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Het Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek (INBO) voert al twintig jaar onderzoek uit naar bruine ratten in Vlaanderen en het Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest. Voor de komende jaren staat een aantal nieuwe onderzoeken op de agenda.

The corrosion inhibiting effect of lithium carbonate has been studied over the pH range relevant for atmospheric corrosion conditions at the polymer/metal interface. It is demonstrated that lithium carbonate offers optimum corrosion protection under moderately alkaline conditions attributed to the formation of a protective layer identified as aluminum-lithium layered double hydroxide. It is proposed that an active-to-passive transition occurs in the presence of lithium carbonate under moderately alkaline conditions where anodic dissolution of the aluminum matrix is an important step prior to the formation of the protective layer. After prolonged exposure, the protective layer is uniformly formed on the surface of AA2024-T3 and lithium containing AA2198-T8 covering both the matrix and active intermetallic particles thus hindering further corrosion reactions., Team Arjan Mol, Team Yaiza Gonzalez Garcia

This manual has been produced through the European Commission (EC) service contract ‘Identification, Assessment, Sharing and Dissemination of Best Practices for Humane Management of Invasive Alien Species’ (07.027746/2019/812504/SER/ENV.D.2.). The aim of this project was to provide support for the management of vertebrate invasive alien species (vertebrate IAS), through lethal or non-lethal measures, including assessing their welfare implications, in order to strengthen the application of Regulation (EU) 1143/2014 on invasive alien species. We have collected information on the feasible management measures for the 22 invasive alien vertebrate species of Union concern listed as of December 2021 with a view to eradicating, controlling and/or containing their populations in order to minimise their impact on biodiversity and related ecosystem services. These measures have been assessed in terms of their costs and effectiveness, welfare impacts (e.g. sparing any avoidable pain, distress or suffering) and other possible positive or negative side-effects (e.g. on other invasive alien species, on non-targeted native species, on the environment or on human health).

Advies - Het Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek heeft in opdracht van Dienst Dierenwelzijn (beide Vlaamse Overheid) een gids geschreven voor het diervriendelijk beheer van ratten en muizen. De gids wordt vergezeld van een online beslissingstool en twee folders: één voor particulieren en één voor steden en gemeenten.

The modern development of nanotechnology requires the discovery of simple approaches that ensure the controlled formation of functional nanostructures with a predetermined morphology. One of the simplest approaches is the self-assembly of nanostructures. The widespread implementation of self-assembly is limited by the complexity of controlled processes in a large volume where, due to the temperature, ion concentration, and other thermodynamics factors, local changes in diffusion-limited processes may occur, leading to unexpected nanostructure growth. The easiest ways to control the diffusion-limited processes are spatial limitation and localized growth of nanostructures in a porous matrix. In this paper, we propose to apply the method of controlled self-assembly of gold nanostructures in a limited pore volume of a silicon oxide matrix with submicron pore sizes. A detailed study of achieved gold nanostructures’ morphology, microstructure, and surface composition at different formation stages is carried out to understand the peculiarities of realized nanostructures. Based on the obtained results, a mechanism for the growth of gold nanostructures in a limited volume, which can be used for the controlled formation of nanostructures with a predetermined geometry and composition, has been proposed. The results observed in the present study can be useful for the design of plasmonic-active surfaces for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy-based detection of ultra-low concentration of different chemical or biological analytes, where the size of the localized gold nanostructures is comparable with the spot area of the focused laser beam. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.