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Abstract: Bisphenol-A (BPA) is a commonly used color developer in thermal paper. In this application, BPA is present in its free, unbound form and can be readily released, making thermal paper a potential source for human exposure. In this study, BPA was determined in 44 thermal paper samples collected in Belgium. BPA was detected in all the samples; 73% of the samples had concentrations between 0.9% and 2.1% (between 9 and 21mg BPA/g paper), while the remaining 27% of the samples had concentrations below 0.01% (0.1mg BPA/g paper). The BPA concentrations measured in thermal paper were comparable with those reported in other international studies. Since thermal paper is a feedstock for paper recycling processes, contamination of other “BPA-free” papers can occur. An estimation of human exposure through thermal paper results in a median intake of 445ng BPA/day for the general population, which corresponds to an exposure of 6.4ng/kg bw/day for a person of 70kg. The exposure of those people who come occupationally in contact with thermal paper can be much higher. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Since heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) is a disease that exposes the individual from birth onwards to severe hypercholesterolemia with the development of early cardiovascular disease, a clear consensus on the management of this disease in young patients is necessary. In Belgium, a panel of paediatricians, specialists in (adult) lipid management, general practitioners and representatives of the FH patient organization agreed on the following common recommendations. [1.] Screening for HeFH should be performed only in children older than 2 years when HeFH has been identified or is suspected (based on a genetic test or clinical criteria) in one parent. [2.] The diagnostic procedure includes, as a first step, the establishment of a clear diagnosis of HeFH in one of the parents. If this precondition is satisfied, a low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level above 3.5mmol/L (135mg/dL) in the suspected child is predictive for differentiating affected from non-affected children. [3.] A low saturated fat and low cholesterol diet should be started after 2 years, under the supervision of a dietician or nutritionist. [4.] The pharmacological treatment, using statins as first line drugs, should usually be started after 10 years if LDL-C levels remain above 5mmol/L (190mg/dL), or above 4mmol/L (160mg/dL) in the presence of a causative mutation, a family history of early cardiovascular disease or severe risk factors. The objective is to reduce LDL-C by at least 30% between 10 and 14 years and, thereafter, to reach LDL-C levels of less than 3.4mmol/L (130mg/dL). Conclusion: The aim of this consensus statement is to achieve more consistent management in the identification and treatment of children with HeFH in Belgium. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study provides an in-depth analysis of the potential role of hydrogen (H 2) in the Belgian transport sector in the context of sustainable and environmentally friendly growth. This paper starts by examining the energy-climate roadmap and the emission mitigation programme defined by the Belgian federal government in the context of environmental sustainability. Then, the Belgian situation is critically evaluated in light of the needs for H 2 fuel in the transport sector, as well as issues about a roadmap on environmental considerations for a sustainable future, while preserving the country's economic stakes. There are several key advances in this direction, especially as H 2 is seen as one of the best viable options for sustained development, unlike other possibilities. This paper also highlights some limitations that make it difficult to accelerate the transition to a sustainable H 2 energy future. Although there are many interests in favour of an advanced and non-polluting transport system, there are differing views on the approach to be taken in political decision-making at national level. Therefore, this study will help public authorities to better integrate environmental and sustainability issues in the context of a transition to a comprehensive hydrogen economy in the current transport sector. • An in-depth analysis of hydrogen's role in the Belgian transport sector is presented. • Considerations of sustainable and environmentally friendly growth are addressed. • It highlights the constraints and barriers to the full development of H 2 in Belgium. • There is no unified national public policy for hydrogen development. • Policies should prioritise R&D, training and social empowerment of hydrogen energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The REpowerEU plan prioritizes combining electrification with low-carbon hydrogen for a green energy shift. However, uncertainties surrounding the future hydrogen market and its supply costs impede the establishment of its value chain. Without definite plans for hydrogen production and infrastructure, investing in low-carbon hydrogen industrial processes is risky. Simultaneously, the absence of solid market interest poses challenges in deploying a hydrogen backbone. In recent years, European gas Transmission System Operators (TSOs) in Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany, have introduced various roadmaps for their prospective national hydrogen network. Despite the infrastructure proposals, detailed quantitative scenario analysis for the future hydrogen supply chain is still missing. This paper presents a hydrogen infrastructure model that employs Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) for investment and operational cost optimization at detailed spatiotemporal resolution. A regionalization method is proposed to allocate the potential hydrogen consumption in different industrial sectors across various clusters within a country, represented as the prospective hydrogen demand nodes. The model assesses extreme supply scenarios to examine the robustness of the resulting network infrastructure and compare the system-levelized cost of hydrogen. A real-life case study focusing on the potential Belgian hydrogen supply chain showcases the model's capabilities and outputs. • Regionalization of the industrial hydrogen consumption derived from a national-scale energy system model. • MILP cost optimization model for hydrogen infrastructure design. • Comparative analysis of diverse extreme low-carbon hydrogen supply scenarios. • In-depth case study focusing on the prospective Belgian hydrogen backbone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA) on present and future scenarios of different energy storage technologies comprising hydrogen and batteries: Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), Hydrogen Energy Storage System (H 2 ESS), and Hybrid Energy Storage System (HESS). These three configurations were assessed for different time horizons: 2019, 2022 and 2030, under both on-grid and off-grid conditions. For 2030, a sensitivity analysis under different energy scenarios was performed, covering other trends in on-grid electric consumption and prices, CO 2 taxation and the evolution of hydrogen technology prices from 2019 until 2030. The selected case study is the Research Park Zellik (RPZ), a CO 2 -neutral sustainable Local Energy Community (LEC) in Zellik, Belgium. The software HOMER (Hybrid Optimisation Model for Electric Renewable) has been selected to design, model and optimise the defined case study. The results showed that BESS was the most competitive when the electric grid was available among the three possible storage options. Additionally, HESS was overall more competitive than H 2 ESS-only, regardless of the grid connection mode. Finally, as per HESS, hydrogen was proved to play a complementary role when combined with batteries, enhancing the flexibility of the microgrid and enabling deeper decarbonisation by reducing the electricity bought from the grid, increasing renewable energy production and balancing toward an island operating mode. • Assessment of hybrid energy storage systems for future energy scenarios. • Sensitivity analysis with different technical, economic, and environmental KPIs. • Analysis of the effects of the connection and capacity access to the electric grid. • Application to a real case study: a CO2-neutral Local Energy Community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the first to calculate welfare, measured by the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW), for the EU-15 countries in a standardized and comparable way. This paper does so by building on a case study for Belgium by Van der Slycken and Bleys (2023) that puts forward a "2.0 methodology" with two distinct ISEWs that deal with cross-time and cross-boundary issues. Both welfare and GDP per capita improved in the EU-15 between 1995 and 2018. Yet, there is an important divergence between welfare and GDP: over time experiential welfare per capita and the per capita benefits and costs of present activities improved by respectively 10,5% and 13,4%, which is less than one third and half of the growth in GDP per capita that grew by 32,4%. These welfare trends are mainly driven by individual consumption growth, the shadow economy and welfare losses from income inequality, which compensated about half of the welfare gains of the former two categories. The gap between welfare and GDP diverged especially after the financial crisis when welfare started stagnating. At the end of the studied period, the EU-15 had already recovered from the financial crisis from a GDP perspective, but not from a welfare view. Since welfare in 2018 was less than 2% lower than the period-maximum, there is no conclusive evidence in favor of the threshold hypothesis at the level of the EU-15. However, the fact that welfare levels in nine countries are more than 5% lower than their peak values signals a clear threshold for these countries. Yet, welfare can be increased beyond previous peaks with postgrowth policies that focus on social and ecological welfare. • Two variants of the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare with distinct time and boundary choices are compiled for the EU-15. • From 1995 to 2018, GDP per capita grew by 32,4% while welfare per capita only increased by 10,5% and 13,4%. • Welfare and GDP increasingly diverged, especially after the financial crisis when welfare started stagnating. • By 2018, the EU-15 had already recovered from the financial crisis from a GDP perspective, but not from a welfare view. • A majority of the EU-15 countries has a clear welfare threshold point with 2018-values being lower than period maxima. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we describe and apply a method probing into linguistic (in)directness in complaint tweets. The sample analyzed consists of French-language Twitter complaint interactions, half of which are between the SNCF (the French National Railway company) and its customers and half between the SNCB (the Belgian National Railway company) and its customers. The aim of this paper is two-fold: first, we present and test a methodology that measures the explicitness (or linguistic (in)directness) of complaints, which, we argue, in line with Decock and Depraetere (2018), must be differentiated from perceived (im)politeness or perceived face-threat. Linguistic (in)directness is analyzed in the complete complaint situation, that is, in the first tweet as well as in the ensuing interaction. Secondly, as the sample shows differences in the realization of complaints in two linguistically close communities, we put forward some hypotheses concerning the relative impact of cultural differences and the companies' response strategy. • We analyze complaint components and how they are linguistically realized. • We differentiate complaint (in)directness and perceived (im)politeness. • Twitter complaints vary in their degree of linguistic (in)directness. • We explore the impact of response strategy on Twitter complaint interaction. • Twitter complaint realizations in French are different in Belgium and France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) is seen as a key technology to reduce the environmental impact and net power consumption of buildings. The integration of PV into building components, such as façade, window, roof or shading elements, leads to a distributed generation over the building envelope with a profound impact on the electrical installation. Designing the electrical system with string inverters and a possible wide variety of module sizes and technologies is a challenging task. To overcome this issue, Module-Level Converters (MLCs) can be used. A supplementary benefit is that the consequences of partial shading can strongly be reduced. This paper investigates whether the current generation of MLCs is suited for embedment in facade BIPV modules. The PV output is categorized and compared to the input parameters of the converters. Besides the discrepancy between the physical dimensions of the converters and the desired installation location, thermal and electrical measurements on a prototype BIPV curtain wall element reveal that daily energy losses can be as high as 50% due to thermal overload when used in a moderate climate such as Belgium. The paper concludes by discussing further standardization of BIPV module-level converters. • Evaluation of BIPV curtain wall elements using different PV technologies. • Evaluation of BIPV MLCs from electrical, thermal and dimensional point-of-view. • Thermal auto-shutdown can lead to daily energy losses of more than 50%. • Standardization and BIPV as a new market segment for MLCs is discussed. • Modules with high output voltage are most suited for frame-integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Municipalities in Wallonia use different prices and pricing units for waste. • We use a panel model to estimate price elasticities for organic and residual waste. • Pricing of residual waste is critical to reduce residual waste and encourage sorting. • Weight-based pricing is effective in reducing the quantities of residual waste. Waste pricing is important to encourage households to reduce their waste and to increase sorting and recycling. Pricing instruments include differentiated prices for the waste fractions collected and the choice of an appropriate pricing unit (volume, weight, levy). In this paper, we test the effectiveness of those different instruments using an original and complete dataset from Wallonia (the southern region of Belgium), covering 10 years and all the 262 municipalities of the region. Our approach is to estimate the sensitivity of households' production of residual and organic waste to prices i.e., the price elasticities, using sophisticated econometric techniques to control for the endogeneity of prices. For residual waste, we show a significant own-price elasticity, which is higher when organic waste is not collected at the curbside. For organic waste, we found an important and significant cross-price elasticity, but a limited own-price elasticity. Hence, the privileged instrument to encourage waste reduction and sorting should be the price of residual waste. Finally, we show that the weight-based pricing system contributes substantially to the reduction of residual waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Belgium nuclear phase-out plan is analyzed. • A multivariate model through time-series analyses is implemented over the 1974–2019 period. • We develop and apply an innovative partial differential equations (PDE) algorithm. • Time-series and machine learning findings demonstrate suggests that the nuclear phase-out might neither adversely impact the economy's growth nor threaten the emission reduction target in the long-run. By 2025, Belgium will phase-out nuclear power. Unassessed so far, this policy reform may modify the economic and environmental channels through which energy and society interfere in this country. In this paper, we investigate whether this structural energy change may adversely impact the growth of the Belgian economy (i) and its ability to meet its long-term greenhouse gas emission targets (ii). A multivariate model comprising production factors (labor, capital, and exports), nuclear and renewable energy uses, total primary energy supply, economic growth, and CO 2 emissions from the power and heating sector is combined with real time-series data spanning the 1974–2019 period. The analysis consists in sequentially assessing two distinct nexuses (energy-economy and energy-economy-environment) over reduced- and augmented frameworks (excluding and including nuclear energy), and through a two-stage empirical strategy: time-series econometric estimations (Toda-Yamamoto causality test, Impulse Response Functions (IRFs), and the Auto-Regressive Distributed Lags (ARDL) and Machine Learning (ML) experiments with a Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) algorithm. For robustness purposes, we conduct two seminal tests which relate to dynamic predictive processes (T-Mat and Verticality tests). Besides confirming the time-series findings, our ML results highlight the necessity to timely manage the process of nuclear phase-out, along with a progressive deployment of installed renewable energy capacity. This should avoid additional economic costs, energy security threats, and undermining of climate targets. In doing so, this study combines macro-level nexus investigations with the politics and institutional determinants of nuclear energy reliance and seeks to bring inclusive knowledge on this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental concepts are performative in that they help create the environment they describe. This paper explores the performativity of the ecosystem services concept in the field of integrated water management in Flanders (northern Belgium). The data was collected from 23 in-depth interviews with professionals in the field, conducted in two rounds with a five-year interval and complemented with on-site observations of practices applying the concept. Results indicate that ecosystem services was only marginally performative on its own, and rather was seen as a 'co-performative concept' that – in conjunction with existing concepts – could accelerate the envisioned integration process through promoting initiatives, mobilising stakeholders, shaping orientation, creating win-win situations, and more. Yet, despite these aspirations, the concept has in general failed to perform as expected. Many perceived ecosystem services as an academic concept, too complex for practical application. Common strategies were either to adapt the concept to fit one's professional context or to create a new practical context (a stakeholder workshop, for example) where the concept could function. The paper goes on to discuss the more general implications of the (pseudo-)malleability and context-dependence of the ecosystem services concept. • ES works as a co-performative concept in support of policy integration. • The co-performativity of ES goes together with greater context dependence. • ES works best in an arrangement which ensures its functioning in real-world. • Selective interpretation of ES easily gives rise to distrust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a novel cellular automata model that combines Long Short-Term Memory, Attention, and Neural Network models to capture spatio-temporal Land Use Change (LUC) behaviors while addressing the challenge of imbalanced datasets. The proposed method is developed and validated using data from Belgium, defined as three (100x100) m raster-based built-up maps for 2000, 2010, and 2020. The model is trained and validated using data from 2000 to 2010, and its effectiveness is tested using data from 2010 to 2020. The key contribution of our approach lies in its ability to tackle long-term temporal dependency and class imbalance problems in LUC science. Our proposed method significantly enhances the performance of spatio-temporal LUC simulation. Additionally, we adopt a data splitting strategy that takes into account the different transitions between classes, improving the accuracy of the model predictions of minority class. The obtained results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed model in capturing complex spatio-temporal dynamics and reducing the impact of imbalanced datasets surpassing existing methods. The implications of our study extend beyond LUC modeling, as the proposed approach can be applied to a wide range of applications where machine learning is used to model complex environmental and geographical phenomena. • This paper presents a novel cellular automata model to simulate urban densification. • It combines the Long short term memory, the Attention, and the neural network models. • ALSTM-CA captures the temporal dependency and addresses the minority classes in LUC. • ALSTM-CA is developed, calibrated, and verified using data from Belgium. • It achieved promising results based on F1-score, accuracy, and precision metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hazelnuts were an important foodstuff for Early to Mid-Holocene (Mesolithic) hunter-gatherers all over North-western and Central Europe, mainly thanks to their high fat content, the fact that they are easy to collect and process and produce high areal yields. Based on an extensive and well-dated dataset of charred hazelnut shells, collected on Mesolithic camp-sites from the western Scheldt basin (W Belgium), in this paper the availability of this food resource is studied. Unlike other North(west) European regions, the decline in the exploitation and consumption of hazelnuts in the Scheldt basin appears to start early, from the mid-Boreal period onwards. The available high-resolution pollen and anthracological records indicate that this is presumably related to the rapid and substantial expansion of oak, creating a shady environment which was less favourable for hazel. This paper further examines the impact as well as the possible response of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers to this drastic change in subsistence resources, which arose on top of other challenges during the Boreal, such as increased drought and forest fires, abrupt cooling around 9.3 ka and the possible influx of groups from the adjacent drowning North Sea basin. Human responses possibly ranged from increased mobility, over intensified exploitation of other edible plants to increased fish consumption. The paper ends with emphasizing the importance of high-resolution paleoecological studies on a local/regional level as well as the systematic fine-meshed recovery of plant remains, such as charred hazelnut shells, from archaeological sites. • Hazelnuts were an important food resource during the Mesolithic. • Hazelnut consumption in the Scheldt basin dropped drastically in the mid-Boreal. • This is earlier compared to other areas within NW Europe. • Hazel was outcompeted by the rapid expansion of oak. • Hazel decline might have led to a reduced fat intake and associated health problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent transport equity literature has proposed a sufficientarian approach to transport planning, according to which all individuals would be entitled to a minimum level of accessibility deemed adequate or sufficient. The implementation of this approach would require the adoption of an accessibility standard as a key performance indicator guiding transport investments, land use planning and service provision. While accessibility measures are increasingly operationalised in professional practice, the adoption of actual accessibility standards is rare. In this paper, we explore the barriers for adopting explicit accessibility standards and identify conditions within which such standards could be acceptable to practitioners and policymakers. The paper draws on interviews with professionals in three city-regions in Sweden, complemented with interviews with practitioners from the Flanders region in Belgium and from the UK. We find that authorities are hesitant to define and measure accessibility and that where definitions and performance indicators exist, there is a lack of agreement within and across authorities. The prospect of introducing a standard across the board without attaching any conditions comprises a further reason for shying away from standard-setting. The (dis)integration of transport and land use and complicated administrative and governance structures are described as a further barrier, while demand responsive transport is in some cases considered a panacea to all accessibility problems, making it possible to avoid setting standards. Our findings suggest that standards for minimum accessibility could gain political support if their reach is clearly circumscribed, and their benefits are clearly understood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Assessment of solid–liquid separation techniques applied to three digestate types. • Analysis of climate impact, energy use, and cost of digestate management scenarios. • Climate impact mainly from field application of end products and storage. • Treatment of liquid fraction has a major effect on climate impact and cost. • Integrated approach to support decision making for higher sustainability of biogas sector. In this paper, we performed technology assessment and systems analysis of primary digestate processing techniques to provide a comprehensive analysis of their environmental and cost performance. We compiled more than 100 observations from large-scale biogas plants and considered digestate based on manure, crops and agro-wastes, and food waste under the geographical contexts of Sweden and Belgium. Centrifuge, screw press, and rotary drum were identified as suitable primary processing techniques. We analyzed the climate impact, energy use, and operational cost of digestate management under these scenarios: no processing , partial processing (solid–liquid separation) and full processing (solid–liquid separation followed by ammonia stripping). As expected, the suitable digestate processing varied with the context, transport was often the most critical cost factor, and emissions from storage reduced the climate savings from the use of biofertilizers. However, treating liquid fraction became a main contributor to cost and climate impact under the Belgian conditions. Consequently, the possibility for local application of liquid fraction as biofertilizer could prevent costs and impacts associated with its further treatment. The main novelty of this work is in its integrative and comprehensive approach toward the choices and impacts of primary processing of digestate. We tried to bridge many individual case studies, drew from experiences of biogas plants in different geographical contexts, assessed suitable processing techniques for different digestate types, and analyzed the environmental impacts and cost of digestate management from a life cycle perspective. We believe that such integrated approaches would help decision-making for increased sustainability of the biogas sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Research Questions: Cannabis Social Clubs (CSCs) are associations of cannabis users that collectively organize the cultivation and distribution of cannabis. As this middle ground supply model has been active in Belgium for over a decade, this paper aims to examine CSCs' supply practices, noting any shifts from previously reported features of the model.Methods: We draw on interviews with directors of seven currently active Belgian CSCs (n = 21) and their cannabis growers (n = 23). This data was complemented by additional fieldwork, as well as a review of CSCs' key internal documents.Results: Most Belgian CSCs are formally registered non-profit associations. One of the Belgian CSCs has developed a structure of sub-divisions and regional chapters. The Belgian CSCs supply cannabis to members only, and in some cases only medical users are admitted. CSCs rely on in-house growers, ensuring supply in a cooperative and closed-circuit way, despite changes to the distribution methods The associations are relatively small-scale and non-commercially driven. The introduction of formal quality control practices remains challenging.Discussion: As the CSC model is often included in discussions about cannabis policy, but remains in most cases driven by self-regulatory efforts, it is important to take stock of how CSCs' supply function has been implemented in practice - as doing so will improve our understanding of the model and of the wider range of cannabis 'supply architectures'. This paper highlights the continuity and changes in CSC practices, noting the emergence of several different variants of the CSC model, which are classified in a first CSC typology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In Belgium, Cannabis Social Clubs (CSCs) collectively organize the cultivation and distribution of cannabis for the personal use of their members. In this paper we seek to improve understanding of the motivations and practices of cannabis growers operating within CSCs, shedding light on the cultivation process.Methods: We draw on data gathered through face-to-face semi-structured interviews with the directors of seven active Belgian CSCs (n = 21) and CSC growers (n = 23). These data are complemented by additional fieldwork and a review of policies relating to CSCs', including bylaws and growing protocols.Findings: The Belgian CSCs rely on single and multiple in-house grower arrangements. Most CSC growers had been cultivating cannabis prior to joining their current CSC, albeit growing in different contexts (non-commercial and commercial). The CSC growers discussed both ideological and pragmatic motives for operating within a CSC. Cultivation took place indoors and followed organic practices. Despite their small-scale (20 plants on average), the grow sites used specialized equipment. The growers reported receiving financial compensation to cover production costs.Conclusion: This paper offers new insights into a particular sector of domestic cannabis cultivation - CSC growers and their practices within those collectives - which has not been studied previously. The Belgian CSCs have decentralized production among small-scale grow sites, at a size comparable to that found in other small-scale cultivation studies. In terms of motivations and practices, CSC growers share some features typically ascribed to small-scale cannabis cultivators. At the same time, CSC growers seemed particularly engaged with the CSC model and willing to adhere to the (self-)regulated practices developed by the organizations. This had implications for the way cultivation was organized and for the role of the grower within the CSC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to operationalize a relational approach to the study of port-city interfaces. A relational approach allows for the analysis of how actors are connected, transact, and assign meaning and value to regional development. Much of the literature on port-city interfaces has primarily focussed on late 20th - century transformation processes at the urban waterfront. This fails to appreciate the often-continued presence of port activity within cities and falls short in understanding how the development agendas of port cities are relationally constituted. In this paper, first we argue that the port-city interface is a relational geometry through which heterogeneous flows of actors, assets, and structures are coupled. Second, we present an analytical framework capable of operationalizing such relational approach. The contemporary relational geometries in the bio-based sectors within the port cities of Amsterdam and Ghent are taken as starting points. Analysing these reveal how different coupling mechanisms result in particular development trajectories of the port city, setting the scene for future coupling mechanisms. This paper concludes with a discussion on the value of a relational approach to the study of port-city interfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of a large metropolitan infrastructure, like other megaprojects, requires advanced technical expertise, capacity to manage complex procedures and planning processes as well as capacity to deal with conflicting interests. For the case of megaprojects, overestimation of benefits and underestimation of costs and risks is a common problem all over the world, leading to the ‘survival of the unfittest’ (Flyvbjerg, 2009). The main causes were identified in the optimism bias, strategic misrepresentation, path dependency leading to lock-in and poor oversight; however, the ‘survival’ of these causes is still unclear. For this purpose, the survival of the unfittest megaprojects is re-conceptualised into a proper cognitive-evolutionary framework. By introducing an innovative taxonomy of policy knowledge, this paper aims to argue that a specific policy community can ‘survive’ by strategically using a ‘cognitive monopoly’ of some of the relevant policy knowledge for megaprojects. Based on the case of the new ‘Watermael – Schuman – Josaphat’ rail junction in Brussels, findings show the critical role played by the Federal Ministry for Communications thanks to a long-standing and context-specific know-how on underground works. While missing knowledge was outsourced and instrumentally used to overcome potential lock-in, the Ministry was able to build the only new large metropolitan infrastructure of Belgium during a period of high uncertainty due to decentralisation. The paper concludes discussing the effects of preserving this policy knowledge as well as negative issues related to this ‘cognitive monopoly’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate photovoltaic (PV) power generation forecasting is crucial for optimizing the integration of solar energy into power grids and advancing towards a cleaner, more sustainable energy future. However, the inherent variability and complexity of PV power generation data pose significant challenges for accurate forecasting. To address these challenges, this paper introduces Collaborative Directional Representation (CoDR), a novel deep learning model that extracts and represents the directional fluctuations of solar irradiance data to improve forecasting accuracy and reliability. CoDR utilizes a series of steps, including data preprocessing, fluctuation extraction, directional representation, linearization, de-extraction, mapping, and data postprocessing, to capture both the temporal and spatial dependencies within the data. CoDR leverages a unique directional representation to capture both temporal and spatial dependencies in the data, enabling superior forecasting accuracy and robustness compared to twenty-two state-of-the-art benchmark methods. We validate CoDR on a real-world dataset of PV power generation in Belgium, demonstrating its effectiveness through extensive experiments, ablation studies, and sensitivity analyses. Importantly, CoDR enhances the transparency of the forecasting process by revealing the causal relationships and directional influences among input variables and PV power output. This explainability feature provides valuable insights into the underlying drivers of PV power generation, promoting trust and informed decision-making in the transition to cleaner energy systems. • Introduces Collaborative Directional Representation (CoDR) for accurate PV forecasting. • Outperforms 22 benchmark methods, achieving significant error reductions. • Provides explainable insights into PV power generation using 3D visualizations. • Demonstrates effectiveness on a real-world Belgian dataset through extensive analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have investigated the distribution of greenhouse gas emissions associated with household consumption, highlighting that richer households have a substantially larger carbon footprint than poorer households. While these studies have typically used income or household expenditures as a proxy of households' living standards, the association between emissions and wealth has hardly been studied. Wealth is not just an important component of households' material living standards, known to be imperfectly correlated with income and expenditures, but it is also a very relevant dimension for climate policies. For instance, affluent households have more scope to invest in reducing emissions (e.g. insulation of their homes). Therefore, in this paper, we compare the inequality of emissions over wealth groups as well as groups defined by other living standard concepts such as income, expenditure and the joint distribution of income and wealth to add a focus on wealth to the analysis of emission inequality. Our study focuses on Belgium and the United Kingdom, which differ considerably in their level of wealth inequality. Our results highlight that the social distribution of emissions varies between expenditures, income, wealth and the joint distribution of income and wealth, with per capita emissions being more strongly associated with the joint distribution of income and wealth than with income alone. We also show that a significant share of households has both low income and low wealth, and may thus be lacking the means to prepare for a carbon-neutral future. Although increasing wealth taxation could provide much-needed revenues for low carbon investments, our results suggest that it would have a lower direct impact on the level of emissions and emission inequality compared to increasing taxes on high incomes. • Wealth is positively correlated with emissions. • Emission inequality according to wealth is higher than according to income. • People with low income and low wealth face a cumulative disadvantage. • Wealth inequality is a relevant dimension when designing climate policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid increase in Electric Vehicle (EV) adoption leads to significant challenges for charging station operators due to the unbalance between the growing demand for charging services and their limited power capacity connected to the grid. To tackle the challenge, this paper applies a two-step architecture in which an energy management system (EMS) in the first step determines the available capacity to charge the present fleet of EVs, after which in the second step this capacity is distributed over the individual EVs. To optimally allocate available power and satisfy user requirements, a user priority-based charging management strategy is proposed. Such priority can optimally order the set of EVs to be charged based on user input. However, relying solely on user-estimated input can be prone to incorrect priority due to inaccurate estimations. Therefore, we introduced a clustering of charging sessions based on the user-provided estimated information in the proposed priority function. These clusters relax the effect of inaccurately estimated user input by grouping charging sessions with similar behavior. Our proposed priority can increase user satisfaction by up to 30%, as measured by the percentage of requested energy that is delivered to users, compared to scenarios without priority, 10% more than priority based solely on estimation information, and 8% more than first-come-first-serve. To avoid exposing the personal behavior of the user, we introduce a decentralized approach, applying a consensus-based method that allows local control per EV charging station and only requires minimal communication of a consensus variable with neighboring charging stations. By introducing the priority in the communication weight matrix of the consensus-based algorithm, we accelerate the convergence rate more than 10 times. Simulation results based on real-world data sets in Belgium demonstrate the proposed method scales well with growing fleet sizes. • A privacy-friendly, decentralized, two-stage architecture for prioritized EV charging. • New priority function based on clustering charging sessions and user preferences. • Prioritizing EV charging for users can increase satisfaction by 30%. • The consensus-based method with priority achieves a 10-fold faster convergence. • Real-world charging session data in Belgium was used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decision to serve foreign markets through exports or foreign direct investment (FDI) has been studied within proximity-concentration models of location, mainly in the context of trade in goods. This paper goes beyond this approach to account for the specific nature of services that are traded across borders in relation to market transaction costs. We show how services can be characterized by a bundle of attributes that collectively describe the service. These attributes are then tested to show how they affect the choice between exports and FDI using service-level data for firms in Belgium selling services abroad. Three different types of characteristic are shown to affect the export versus FDI decision: intangibility, the search-experience-credence framework and the requirement for either the supplier or the client to physically move to the point of production. Among other determinants, we find general and hard to evaluate complex services to be exported more than locally produced in foreign markets. The opposite holds for specialized (customized) and 'experience' services, or services that need close interaction with the buyer in their delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Buy to protect": this may be the Conservatoire du Littoral philosophy. Since 1975, this unique public French institution endeavours to acquire vulnerable and threatened coastal areas of great natural relevance to ensure their permanent and sound management/protection by establishing conventions with local authorities. This paper is focused on (i) the research of remarkable attractive natural sites not (or only slightly) affected by human intrusions, (ii) the analysis of the Conservatoire policies related to landscape issues and (iii) the proposal of judicious measures to assess/maintain/enhance/monitor landscape quality. For such proposals, the Coastal Scenic Evaluation System (CSES) method was in situ applied along the northern French coast, from Belgium to the Seine estuary. This area, shaped in a macrotidal environment, was chosen as it exhibits a wide variety of scenery composed of majestic dunes complexes, estuaries, bays and impressive cliff formations, alongside a strong cultural heritage. It also includes some world-renowned sites such as Les Deux Caps (Gris-Nez and Blanc-Nez), the Somme Bay and the cliffs of Étretat. CSES is a strong accurate indicator of scenic quality based on 26 physical and human parameters, and fuzzy-logic mathematics to overcome subjectivity and quantify uncertainties. As a result, an Evaluation Index (D) is obtained, enabling to classify sites into five distinct classes, from Class I (outstanding quality) to Class V (very poor quality). In this paper, 16 sectors respectively located along the Côte d'Opale (8), Côte Picarde (4) and Côte d'Albâtre (4) were selected after a long process of field testing. Seven were included in Class I, five in Class II and four in Class III. Finally, suggestions were made to complete the remarkable labour done by the Conservatoire. • This paper is focused on the assessment of very attractive natural coastal sites. • Sixteen sites were field-tested by using the Coastal Scenic Evaluation System. • Seven sites were included in Class I, five in Class II and four in Class III. • Emphasis was given to the Conservatoire du Littoral management approach. • Suggestions were made to complete the remarkable labour done by the Conservatoire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Street bin litter has been overlooked in waste characterization studies. • Five sorting experiments were performed on street bin litter in Leuven, Belgium. • Illegal dumping accounted for 33% of street bin litter. • 19% of total mass was glass, plastic or metal; 16% paper and cardboard. • An estimated 35% of street bin litter consisted of packaging. Street bin litter (SBL) is an overlooked waste stream and its composition has barely been studied. In a first characterization attempt, five sorting experiments were performed on SBL collected in Leuven, Belgium. The waste was sampled and sorted into 8 main and 39 subfractions. The largest main fractions found were illegally dumped waste (33 ± 3%), organics (17 ± 4%) and paper and cardboard (16 ± 2%). On a functional level, the street bins were estimated to contain about 35% packaging, of which beverage and food packaging constituted 46% and 38–44%, respectively. SBL is in relative terms too small a waste stream for economically viable material recovery. However, in order to make a full transition to a circular economy and due to its high visibility, SBL cannot be neglected. Preventive measures and the full application of Extended Producer Responsibility schemes can help to achieve SBL reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Satisfactory green views positively associated with neighborhood satisfaction. • Green views found to matter more than general presence of greenery in neighborhood. • Beautiful buildings most strongly associated with neighborhood satisfaction. • Building envelope greenery has synergistic potential for neighborhood satisfaction. Recent decades have seen theoretical and empirical support being generated for a positive relationship between exposure to nature and human well-being. However, exposure to nature is diverse. It can stem from spending time in green spaces, or simply from being able to observe greenery, such as from inside one's residence. The literature has devoted limited attention to the extent to which green views as a specific type of nature exposure contribute to satisfaction and well-being in urban areas. Therefore, this paper examines whether having satisfactory green views from within an urban residence is positively associated with the residents' neighborhood satisfaction. We use survey data from a large probability sample (n = 32,552) of respondents from 13 cities in the Flanders region of Belgium to run four binary logistic regression models that estimate the probability of reporting specific levels of neighborhood satisfaction. Each model is weighted to be representative of the urban population in these cities (N = 1,344,327) and statistically controls for the perceived presence of sufficient greenery in the neighborhood, 47 other self-reported neighborhood attributes, personal characteristics, and socio-demographic information. We find that urbanites who are more satisfied with the green views from their residence are more likely to report high neighborhood satisfaction. Our findings support the hypothesis that simply viewing greenery from within one's residence improves neighborhood satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate photovoltaic (PV) power forecast is crucial for carbon neutrality. Current researches on PV power forecast mainly focus on using temporal information from single PV station, and the spatial information in multiple PV power stations are often neglected. To address this problem, this paper introduces Moran index to verify the spatial autocorrelation of PV power for the first time, uses Granger causality test and transfer entropy to reveal the spatial information gain in PV power forecast for the first time, and proposes a novel spatial–temporal probabilistic PV forecast method using deep Graph Gated Recurrent Unit (GraphGRU) network-based spatial–temporal multi-task learning and Kernel Density Estimation (KDE). Deep GraphGRU combines the advantages of Graph Convolutional Network (GCN) in spatial feature extraction and the advantages of Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) network in temporal feature extraction, and thus has strong ability to extract spatial–temporal information in historical data of multiple different PV power stations. Through GraphGRU, temporal dependency information extracted from historical data of multiple PV stations can promote each other to improve the forecast accuracy of each PV stations. KDE is used for estimating the joint probabilistic density function and giving the spatial–temporal probabilistic confidence interval of PV power. Experiments were performed in the five-year actual PV power data from 11 provinces of Belgium and the three-year solar irradiation data from 12 places in China to verify the superiorities of the proposed method. Comparison with conventional spatial–temporal and temporal forecast methods show that the proposed GraphGRU-based spatial–temporal forecast method can extract the spatial–temporal information from multiple PV power stations well and significantly outperform conventional temporal forecast methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Belgium is known for its traditional lambic beer productions, obtained through spontaneous fermentation and maturation in wooden barrels. Lambic beer is also used to make fruit lambic beers, such as Kriek beer. Despite fruit beer being an old beer type, dating back to the second half of the seventeenth century, no research has been performed on lambic beer-fruit co-fermentation processes. Further, these beers get competition from market-driven, sweet, (fruit-)flavored ones without the co-fermentation step. This paper will first discuss a new, general fruit beer classification, going from sour fruit beers produced through co-fermentation to sweet ones without a co-fermentation step. Second, a state-of-the-art of the scarce literature on the microbiology and metabolomics of lambic beer-fruit co-fermentation processes will be given. [Display omitted] • The extended beer classification system encompasses a wide variety of beers. • New beer types with unconventional ingredients necessitate definition/classification. • The fruit beer classification facilitates discernment between sour and sweet beers. • A fruit beer co-fermentation step differentiates nonsweet and sweet fruit beers. • Scarce literature on fruit beers necessitates additional research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving carbon neutrality is probably one of the most important challenges of the 21st century for our societies. Part of the solution to this challenge is to leverage renewable energies. However, these energy sources are often located far away from places that need the energy, and their availability is intermittent, which makes them challenging to work with. In this paper, we build upon the concept of Remote Renewable Energy Hubs (RREHs), which are hubs located at remote places with abundant renewable energy sources whose purpose is to produce carbon-neutral synthetic fuels. More precisely, we model and study the Energy Supply Chain (ESC) that would be required to provide a constant source of carbon-neutral synthetic methane, also called e-NG (electric Natural Gas) or e-methane (electric methane), in Belgium from an RREH located in Morocco. To be carbon neutral, a synthetic fuel has to be produced from existing carbon dioxide (CO 2) that needs to be captured using either Direct Air Capture (DAC) or Post Combustion Carbon Capture (PCCC). In this work, we detail the impact of three different carbon sourcing configurations on the price of the e-methane delivered in Belgium. Our results show that sourcing CO 2 through a combination of DAC and PCCC is more cost-effective, resulting in a cost of 146 €/MWh for e-methane delivered in Belgium, as opposed to relying solely on DAC, which leads to a cost of 158 €/MWh. Moreover, these scenarios are compared to a scenario where CO 2 is captured in Morocco from a CO 2 emitting asset that allow to deliver e-methane for a cost of 136 €/MWh. • Model energy supply chain from Morocco to Belgium for electric methane; • Explore three CO2 sources for electric methane synthesis; • Analyse the pros and cons of each CO2 source on price and energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the imperative nature of addressing climate change, the energy transition is currently underway, prompting the recognition of its urgency. Energy system optimisation models have emerged as crucial tools to assist policymakers in formulating laws and regulations that facilitate the transition towards carbon neutrality. While numerous models have been developed to explore various scenarios and define long-term objectives, only a few models focus on optimising the specific pathway to achieve these objectives. Many existing models lack the necessary time resolution to capture the integration of intermittent renewable energies; or are not open-source, creating a challenge in terms of transparency and reproducibility. This paper introduces EnergyScope Pathway, an open-source and documented model that addresses these limitations. It specifically optimises investment strategies for the whole-energy system over a 30-year period, or more, and optimising its hourly operation. This approach allows for a comprehensive evaluation of the effective integration of intermittent renewable energy sources. The model has a concise and efficient formulation, enabling its execution on personal laptops within approximately 15 min. By applying the model to the case study of Belgium, which presents challenges due to limited potential for renewable energy, we illustrate the importance of four pillars: energy efficiency, renewable energies, sector coupling, electrification and imports. The result pave the way to a new and incremental tool to support decision makers. In comparison to non open-source models, we verified the model's results with similar studies and found consistency in terms of technico-economic estimations. • Linear formulation of an optimisation model to represent a whole energy system transition pathway with an hourly resolution. • Short computational time, 15 min on a personal laptop • Quantify the pillars of the transition: efficiency, renewable energies and sector coupling. • Offers a new and incremental tool to support decision-makers in the energy transition. • Comparison of different approach to represent the transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a case study – conducted within the European FP7 project “4FUN” – focusing on exposure of pre-school children to lead resulting from past emissions by non-ferrous smelters in Belgium (Northern Campine area). Exposure scenarios were constructed and simulated with the MERLIN-Expo tool to estimate external Pb exposure as well as the Pb body burden in children living in the vicinity of the former industrial sites as compared to children living in adjacent areas and a reference area. Simulations were run for several scenarios ranging from very simple to rather complex in order to study the effect of different simulation approaches (e.g., deterministic vs. probabilistic, individual vs. aggregated population exposure) and different exposure scenarios (e.g., with vs. without considering local food consumption or time activity patterns) on the model outcomes (predicted concentrations of Pb in environmental and human matrices). This paper discusses the two most complex scenarios, namely exposure at the aggregated population level and at the individual level for a random sub-sample of subjects, respectively. In the final and most realistic exposure scenario, simulating individual lead exposure, model predictions were shown to be higher than the biomonitoring data. Blood Pb levels in children, irrespective of the area they lived in, were overpredicted by MERLIN-Expo with a factor of about 2 on average. The model predictions for individual children overlap with the prediction interval calculated by MERLIN-Expo based on population averages, demonstrating the use of probabilistic approaches in risk assessment. While these results constitute a first verification of the model performance of MERLIN-Expo dealing with inorganic pollutants in a complex real-world exposure scenario and a demonstration of the robustness of the modelling tool, further validation and benchmarking efforts are required for a larger number of inorganic pollutants and different exposure settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the post-Fukushima stress tests performed in Belgium, Filtered Containment Venting Systems (FCVS) are foreseen to be installed on Belgian Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) as ultimate means to cope with slow pressurizations of the containments that could occur during potential Severe Accidents (SA). The present paper discusses the methodology supporting the definition of the FCVS main design parameters and associated safety criteria. This methodology, developed by Tractebel Engineering and accepted by the Belgian nuclear Safety Authorities, followed a series of subsequent steps starting with the definition of the safety referential applicable to the FCVS and leading to the identification of a reference sequence, namely the Complete Station BlackOut (CSBO). Then, key parameters for the FCVS design were defined (e.g. pressure range, venting flow, stored decay heat, stored mass, Decontamination Factors (DF)) along with the associated safety criteria. Several of them were assessed through a well-defined set of supporting calculations. This set included both best estimate representative cases as well as conservative bounding cases performed with state-of-the-art SA codes. The SA codes used were first of all the MELCOR 1.8.6 code and, subsequently, the ASTEC V2.0 code (CPA/IODE modules), considering a chaining methodology. The aim of this approach was to take advantage of the iodine chemistry models features in the CPA/IODE modules of ASTEC to calculate the iodine speciation in the containment and in the FCVS, without having to run a full scope ASTEC calculation. In conclusion, appropriate values for the safety criteria of each design parameters were assessed. In particular, the ones related to the minimum DF relied on a marginal gain approach to cope with the large uncertainties existing when performing dedicated radiological evaluations. Finally, the next steps of this continuous safety assessment of the FCVS that are foreseen to be installed on Belgian NPPs are highlighted at the end of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to understand how young Muslims in the super-diverse city of Antwerp negotiate the tensions between their religious identification and the broader cultural framework of individualism. Young Muslims in Antwerp face the challenge to present themselves as autonomous, while maintaining their religious identification. Based on 26 interviews with Muslim students in two secondary schools, we describe how presenting a dignified self to both non-Muslim and Muslim audiences requires a delicate balancing act. Drawing conceptually from cultural sociology, we explore how our respondents present themselves towards various audiences by selectively employing elements from the cultural repertoire of 'religious individualism'. In our analysis, we examine four ways in which respondents employ this repertoire to rework the potential tensions and present themselves as agentive within their religious framework. We also discuss how negotiating a contested identity requires more taxing boundary work for girls, and how they challenge gender norms without denying their religious identification. Overall, our analysis demonstrates how young Muslims in a West European context engage in complex boundary work and creatively draw on the cultural repertoire of religious individualism to negotiate their multiple identifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A 40,000 t/y or larger MPW process is economic; 20% internal rate of return (IRR). • The pyrolysis oil price and plant throughput show largest sensitivity on the IRR. • The accurancy of the cost estimate is ±15% i.e. "Definite Estimate". • Cost estimates to ±15% require more effort than factored estimates. • The accurancy of a cost estimate should always be stated. Pyrolysis has been identified as an ideal process to recycle mixed plastic waste (MPW). This study investigates the economics of a 40,000 t/y MPW pyrolysis process, called PlastPyro, located in Belgium, to an accuracy of ±15% i.e. "Definite Estimate". The process uses molten metal in a direct heat treatment process to pyrolyse the waste. An internal rate of return (IRR) of 20% strongly indicates that a 40,000 t/y PlastPyro plant is financially attractive for private investors. The capital expenditure (CAPEX) is estimated to be €20.1 m or €26.1 m if the cost of capital is included. The operating expenditures (OPEX) of the plant are estimated €3.4 m per year. The sensitivity analysis shows six main variables having major impacts on the financial returns of a PlastPyro plant: (1) the addressable volume and quality of plastic waste, (2) the feedstock costs, (3) the capital and operating expenditures, (4) the revenues from the sale of the produced pyrolysis oil (P-oil), (5) the tipping fees and (6) the potential to co-locate a PlastPyro plant with a waste plastic sorting facility. For example, the 15-year low P-oil revenue price of €210/t results in an IRR of 20%; but on the 6th of March 2020 the P-oil price may have achieved €227/t, resulting in an IRR of 37%. The paper also shows that a reliable supply of MPW is available, and that reliable, accessible markets for the P-oil are available. Finally, cost estimates should state their accuracy and usually factorial cost estimates are not accurate enough to state the IRR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current sustainability challenges in agro-food networks highlight the need for sustainability transitions in agro-food practices. This paper aims to contribute by analysing how emergent agro-food practices form and develop over time. Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) provide a locus to study how emergent agro-food practices are shaped and to understand the factors that influence how they develop over time. We take a social practices approach to study Voedselteams — a network of food buying groups in Belgium. We go beyond studying single practices, by analysing AFNs as consisting of bundles of practices. We use a mix of methods (desk-top study, structured and semi-structured interviews, participant observation and workshops). Our results show that becoming involved in an AFN may also mean getting involved in other 'alternative' practices. As such, engaging in an AFN may require more effort than gaining access to or provisioning food through more strongly routinised practices. Our results suggest that whether, and the extent to which, participants get involved in emergent practice-bundles depends on an interplay between their motivations and the ways in which the emergent practice-bundles are embedded in existing bundles of practices. The routinisation and professionalisation of alternative practices – more in line with existing practice bundles - may facilitate the participation of members willing to invest less time and effort in gaining access to food through an AFN. This suggests that the routinisation and alignment with the bundles of practices that shape daily lives are crucial for emergent practices to appeal to a wider public. • We study practices in a Belgian AFN to grasp how emergent practices are shaped. • Sustainability related objectives may drive the emergence of new social practices. • Emergent practices may be less aligned with and difficult to fit in daily lives. • AFN membership thus requires more effort and motivation of the participants. • Routinisation is important for emergent practices to appeal to a wider public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores a number of barriers and opportunities facing alternative measures of economic welfare by conducting semi-structured in-depth interviews with (potential) users in both Belgium and Germany. The barriers that they identified are grouped into three categories. Context factors are embedded in the policy context and agendas that shape the environment in which an indicator percolates, indicator factors depend on specific characteristics of the indicators, while user factors relate to the level of experience and expertise of the users of indicators and the institutional culture in which they operate. Drawing on the different barriers that are reported, we identify four opportunities to increase the policy value of alternative measures of economic welfare: harmonizing and updating the methodological framework, extending macroeconomic models to include a wider range of welfare-related items, improving the communication around these indicators and promoting indicator and researcher entrepreneurship. These opportunities should be regarded as recommendations to the scientific community that works on these alternative measures. The process of overcoming the different barriers listed in this paper should not be insurmountable, as there is clear international public support for using health, social and environmental statistics as well as economic statistics to measure societal progress and human well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Cannabis Social Clubs (CSCs) are private organizations or clubs of users that produce cannabis for non-profit distribution to adult members to meet their personal needs without having to turn to the black market. CSCs can be found in many countries, but the term often covers very different empirical realities. Inspired by the Spanish CSCs and similarly taking advantage of a grey area in the Belgian cannabis legislation, Belgian cannabis activists set up the first Belgian CSC in 2006, and there are now at least 5 Belgian CSCs. The paper's main objective is to analyse the (internal) strengths and weaknesses and the (external) opportunities and threats of the model, as it exists today. Methods The paper draws on a review of international literature and qualitative data on the Belgian cannabis social clubs. Field visits and interviews were conducted with each club. We analysed membership application forms, cultivation protocols and contracts with growers, cannabis ownership certificates of members, information leaflets, the clubs’ websites, and all media articles and documentaries on the clubs in the Belgian media. Results The paper describes the membership criteria and house rules, the members’ profile, the organization and protocols for cannabis production, the distribution of cannabis through ‘exchange fairs’, the administrative features of the clubs and their contacts with other CSCs and with local authorities, the drug sector and the media. Belgian CSCs seem not profit-driven, and operate as a system in which cannabis is not too easily available. The clubs have fairly direct control over the quality and the potency of the cannabis they distribute. The model offers important potential opportunities, in terms of economic advantages and monitoring consumption patterns. The main threats to Belgian CSCs consist of attempts to criminalize the model, the emergence of profit-driven clubs and systemic violence from criminal entrepreneurs. Weaknesses of the model relate to the unstable or transient nature of the clubs, the transparency of their operational procedures, the superficiality of their quality control strategies, and the risk of morphing into marketing enterprises. Conclusions The CSC model could be a safe and feasible option for policymakers to move a meaningful distance along the spectrum towards legally regulated cannabis markets without crossing over to full commercial availability. Governmental regulation could convert weaknesses and threats to the model into strengths and opportunities to ensure best practice. If authorities refrain from action, the model might dilute and evolve in a similar way as the Spanish CSCs did recently, with the establishment of large, commercial clubs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When rural planning complexity increases, such as in rural areas with a high urbanisation pressure, decision support tools can assist in determining which agricultural land should be given priority for preservation. Theoretically, traditional land valuation methods can cope with the multiple criteria at stake, but literature reveals a gap between the analytical potential of these methods and their actual use by the various stakeholders. This paper describes the participatory development and use of a new planning decision support tool called Agricultural Land Information System (ALIS) built to support prioritisation of land to be preserved for agriculture. Exploratory research reveals how the intended end users’ participation in ALIS’s development helped to prevent the implementation gap. The process directly and indirectly contributed to the fulfilment of success factors for tool implementation and to the initiation of a multi-tiered learning process. As such, ALIS does not represent a technical breakthrough, but its innovation lies in the participatory development and use. Examples given in this paper, e.g. on match–mismatch analysis, show how the participatory process leads to the inclusion of features that can widen the scope of land valuation methods and enable the user to think more deeply, more creatively and in a context-specific manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We evaluated the Flemish policy to reduce ammonia deposition in Natura 2000 areas. • The policy is ineffective in lowering deposition below critical loads. • Emission abatement should extend beyond the livestock sector. • The cost of abatement differs between livestock subsectors. • The effectiveness in individual habitats depends on the sensitivity of the habitat. Nitrogen deposition is one of the main environmental threats to the conservation goals in areas protected by the European Habitats Directive, a problem that is quite pronounced in the livestock-rich region of Flanders, Belgium. Livestock farms are often located close to Natura 2000 areas. Therefore, ammonia emissions from livestock housing and manure storage have a high contribution to the deposition in these nearby protected habitats. In order to control this problem, the Flemish government imposes restrictions on livestock farms that pose a substantial threat to protected habitats nearby. In this paper, we evaluate the effectiveness of this spatially differentiated policy. Using an integrated spatially explicit modeling approach, we were able to show that the effectiveness of this policy is rather limited in terms of reducing the proportion of habitats in exceedance of the critical load for nitrogen. In order to obtain a good status for all sensitive habitats, emission abatement efforts should extend beyond the livestock sector. The effectiveness of the policy is dependent on habitat type and the livestock subsectors contributing to emissions nearby. Furthermore, by means of four different habitat classes, the effectiveness of alternative policy options can be easily assessed on the level of individual habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remote sensing of Land Surface Temperature (LST) generally requires atmospheric parameters and the emissivity (∊) of the target to be estimated. The atmospheric up- and downwelling radiances and transmittance can be accurately modelled using radiative transfer models and profiles of relative humidity and temperature, either measured by radiosonde probes or retrieved from assimilating weather models. The estimation of ∊ is a large source of uncertainty in the resulting LST product, and there are various approaches using multi-angle observations, multispectral optical or multispectral thermal infrared imagery. In this paper, the estimation of LST from the Thermal InfraRed Sensor (TIRS) on board Landsat 8 is evaluated using more than 6 years of in situ temperature measurements from a network of 14 Autonomous Weather Stations (AWS) in Belgium. ∊ is estimated from concomitant atmospherically corrected imagery from the Operational Land Imager (OLI) using two new neural network approaches trained on ECOSTRESS spectra, and an established NDVI based method. Results are compared to using ∊ = 1 and the ASTER Global Emissivity Dataset. LST retrievals from L8/TIRS perform well for all emissivity data sources for >500 matchups with AWS subsoil temperature measurements: Mean Differences 0.8–3.7 K and unbiased Root Mean Squared Differences of 2.9–3.5 K for both B10 and B11. The use of unity emissivity gives the best results in terms of MD (0.8 K) and unb-RMSD (3 K). Similar ranges of unb-RMSD are found for >500 matchups with broadband radiometer temperatures (2.6–3.1 K), that have lower absolute MD values (−2.2–0.6 K). For the radiometer temperatures, both the neural net approaches gave lowest MD, in the best case ± 0.1 K. The present investigation can hence recommend the neural nets to derive ∊ for the retrieval of LST over the AWS in Belgium. Using published matchup results from other authors however, no single source of ∊ data performed better than ∊ = 1 , but this could be due to their low number of matchups. Further efforts for estimating representative pixel average emissivities are needed, and establishing a denser in situ measurement network over varied land use, with rather homogeneous land cover within a TIRS pixel, may aid further validation of a per pixel and per scene ∊ estimates from multispectral imagery. AWS data seems valuable for evaluation of satellite LST, with the advantage of a much lower cost and higher potential matchup density compared to conventional radiometers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of Big data, data-driven farming is changing the agricultural businesses thanks to the use of modern technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, drones, and farm monitoring. IoT devices produce a massive amount of precious agri-data, which are collected and analyzed in real-time using innovative application tools. This combination of technology, known as "Smart farming", helps various stakeholders in the agri-ecosystem to monitor crops in real-time, as well as maximize productivity and profitability in farm and business operations with the minimum efforts. Although many Smart farming solutions have been introduced, both from industry and academia, universal applicability of these approaches for other farms, unfortunately, is not feasible. Most of these solutions are based on a home-made non-standard Big data processing architecture. In this paper, we propose WALLeSMART, a cloud-based Smart farming management system, applied to the Wallonia region of Belgium. The framework introduces a general architecture to address the challenges of acquisition, processing, storing, and visualization of very large amounts of data, both in batch and real-time basis. An initial prototype has been developed and tested with various farms showing prominent results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Despite increased attention for MaaS, well-designed pilot studies are rare. • Results from an exploratory MaaS pilot study (100 participants) are presented. • Findings suggest MaaS mainly complements car possession and car use. • Interrelation between MaaS and private car is bound to be complex. Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) has received widespread attention over the past couple of years amongst scholars, businesses, policymakers and mainstream media. Most coverage is oriented towards its possible gains for traveling individuals and the travel industry, while still lacking conceptual clarity and sufficient detail about its potential acceptance by the general public. This leads to varying perspectives on what MaaS precisely is and will be in the near future. In this study, we reflect upon the relationship between MaaS use and private car ownership, based on insights gained from a MaaS pilot study organized mid-2017 in Ghent (Belgium). This exploratory pilot study targeted 100 car-owning participants (i.e., Ghent University employees) and explored how these motivated people can replace or significantly reduce car use in return for a monthly mobility budget which they could spend on MaaS services. The study reveals that most respondents were apt to explore MaaS services (especially public transport and car sharing services), but a clear reduction of private car use remained difficult in a real-life setting. Despite being highly motivated to reduce car use and being given incentives, participants faced considerable difficulties in bypassing their personal car, especially for (non-repetitive) leisure trips. By drawing parallels with a similar debate in the transport literature from a couple of decades ago, we suggest that MaaS should be regarded as a complement – rather than a substitution – of private car use in the near future. The relationship between MaaS use and car ownership might in reality be more complex than generally acknowledged. In addressing these parallels, the paper opens up new critical questions for MaaS research in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Analyses of agricultural transitions to sustainability face two key challenges: • 1. The challenge of identifying variations in farming systems and their interactions. • 2. The challenge of identifying competing visions of sustainability. • We combine three theoretical frameworks to tackle these challenges. • Coexistence between different farming models, including agroecology, is possible. The contribution of the multi-level perspective (MLP) to study transition dynamics is widely recognized. MLP involves examining interactions between three socio-technical levels: niche, regime and landscape. Empirical analysis of niche-regime interactions when applying this framework to agricultural transitions to sustainability remains challenging, however. The diversity of historical farming systems within a region can make niches and regimes highly heterogeneous. In addition, agricultural transitions to sustainability may be driven as much by technological changes as by institutional features, including normative rules and cultural cognitive rules that are less adequately addressed by MLP. To tackle these two challenges, we combined MLP with two additional frameworks to describe transition processes: the comparative agriculture framework, drawn from agro-economic, geographic and historical analyses of agricultural crises, and the justification of practices framework, drawn from pragmatic sociology. In this paper, we apply these three frameworks to the fresh vegetable production sector in Wallonia (Belgium) and discuss visions of transition through the lens of the agroecological paradigm. This leads us to predict a situation of coexistence between two socio-technical configurations of production: an old, organic and conventional configuration reoriented toward more commercial autonomy for the producers, and a new configuration oriented toward agroecology. The study contributes to a major debate discussing the extent to which the agroecological paradigm is being co-opted by the regime or remains faithful to its original principles and opens up perspectives for public policy development in the context of increasing governmental attention to the agroecological paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental and climatic conditions of the Late Pleistocene of Southern Belgium are here determined for the final part of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3) and for MIS 2 on the basis of a study of rodent assemblages. This paper provides a synthesis of several sets of environmental and climatic data from Late Pleistocene sites, all of which are located in southern Belgium. One has previously been published (Caverne Marie-Jeanne), and seven are unpublished (Cavernes de Goyet, Trou des Nutons, Trou du Frontal, Trou de Chaleux, Grotte la Chefalize, Trou du Chêne, and Trou du Sureau). The habitat weighting and quantified ecology methods are applied to rodent material housed in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS, Brussels), and previous radiocarbon dates are updated, in order to reconstruct past environments. Among all the sites under analysis, the quantified ecology method shows that Trou de Chaleux corresponds to the coldest temperatures and lowest precipitation. Trou de Chaleux, with a chronology between ca. 15,964–14,014 cal yr B.P., could probably be placed in Greenland Stadial 2 (GS2) or Heinrich Event 1 (HE1). It has a rodent assemblage associated with a predominance of open dry and rocky formations, the most abundant species being the collared lemming and the narrow-headed vole. These data are found to coincide with previous studies carried out on the large-mammal, herpetofaunal, and avifaunal associations of the site, as well as on small-mammal associations from other sites in southern Belgium with similar chronology, such as Grotte Walou. Taken together, this indicates that these latest Pleistocene intervals in southern Belgium were characterized by harsh climatic and environmental conditions. In contrast, the other assemblages under study yielded much more heterogeneous results, frequently inconsistent with an attribution to the Pleistocene. This is likely to be a result of their admixture with Holocene material due to recent intrusions. • Manuscript provides an environmentally synthesis of eight Belgian Late Pleistocene sites. • Rodent's assemblages are used to reconstruct Late Pleistocene environment and climate. • 14C dating from the analysed sites have been calibrated in other to update them. • Heinrich Event 1 has been identified with the rodent's assemblage of Trou de Chaleux. • Rodent's data fits the previous published macromammals, herpetofauna and avifauna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power-to-gas facilities consume surplus renewable electricity generation to produce alternative gases, such as green hydrogen. They can be injected into, and transported by the gas network for further use, which is a promising way toward a low-carbon energy system. However, injecting alternative gases into the gas systems can adversely affect the gas composition and the lifespan of components (e.g., gas pipelines), and may threaten the reliability of the entire integrated electricity and gas systems (IEGS) in the long term. To address this issue, this paper proposes a long-term reliability evaluation method for IEGS with distributed hydrogen injections. First, new reliability indices are proposed to evaluate both gas adequacy and gas interchangeability under uncertainties. Then, a multi-state reliability model of the pipeline is developed to characterize the corrosion evolution and hydrogen embrittlement in the long term. A contingency management scheme (CMS) is devised to minimize load curtailments and gas interchangeability deviations under component failures. Moreover, several reformulation techniques are tailored to convexify the original two-stage mixed-integer nonlinear CMS optimization problem. An analytical reliability evaluation method embedded with a system state reduction technique is designed to evaluate the long-term reliability of the IEGS more efficiently. Finally, the IEEE 24 bus Reliability Test System and the practical Belgium gas system are used to validate the proposed method. The numerical results show that the injection of alternative gas could jeopardize the reliability of the studied IEGS by 39.73% in the long term. However, we have observed a critical time window (the 8th–9th year), in which if we conduct the inline inspection and maintenance more frequently, the reliability could be improved by up to 53.31%. These results suggest that the injection of alternative gas is beneficial, but should be carefully regulated to maintain the reliability of IEGS. • Impacts of hydrogen injections on long-term reliability of energy system. • Novel reliability indices to measure the expected gas quality under uncertainties. • Efficient reliability models of system components considering hydrogen injections. • Contingency regulation with varying gas compositions. • A fast analytical reliability evaluation method embedded with scenario reduction techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the drone-borne dosimetry performed in two separate case studies. Two drone measurements were performed using a reference dose-rate detector measuring the ambient dose equivalent rate. A first flight was used to obtain reference measurements using a cesium-137 point source and flying at multiple speeds and different heights. A second flight was performed above the D1 radium storage of Umicore in Olen, Belgium. The main goal of this flight was to perform a scanning pattern over the area to create a dose-rate map. After the flights, we used historic measurements and a dose-rate model verified by Monte Carlo simulations using Penelope (2018) to verify the dose-rates measurements performed by the drone. Finally, we used the findings from both flights to provide recommendations regarding drone measurements using dose-rate detectors. • Dose-rate detector time constants should be kept at a minimum. • Flight altitude should be as low as safely possible. • Flight speeds should be as low as battery capacity permits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design and safety assessments of geological disposals of heat-emitting radioactive waste require accurate evaluation of the thermal conductivity of the host medium. This paper presents a new approach to evaluate the anisotropic thermal conductivity of Boom Clay, a clayey layer that is studied as a potential host medium in Belgium by ONDRAF/NIRAS. The present approach is based on an inverse analysis of two in situ heater tests (the small-scale ATLAS IV Heater test and the large-scale PRACLAY Heater test) carried out in the HADES underground research facility (URF). The inverse analysis is performed by using the absolute error function and tolerant error-based method based on temperatures measured from 60 sensors across the two tests (i.e., from 29 sensors during the 900-day heating and cooling phase in the ATLAS IV Heater test and from 31 sensors during the nearly 7-year heating phase in the PRACLAY Heater test). In addition, thousands of numerical modeling cases are applied for both tests. The objective is to estimate a reasonable range of thermal conductivity variation that is characteristic of the entire host clay. Finally, a thermal conductivity range (λ h , λ v) = (1.55–1.95, 1.10–1.25) W/(m⋅K) is identified for the Boom Clay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses three uses of modal split indicators, and illustrates how it evolved from a technical, intermediate step in transport analysis, over a measure of transport system efficiency to a symbolic urban sustainable mobility indicator. A framework which includes 11 factors is presented and applied to the different uses of the modal split indicator. Besides the comparison of the three main uses of modal split in research and practice, this contribution focuses on a citizen science project (Straatvinken) in the region of Flanders, Belgium. In this project thousands of citizens carry out traffic counts. While the project was initially set up to monitor modal split targets in the urban area of Antwerp, the emphasis shifted towards street liveability. This is visible in the fact that the citizen science project added a narrative-based liveability survey to capture experiences with and evaluations of the liveability at street level. The case illustrates that citizen science is, besides a tool to address data gaps, also an approach to increase the validity of indicators. The reason is that citizen science, which seems to be underexplored in transport studies, differs in what gets measured, how it is measured and why. This approach has proven to provide a fine-grained, integrated assessment of street-level changes in the composition and intensity of the traffic and their effects on the perceived liveability. We argue that it strengthens and complements traditional modal split measurements at the regional or urban level, which typically rely on the modelling of individual mobility behaviour based on household travel surveys. Traditional approaches allow observing broad trends in mobility choices at the regional level, but they do not provide insights in how those individual choices translate into effects at street level. Although often initiated out of certain sustainability concerns, existing modal split models do not reveal how an observed modal shift at the regional level affects the perceived liveability or sustainability at street level. • A framework is presented to compare different uses of modal split indicators. • Modal split is regularly used as an urban sustainability indicator. • Citizen science deserves more attention in transport research and policy. • The validity of modal split indicators is not clear. • The concept of liveable streets corresponds well with citizen concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In order to exploit economies of scale Belgian municipalities regularly cooperate in the provision of waste related services. In particular for the collection and separation of household packaging waste, municipalities appear to seek technical and cost efficiency gains by cooperating via municipal waste joint ventures. Although most Belgian municipal waste joint ventures can present excellent recycling and recovery rates for household packaging waste, their performance in terms of cost-efficiency has never been assessed. Using a unique dataset comprising of the costs for all 35 Belgian municipal waste joint ventures in 2010, this paper present the first assessment of the cost efficiency of household packaging waste collection in Belgium. As we are not sure on the relative importance of the separate cost efficiency scores for the three selectively collected household packaging waste fractions when determining the overall cost efficiency, this paper draws on the Benefit-of-the-Doubt approach. Our results indicate that, despite the substantial cooperation between municipalities, still considerable differences in cost efficiency for household packaging waste collection exist. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• This is a two-part paper. In this Part I, the PCTD model is presented following a new perspective in the context of licensing for MYRRHA. • The assumptions of the UCTD models are revisited. • Momentum exchange due to flow mixing is taken into account. • Empirical parameters are calibrated based on the database collected in Part II. • RMS error in the predictions of fb and X2T are 10.3 This two-part paper presents an updated version of the long term MIT-NTHU modeling effort on the hydraulics of hexagonal arrays of wire wrapped fuel pins. It has been stimulated by the emergence of technical licensing considerations from the current development efforts for MYRRHA, the accelerator-driven system cooled by lead–bismuth eutectic being conducted at SCK CEN in Belgium. This added licensing perspective has been introduced into this hexagonal array modeling effort through the recent collaboration of this paper's lead author with the MIT-NTHU team resulting in the creation of the new model called the Pacio-Chen-Todreas Detailed model (PCTD). Models used for licensing calculations must be able to predict pin bundle hydraulic and thermal behavior within a prescribed upper bound of uncertainty. This must be done for all postulated scenarios with sufficient accuracy to maintain required safety margins. This capability requires a predictive model of sufficient detail to represent the bundle friction and flow distribution behavior. The Upgraded Cheng and Todreas (UCTD) model from 2018 is unique in this ability and was selected as the basis for this effort. The major improvement needed was correction of the consistent over-prediction of flow velocity in the edge subchannels. This was addressed by recognizing and adding an additional physical mechanism of momentum exchange due to the flow mixing effect resulting from the wire rod spacers. While this added momentum exchange has also slightly improved the UCTD bulk friction factor prediction, most importantly it has provided for corrected prediction of subchannel axial velocity. Since the velocities in the corner, edge and interior subchannels differ, this velocity distribution has been characterized as the bundle flow split. Its accurate prediction is essential for prediction of maximum rod cladding temperature the key bundle safety parameter. Part I, here following, summarizes the existing UCTD and then presents the new PCTD model including the governing equations, the constitutive models, the empirical parameters, an example calculation and an associated statistical evaluation. Part II, published separately in this issue, presents the experimental data base from which the empirical parameters in the new model are calibrated. Based on the analysis of these data, it is suggested that future experimental efforts focus on the laminar flow regime (relevant in accidental conditions) and flow-split data. Moreover, numerical simulations are expected to play an increasing role in the safety assessment, and the database collected in this work can be used for a benchmarking exercise to evaluate further model developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]