certains points majeurs des débats sur la propriété privée.

Price of Connectivity for the Vertex Cover Problem and the Dominating Set Problem: Conjectures and Investigation of Critical Graphs

The vertex cover problem and the dominating set problem are two well-known problems in graph theory. Their goal is to find the minimum size of a vertex subset satisfying some properties. Both hold a connected version, which imposes that the vertex subset must induce a connected component. To study the interdependence between the connected version and the original version of a problem, the Price of Connectivity ( $$PoC$$ ) was introduced by Cardinal and Levy (Theor Comput Sci 411(26–28):2581–2590, 2010) and Levy (Approximation algorithms for covering problems in dense graphs. Ph.D. thesis, Universite libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, 2009) as the ratio between invariants from the connected version and the original version of the problem. Camby et al. (Discret Math Theor Comput Sci 16:207–224, 2014) for the vertex cover problem, Camby and Schaudt (Discret Appl Math 177:53–59, 2014) for the dominating set problem characterized some classes of $$PoC$$ -Near-Perfect graphs, hereditary classes of graphs in which the Price of Connectivity is bounded by a fixed constant. Moreover, only for the vertex cover problem, Camby et al. (2014) introduced the notion of critical graphs, graphs that can appear in the list of forbidden induced subgraphs characterization. By definition, the Price of Connectivity of a critical graph is strictly greater than that of any proper induced subgraph. In this paper, we prove that for the vertex cover problem, every critical graph is either isomorphic to a cycle on 5 vertices or bipartite. To go further in the previous studies, we also present conjectures on $$PoC$$ -Near-Perfect graphs and critical graphs with the help of the computer software GraphsInGraphs (Camby and Caporossi in Studying graphs and their induced subgraphs with the computer: GraphsInGraphs. Cahiers du GERAD G-2016-10, 2016). Moreover, for the dominating set problem, we investigate critical trees and we show that every minimum dominating set of a critical graph is independent.

S99. CANNABIS USE, PSYCHOTIC-LIKE EXPERIENCES AND ABERRANT SALIENCE IN A SAMPLE OF BELGIAN STUDENTS

BackgroundCannabis is the most popular illicit drug in the western world and its use seems to be strongly associated with an increased risk of developing schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Its use can induce transient psychotic symptoms in healthy individuals and increase rate of subclinical psychotic symptoms in the general population. Subclinical psychotic experiences (also called Psychotic Like Experiences: PLEs), such as magical thinking, paranoid ideation or hallucinations, could be considered as a phenotype qualitatively similar to the symptomatology of psychotic disorders but quantitatively less severe in terms of intensity, frequency and impairment. They are fairly common in the general population and usually transitory and self-limiting but they could become abnormally persistent and evolve to a full-blown psychotic disorder, especially if combined with certain environmental risk factors, such as trauma, urbanicity, cannabis use. PLEs may be considered as an early marker of a latent psychosis vulnerability and the frequently good outcome of subclinical psychosis can be turned in negative outcomes by the association with environmental risk factors, such as cannabis use. We focus our attention on aberrant salience, a peculiar psychotic experience, frequently reported during the prodromal phase that precede the onset of full-blown psychotic illness. Aberrant salience is the unusual or incorrect assignment of salience or significance to innocuous stimuli; it has been hypothesized to be an important mechanism in the development of psychosis.MethodsUndergraduate students of ULB (Universitè Libre de Bruxelles) and INSAS (Institut national supérieur des arts du spectacle) of Brussels (Belgium) were invited to participate to the study.A self-report questionnaire, investigating socio-demographic characteristics, and cannabis use was administered, evaluating lifetime and current cannabis use.Aberrant Salience Inventory (ASI) is a 29 item Yes–No questionnaire developed to evaluate aberrant salience. French version of Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE), was used to evaluate dimensions of psychosis and PLEs. CAPE is a 42-item, self-report questionnaire, developed to measure the lifetime prevalence of PLEs in the general population. The questionnaire assesses three symptom dimensions (positive, depressive and negative symptoms). All statistical analysis was carried out with Statistical Package for Social Sciences, Version 20.0. We evaluated individual correlations between years of cannabis use and days of cannabis use in the last month with the tools scores. We also explored correlation of ASI score with different CAPE scores and different types of PLEs. Correlations were carried out by using the nonparametric Spearman correlation test.ResultsThe final sample was of 257 participants. 46,3% of subjects reported a lifetime cannabis use and 35.0% reported a current cannabis use (last 30 days). Compared with non-users, cannabis users showed significant higher ASI scores and also higher positive and negative dimensions CAPE scores. No significant association was found between cannabis consumption and the depressive dimension of CAPE. Years of cannabis use and frequency of use in the last 30 days showed a small positive correlation with ASI score; also, weaker positive correlations with CAPE positive and negative dimensions scores were observed.DiscussionTo some extent, our results support the evidences that cannabis use is associated with an increased rate of psychotic experiences in individuals without clinical form of psychosis. Future prospective longitudinal studies are required to better investigate the meaning of the association between cannabis use and PLEs.

Lipids affect the function of membrane proteins

Membrane proteins spend their time surrounded by lipids. For a long time, researchers thought those lipids didn’t really matter, that they were just a backdrop for the real players, an annoyance to be purified away before studying the proteins. But that view is changing. “It doesn’t make any sense to disregard proteins’ direct environment,” says Cedric Govaerts, a biologist who studies membrane proteins at Universite libre de Bruxelles. “It’s part of the picture. Why wouldn’t it play a role?” Not seeing lipids affecting membrane proteins, he says, would be the real surprise. Suspecting lipid-protein effects and actually observing them are two different things. But thanks to improved biophysical and structural biology methods, more and more studies are finding that lipids do indeed play important roles in regulating the structure, function, and dynamics of membrane proteins. Many such proteins are potential drug targets, and understanding these interactions could give researchers another

Collinearity and multivariable analysis: response to comments by Claret et al.

Dear Editor, We are grateful to Claret et al. [1] for their interest in our article [2]. The collinearity between variables was checked by inspection of the correlation between them, by looking at the correlation matrix of the estimated parameters, and by looking at the change in parameter estimates and their estimated standard errors. None of the correlations exceeded 0.24 and no instability of parameter estimates or significant increase in standard errors was observed during the analyses, so there was no indication of collinearity. After removing the age component from the conditional model, the odds ratio was 0.962 (0.955–0.968) versus 0.960 (0.953–0.966) for the intermediate time-to-death group and 0.958 (0.946– 0.969) versus 0.957 (0.945–0.968) for the late time-todeath group. Accordingly, there are no concerns about the statistical aspects of our retained model. The coefficient estimates are stable, and the conclusions drawn are appropriate. Author details 1 Department of Clinical Medicine, Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, Multi‐ disciplinary Intensive Care Research Organization (MICRO), Wellcome Trust, HRB Clinical Research, St James’s University Hospital Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. 2 CIBER Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Barcelona, Spain. 3 Department of Intensive Care, Erasme Hospital, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Route de Len‐ nik 808, 1070 Brussels, Belgium.

Biography of the Guest Editor

F. Thomas Bruss studied Mathematics in Saarbrucken (Germany), and, with a delegation grant from Saarbrucken, in Cambridge(UK) and in Sheffield(UK). He holds the Diplom-Mathematiker as well as his doctorate Dr. rer. nat. in Mathematics of the University of Saarbrucken. His scientific career began in 1977 at the University of Namur. In 1978 he received the docteur l´ egal Dr. en sc. and obtained tenure as First assistant a year later. His time in Namur also included visiting positions at the University of Zaire (1981) and at Strathclyde University Glasgow (1984). He then moved to the United States, first as Visiting Associate Professor at UC Santa Barbara, then as Adjunct Professor (Feodor-Lynen) fellow at the University of Arizona, and then as Visiting Associate Professor at UCLA. In 1990 Thomas returned to Europe as Professor of the Vesalius College of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Independently, he obtained the inscription sur liste des professeurs of France. In 1993 he was appointed chair of Math e matiques G e n e rales and Probabilit e s of the Universit e Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) where he has stayed ever since. Since then he also held visiting positions at the University of Antwerpen, the University of Namur and the Universit e Catholique de Louvain. Now, retired from the chair of Math´ ematiques G´ en´ erales, Thomas continues as Professeur de l’universit e of ULB, and as Invited Professor of the Universit e Catholique de Louvain. Prof. Bruss has made several important contributions to optimal stopping, including the 1/e-law of best choice (1984), Pascal processes (with LCG Rogers 1991), the odds algorithm (2000), or the solution of the last-arrival problem (with Marc Yor 2012). He also has strong interests in the theory of branching processes, as e.g. in bisexual Branching Processes and Resource-dependent Branching Processes (with Duerinckx 2015) as well as in various questions related with the theory of stochastic processes, as for instance the monotone subsequence problem (with Freddy Delbaen 2001, 2004). Thomas has served twice as head of the ULB Mathematics Department. He is also active in the national science foundations of Belgium, in the Belgian Statistical Society, the Belgian Mathematical Society, and the Coll e ge Belgique. He is an elected member of the T ȕ nissteiner Kreis (Germany), a fellow of the von-Humboldt Foundation (Germany) and a fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (USA). Thomas is also renowned for his outreach activity, with articles published in journals such as Spektrum der Wissenschaft, Pour la Science, Le Soir and Die Welt, as well as for his appearances on radio and television for expertise in probability. He has received several national and international distinctions and awards. In 2011 F. Thomas Bruss was honoured Commandeur de l’ordre de L e opold of Belgium. Normal 0 21 false false false PL ZH-CN X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Table Normal; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Calibri,sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}

Practical Applications of A Conversation with Marie Brière

A recent research article, Factor-Based v. Industry-Based Asset Allocation: The Contest, co-authored by Marie Briere, Head of the Investor Research Center at Amundi, and Ariane Szafarz, Professor at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, pits factor investing against traditional sector-based investing in a series of performance tests. In a conversation with Institutional Investor Journals, Briere talks about her research into factor-based investing. The recent study found that factors achieve higher returns because they capture risk premia through specific exposures. Factors are riskier than sectors, however, and diversification is less efficient across factors. Surprisingly, there is a significant trade-off that is sometimes, but not always, in favor of factor investing.

The Tivoli sustainable neighbourhood: a new way of building the city in Brussels?

In Brussels and elsewhere, the reference to sustainable development has made its way in public policies. With its 400 housing units, its park and an economic centre dedicated to “green” companies, the “Tivoli” sustainable neighbourhood project is one of the most ambitious projects under way in the Brussels territory. In 2012, researchers from Universite Saint-Louis – Bruxelles (USL-B), Universite libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Universite catholique de Louvain (UCL) and associations such as Periferia – in charge of participation in the Tivoli project – carried out an in vivo study of the project. This article summarises part of the “Quartiers durables” group’s work based on four themes: 1) the reorganisation of public action and “governance”; 2) participation at the heart of the sustainable project; 3) the connections between architecture and the model of the sustainable city; and 4) the appropriation of sustainable living in two other projects in Brussels. For the authors, the Tivoli project reveals (new?) approaches which question more broadly the methods of building the contemporary city.

The Use of Surveillance Technologies for the Prevention, Investigation and Prosecution of Serious Crime

This Working Paper is based on two research reports that were the outcome of the research carried out by the team of the Universite Libre de Bruxelles within the FP7 project SURVEILLE. Such research focused on the use of surveillance technologies for the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of serious crime. Taken together, the two reports developed a comparative analysis of a number of surveillance technologies and techniques used at different stages of the criminal procedure within selected national jurisdictions. The first project deliverable, finalised in October 2012 and entitled “The use of surveillance technologies for the prevention and investigation of serious crime” (D4.1), addressed the use of the interception of telecommunications and video-surveillance in three countries, namely France, Italy and the United Kingdom. The second deliverable, finalised in April 2013 and entitled “Comparative law paper on data retention regulation on a sample of EU Member States” (D4.3), examined the rules governing the retention of data by telecommunications companies and internet service providers for criminal justice purposes in nine countries (i.e. Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom). The two reports test the existence of what the authors call a double shift: the means at the disposal of competent national authorities (intelligence services and law enforcement agencies) in the fight against serious crime are evolving in such a way that the share of tasks and competences is now increasingly blurred. The fundamental rights dimension was the normative background of the legal dimensions of the SURVEILLE project as a whole, and thus also of the present work. The impact of evolving trends in the use of surveillance upon the right to privacy and the right to the protection of personal data are at the core of this research undertaking. The authors wish to highlight that legislation is changing very quickly in this domain both at the national level and at the EU level. In particular, the January 2015 attacks in Paris against Charlie Hebdo, the February 2015 attacks in Copenhagen and the increasing threat resulting from the foreign fighters phenomenon are significantly challenging the effectiveness of means used by States to prevent, investigate, detect and prosecute terrorist offences. Recent legislative developments deepen the blur between the tasks and functions of intelligence services and law enforcement agencies as well as the blur between administrative and criminal law measures. Furthermore, with the ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union on 8 April 2014 in the Digital Rights Ireland case -- partially reaffirmed in Schrems, EU Member States together with EU institutions have to rethink the legal framework concerning the use of surveillance technologies and techniques in order to ensure a coherent relationship between on the one hand safeguarding the right to privacy and the protection of personal data, and on the other hand developing effective means to prevent, investigate, detect and prosecute serious crime. Despite the fact that the two papers were written at least two years ago, the information remains largely up to date. These papers analyse a trend that has been occurring for some years and that is not over yet: a massive use of surveillance technologies and techniques by an increasing number of competent authorities leading to an exponential gathering of information by EU Member States aiming to fight more effectively against serious crime -- often at the expense of fundamental rights.

Security and Defensive Democracy in Israel: A Critical Approach to Political Discourse, by Sharon Weinblum

Reviewed by: Dubi Kanengisser, University of TorontoThe attacks of 11 September 2001, and the era of the on Terror they ushered in, led many democratic countries to enact laws that curtail democratic freedoms in order to protect the public from terrorist attacks. From the US PATRIOT Act to Canada's own Anti-Terrorism Act, the underlying rationale of all these pieces of legislation is that a balance must be struck between democratic freedoms and security. By implication, then, democratic rights pose a threat to security, which must be mitigated. Sharon Weinblum, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oxford and an associate researcher at the Universite libre de Bruxelles, problematizes these assumptions in her insightful book and investigates how the discourse of threat and insecurity transforms the very definition of democracy. exceptional emergency situation that is used to justify limitations on democratic freedoms surreptitiously becomes a permanent state, and the limitations on freedom become not an unfortunate but inevitable imposition on democratic principle but an inherent characteristic of democracy itself.The setting for this investigation is a democratic country that has experienced continuous real and perceived existential threats since its inception. Born into the world in the throes of a war waged by its new neighbours, Israel declared a state of emergency four days after its independence. This official state of emergency, which grants the government sweeping authorities to enact or change laws, is the basis for the Defense (Emergency) Regulations that serve as the legal framework for the occupation regime in the West Bank, and the Emergency Powers (Detention) Law that provides for administrative detentions. It has been periodically renewed by the Knesset ever since. Israel, therefore, is exceptional. As Weinblum argues convincingly, this exceptionality makes it a useful laboratory to examine democracies under the extreme conditions of ambiguous insecurity that terrorist threats generate even in the absence of actual substantial violence. Indeed, the responses already seen post-9/11 have followed Israel's example, indicating that studying the Israeli case may prove helpful in reflecting on discursive processes still taking place elsewhere in the democratic world. What George W. Bush dubbed The War on Terror, Israel called defensive democracy: the limitation of democratic rights to (purportedly) protect democratic principles and public safety, and, as Weinblum shows, the (Jewish) identity of the state.The book is structured around three themes, which also approximate a chronological order in the development of discourse in Israel redefining democracy as defensive democracy: from the curtailment of the right to freedom of speech at the height of the 2ndIntifada in the early 2000s (chapter 3); through the curtailment of the right to equal participation through the revocation of citizenship and withdrawal of the privileges of a member of the Knesset (MK), Khanin Zoabi, after the end of the Intifada in the second half of the 2000s (chapter 4); and finally to the curtailment of the right to family unification through the Citizenship and Entry Into Israel Law that was passed as a temporary order in 2003 and has been periodically renewed since (chapter 5). …

High frequency of Human Polyomavirus 6 DNA in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with neurological diseases

No: 1743 Presentation at ESCV 2015: Poster 1 High frequency of Human Polyomavirus 6 DNA in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with neurological diseases L. Signorini1,∗, F. Elia1, S. Villani1, R. Ticozzi1, M. Dolci1, D. Fraciotta2, E. Marchioni2, P. Ferrante1, S. Delbue1 1 University of Milano, Italy 2 Istituto Neurologico Mondino, Pavia, Italy Background: The family Polyomaviridae comprises thirteen human viruses that have been detected in various specimen types, mainly urine, skin and blood. Among all of them, only JC Polyomavirus (JCPyV), and sporadically BK polyomavirus (BKPyV) genomes have been detected in the Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF). More recently, the unexpected finding of Human Polyomavirus 6 (HPyV6) DNA in the CSF from anHIV positive patientwith leukoencephalopathy was reported. JCPyV being a recognized cause of Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML) in immunodeficient subjects provides a precedent for polyomavirus causing neurological symptoms, but alternative explanations should also be considered. The objectives of the study were to explore the prevalence of the newly discovered HPyV6, Human Polyomavirus 7 (HPyV7) andHuman Polyomavirus 9 (HPyV9) in neurological diseases, in comparison with those of JCV. Methods:CSFhavebeen collected from51HIV-positivepatients affected with HIV-related leukoencephalopathies and 191 HIVnegative patients affected with other neurological diseases (OND), such as meningitis, encephalitis, and encephalomyelitis. DNA was isolated and real-timePCRassays for JCV,HPyV6,HPyV7andHPyV9 were conducted. Results: JCV genome was detected in the CSF of 16/51 (31.4%) HIV-related leukoencephalopathies patients, HPyV6 genome in the CSF of 2/51 (3.9%) HIV-related leukoencephalopathies patients and in 37/191 (19.4%) HIV-negative patients with OND. HPyV7 and HPyV9 genomes were not amplified in any clinical specimens. Conclusions: HPyV6 genome was found in a high percentage of the CSF of the OND patients, whereas HPyV7 and HPyV9 genomeswere not detected. HPyV6 has not been previously associatedwith any disease, and it is nonetheless possible that theHPyV6 sequences originated from the skin during CSF collection. Whether HPyV6 detection in CSF is associated with patients’ neurological disease, is indicative of contamination with skin microbiota, or reflects increased blood-brain permeability is unknown. Demonstrating a causative role will require further studies. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcv.2015.07.156 Abstract No: 1744 Presentation at ESCV 2015: Poster 1 Impact of rapid influenza diagnostic tests on the management of hospitalized patients with suspicion of flu L. Busson1,∗, M. Hallin2, M. De Foor1, B. Mahadeb1, O. Vandenberg3 1 Department of Microbiology, Iris-Lab, Brussels, Belgium 2 Department of Molecular Diagnosis, Iris-Lab, Brussels, Belgium 3 Infectious Diseases Epidemiological Unit, Public Health School, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels,

ANTS 2014 special issue: Editorial

This special issue of the Swarm Intelligence journal is dedicated to the publication of extended versions of the best papers presented atANTS 2014, Ninth International Conference on Swarm Intelligence, which took place in Brussels on September 10–12, 2014. The ANTS series of conferences has taken place at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium, every other year since 1998. As in 2010 and in 2012 (for the seventh and eighth editions of the conference), the authors of the contributions accepted as full papers at the conferencewere invited to submit an extended version of their work for possible inclusion in this special issue.

History and Development of Neurosurgery in Belgium

We cannot talk about neurosurgery in Belgium without giving much credit to great anatomists and neurologists who have paved the path of neurosciences and neurosurgery. The first of these great scientists was Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564), an anatomist and physician born in Brussels and considered by many historians of science as the greatest anatomist of the Renaissance, maybe the most influential in the history of medicine. He studied medicine at the Universite libre de Bruxelles, then at the Catholic University of Leuven and in the Pitie-Salpetriere in Paris. In 1543 he became the first physician to Charles V. His book written in seven volumes on the structure of the human body, (De Humani Corporis Fabrica) written in Latin, was a masterpiece (1). Thoroughly describing every detail of the human anatomy did not satisfy him. He took a step further and created unmatchable quality illustrations. Andreas Vesalius was an ambitious scientist with a passion for the human body. Unlike his predecessors and contemporaries, he dared to question medical truths handed down for generations and would even dissect the corpses of the executed death row prisoners. It was during his studies at the University of Leuven that he made his first dissections. His goal: to revolutionize the field of medicine through his personal scientific work. The second influential figure was a neurologist and neuropathologist: Baron Ludo van Bogaert (1897-1989). He was one of the greatest neurologists and neuropathologists of the 20th century. Born in Antwerpen, he got his M.D. at the Universite libre de Bruxelles. Director of the(Bunge Institute) then of the (Born-Bunge Foundation) in Antwerpen, he described many cerebral illnesses, hereditary and metabolic diseases, mainly lipidoses, some of which (2) hold his name like (leucoencephalopathy subacute sclerosis). He combined neurological and neuropathological expertise. He created the World Federation of Neurological Societies of which he became the first president. He was convinced on the need to develop neurosurgery separate from general surgery and he helped many neurosurgeons to succeed in that way. Indeed, before the Second World War, neurosurgery was practiced by general surgeons, surely of great skill, being able to remove a stomach or a brain tumor, but there was no sole neurosurgeon.

2013 Nobel Prize In Physics

For their development of a theoretical mechanism that describes the origin of mass in subatomic particles, Francois Englert, an emeritus professor at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), in Belgium, and Peter W. Higgs, an emeritus professor at the University of Edinburgh, have been honored with the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics. Working independently, Englert and Higgs and their coworkers proposed their seminal theory in 1964. Confirmation of the theory rested upon discovery of the so-called Higgs boson, an elusive subatomic particle that was finally detected in 2012 by two instruments at the Large Hadron Collider, the high-energy proton collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), located near Geneva. The Higgs particle was long described as the missing piece of the Standard Model of particle physics. The model describes the fundamental forces of nature and the basis of interactions between subatomic particles. The mass theory developed by Englert, ...

Editorial introductions

Current Opinion in Critical Care was launched in 1995. It is one of a successful series of review journals whose unique format is designed to provide a systematic and critical assessment of the literature as presented in the many primary journals. The field of critical care is divided into 13 sections that are reviewed once a year. Each section is assigned a Section Editor, a leading authority in the area, who identifies the most important topics at that time. Here we are pleased to introduce the journal's Editor and Section Editor for this issue. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Jean-Louis VincentJean-Louis VincentDr Vincent is Professor of intensive care at the University of Brussels, Belgium, and Head of the Department of Intensive Care at the Erasme University Hospital in Brussels, Belgium. He earned his medical degree from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, with magna cum laude, with a specialty in Internal Medicine and Intensive Care Medicine. His training included two years of fellowship in critical care medicine at the University of Southern California, USA with Prof. Max Harry Weil. Dr Vincent has signed more than 700 original articles, more than 280 book chapters and review articles, and around 800 original abstracts. He has edited 86 books including 63 in his own series Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine and Yearbook in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine published by Springer-Verlag (Heidelberg, Berlin, New York). He is co-editor of the Textbook of Critical Care (Elsevier Saunders, 5th Edition). He has also written a French Manual of Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (Springer, France), and is the co-editor of the series Le point sur… (Springer, France). Dr Vincent is the editor-in-chief of Critical Care, Current Opinion in Critical Care, and ICU Management. He is member of the Editorial Boards of about 30 journals including Critical Care Medicine (senior editor), PLoS Medicine, Lancet Infectious Diseases, Intensive Care Medicine, Chest, Shock, and Journal of Critical Care. Dr Vincent is presently Secretary General of the World Federation of Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine. He is a Past-President of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine and the European Shock Society, and the Past-Chairman of the International Sepsis Forum. For 31 years he has organized an International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine which is held every March in Brussels. This symposium, which gathers 5,000 participants, has become one of the largest meetings in the field. He received the Foundation André Loicq award in 1986, the Foundation De Kerckheer award in 2000, the Distinguished Investigator award of the Society of Critical Care Medicine in 2001 and the College Medalist Award of the American College of Chest Physicians in 2003. He was the Recipient of the "Society Medal” (lifetime award) of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine in 2009 and he received “ Prix Scientifique Joseph Maison-Sciences biomédicales cliniques” (scientific award of the FRS-FNRS) in 2010. SECTION EDITOR Arthur P. WheelerArthur P. WheelerArthur Wheeler is a Professor in the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Vanderbilt University, USA, and serves as the Director of the Vanderbilt ICU. He is a graduate of the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine, USA, then completed training programs in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care at Vanderbilt University. Dr Wheeler's research interest in severe sepsis, acute lung injury and thromboembolic disease has resulted in more than 100 publications. He is also the co-author of a successful textbook of Critical Care Medicine now in its fourth edition. He has delivered hundreds of national and international lectures and is the recipient of numerous teaching awards. Most recently Dr Wheeler has been developing and testing the effectiveness of alternative care delivery models in critical care including the use of nurse practitioners.

Statistical Estimation of Portfolios for Dependent Financial Returns

1 Department of Applied Mathematics, Waseda University, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan 2 Department of Statistics/Graduate Institute of Statistics & Actuarial Science, Feng Chia University Taichung 407, Taiwan 3 Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Niigata University, Niigata 950-2181, Japan 4 The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo 105-8461, Japan 5 ECARES-Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 1050 Brussels, Belgium