Scriptiebank overzicht

This master's thesis researches the governance aspect of New Zealand's Te Urewera Act. It answers the following question: 'What does a commons evaluation of the Te Urewera Act demonstrate about Rights of Nature's (RoN) potential to contribute to the reinstatement of (Indigenous) commons?' The research starts with a descriptive chapter, comprising an introduction to the Te Urewera Act, its historical background, the RoN movement and the commons framework, followed by a thorough legal analysis of the Act. Then, the paper determines the way in which the Te Urewera framework can be classified as a commons. Further on, Elinor OSTROM’s eight design principles for sustainable commons institutions are applied to the legal framework, revealing continued state involvement. The paper explains this particular feature through the founding principles of international law, and their continued influence on the international legal framework. Building on these findings, the concluding chapter communicates the role of the RoN aspect in Te Urewera's governance structure and the general potential of RoN for the reinstatement of (Indigenous) commons. The research paper concludes with a call to consider RoN and commons together more often, especially in the context of international law.

Anthropogenic activities across various land uses (e.g. roadsides, industrial areas,
agricultural zones) have introduced xenobiotics, substances not natural to the
ecosystem, in the environment, affecting soil physiochemical characteristics and soil
bacterial communities. To adapt to this changing environment, bacteria have evolved
to withstand these harsh conditions. Insertion sequences (IS) can form composite
transposons that recruit and carry along passenger genes, including those involved in
the degradation of organic pollutants. However, studies examining IS elements
abundance and its cargo in bacterial communities within their natural context is limited.
The purpose of this thesis is to improve our knowledge of the role of the IS element
IS6100 in genetic adaptation within soil bacterial communities. This research focused
on two parts, the first part on Pakistani soil samples that determined how bacterial
community structure and abundance of IS6100 associates with land uses, spatial, and
environmental factors. Land use and location exerted significant influence on alpha
and beta diversity in soil ecosystems, notably with agricultural soil demonstrating
higher diversity due to increased disturbance. While environmental factors such as Cu,
total nitrogen, As, Cd, and total carbon contribute to soil bacterial community variability,
their impact is relatively small compared to land use in shaping soil bacterial
composition. Nevertheless, 86% unexplained variability suggests the presence of
additional important factors that were not measured in our study. IS6100 is
widespread, with no differences in abundance across various geographic Pakistani
samples with differing land use. While effects of environmental factors including
community diversity was low, some toxic contaminants like DiPCB and TriPCB
exhibited a negative correlation with IS6100 abundance. The second part examined
contaminated soils in Belgium, assessing IS6100 abundance by qPCR. Moreover, a
new long-range PCR (LR-PCR) method was applied to amplify the cargo of IS6100
associated CTs for functional analysis by nanopore sequencing. IS6100 was present
across all samples, with significant variations in relative abundance between soils.
Particularly, soil samples continuously exposed to pesticides exhibited elevated
IS6100 abundances compared to those with less clear contaminants. Regarding cargo
genes identification, clear bands in the AGE for every sample suggested that the LR
PCR IS6100 cargo genes were successfully and reproducibly amplified. The amplicons
were successfully sequenced by nanopore sequencing for future functional analysis.

Data analytics has been a major part in American football to allow for evaluation of both player and team performances, with a significant amount of data being readily available. Here, a more in-depth analysis in the area of pass rushing and pass blocking will be done by using K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) machine learning models to find a more precise metric of determining pressure created by the pass rush. Additionally, KNN would be used to predict the motion of a pass rusher, which would then be used to predict pressure created in that new location, allowing for the creation of an entirely new metric, by comparing the true pressure with the predicted one. An extensive analysis with these new metrics would then be conducted, giving American football players and coaches new insights into player and team performances, which can be used to improve the quality of the game, by the means of performance, while at the same time creating new ways of focusing on the safety of the Quarterback. Finally, a dashboard was build on an HTML-based webpage, visualizing the new metrics for a better understanding of its concepts.

Is it possible to predict the area-level prevalence of COVID-19 infections in Belgium by
analyzing self-reported symptoms on Twitter? This research project is about generating
estimates of the incidence of COVID-19 infections, at the municipality level, by using
Multilevel Regression Post-Stratification (MrP) to account for sampling biases in the social
media sample. At first, tweets are obtained from users based on keywords derived from
previous research, e.g., tweets mentioning fever, cough, loss of taste, fatigue, etc. Then, key
demographic and geographical features of interest are extracted using the M3 deep learning
pipeline, as well as simple self-reported characteristics, effectively transforming the
unstructured twitter sample into a survey-like object. Finally, based on these demographic
features and census characteristics, a mixed effects logistic regression model with
post-stratification according to the Belgian census is proposed to forecast the number of
infected individuals on a particular day. This study intends to contribute to the proof of
concept of a complete end to end pipeline to perform real time predictions of disease
prevalence at a granular level in a population using social media data.

Dit onderzoek poogt de impact van de Russische inval van Oektaïne op de status quo van de Kaukasus regio vast te leggen. Wegens de waardevolle lessen die men hieruit kan halen voor Europa en de rest van de wereld. Tenslotte schetst het tevens een beter beeld van Turkijes buitenlands beleid.

Following the considerable attention of activity-based models in transportation planning and forecasting, and the necessity to understand and reveal the impacts of transportation policies, this paper aims to simulate and examine a population policy scenario. It explicitly uses FEATHERS, a demand-side activity-based model, operational for Flanders, Belgium. The ABM is required to estimate how the interzonal migration of Flanders’ population from small towns/villages to large, urbanized city areas will closely affect the daily activity-travel choices of the individuals. A current baseline scenario is executed alongside three migration scenarios that account for a spatial redistribution of the population (2%, 5%, 10%) with equal proportions. Results suggest an impact on mode choice during peak hours, with a significant shift from car as a driver to public transport. Besides mode choice, there is a considerable decrease in the total number of trips. As a result, the total vehicle kilometres travelled, and total vehicle hours travelled reduce remarkably. While on the contrary there is hardly any effect on the activity choice.

Deze thesis doet onderzoek naar het gebruik van machinevertaling voor vertalingen van
teksten en audiovisuele vertalingen. Het onderzoekt of machinevertaling autonoom kan worden
gebruikt, wat de sterktes en zwaktes zijn en hoe andere tools of gebruiken nuttig kunnen zijn in het
vertaalproces.

Deze studie onderzoekt kenmerken van endorsers en hun impact op de effectiviteit van crypto advertenties. Er wordt gebruik gemaakt van het Source Credibility Model om de relatie te onderzoeken tussen crypto-advertenties met verschillende endorsers en de intenties van individuen om cryptocurrencies te adopteren. Het antwoord op de onderzoeksvraag "Wat is de invloed van crypto-aanbeveling van beroemdheden op de houding van gebruikers van sociale media met betrekking tot de adoptie van crypto?"
is dat het type endorser in de advertentie geen significante invloed heeft op de houding of koopintentie ten opzichte van crypto.

This thesis focused on the employees with burnout history in Belgium to investigate their experiences of returning to work after burnout and to examine how mindfulness practices can support them during the reintegration period.

Wat zijn de veranderingen in het gangpatroon en spierkracht van de onderste ledematen bij ouder worden kinderen met de ziekte van Duchenne? En hoe is het pathologische gangpatroon gelinkt aan de onderliggende spiermechanismes? Deze vragen bestudeerden we in onze masterproef met een longitudinaal design.

Deze masterproef is geschreven met als oogpunt na te gaan of de rechtsbescherming van klokkenluiders in de publieke sector al dan niet adequaat genoeg is. Hiervoor wordt gebruik gemaakt van de zogenaamde Algemene Beginselen van Behoorlijk Bestuur om de kwaliteit van de rechtsbescherming in België en Nederland te onderzoeken en te toetsen aan de bestaande klokkenluidersreguleringen. Doorheen de masterproef wordt het duidelijk dat zowel België als Nederland op de goede weg zijn, maar belangrijke nuances nog steeds ontbreken of onvoldoende zijn uitgewerkt. Een afdoende rechtsbescherming voor klokkenluiders is echter noodzakelijk om de rechten van de mens, en in het bijzonder het recht op vrije meningsuiting, te bevorderen en garanderen anno 2020.

Fase I klinische studie over de behandeling van opereerbare patiënten met recurrent glioblastoom (hersentumor), waarbij chirurgie aangevuld wordt met immuuntherapie. Voor het eerst ter wereld wordt de immuuntherapie (ipilimumab) rechtstreeks in de hersentumor gespoten, in combinatie met intraveneuze toediening van een ander soort immunotherapie (nivolumab).

This thesis proposes a reference architecture to enhance business process architectures with IoT technology, enabling business processes to not only sense the environment but also steer IoT objects.

Goodvertising is een nieuw reclamefenomeen waarbij commerciële bedrijven inzetten op sociale vraagstukken. In deze scriptie wordt de geloofwaardigheid van goodvertising onderzocht bij millennials

De Vlaamse onderwijskoepels organiseren opleidings- en ontwikkelingsactiviteiten voor schooldirecteurs. Toch blijken secundaire schooldirecties opleidingsnoden te ervaren, merkwaardig genoeg in die domeinen waar ook de koepels sterk de nadruk op leggen in hun aanbod.

Het voorkomen van Engelse leenwoorden in Modern Chinees. Het eerste deel gaat in op het historisch voorkomen van leenwoorden in China en de sociaal-culturele redenen. het tweede deel van de scriptie handelt over de verschillende manieren die worden aangewend om Engelse woorden te vertalen in het Chinees.

Analyse en bespreking van de Belgische openbare gereglementeerde vastgoedvennootschap, alsook een korte vergelijking van verschillen met de niet-beursgenoteerde operationele vastgoedvennootschap. Hierbij wordt de lezer vertrouwd gemaakt met het bestaan van voormelde vastgoedbedrijven op een breed niveau, gaande van het wetgevend kader tot de financiële aspecten. Eveneens wordt de aantrekkelijkheid van voormelde vastgoedbedrijven in kaart gebracht voor particuliere beleggers.

Nieuw protocolvoorstel ter management van een Stafylococcus aureus bacteriëmie

De vormgeving van boek zoals we het vandaag kennen, werd grotendeels ontwikkeld in de vroege zestiende eeuw, toen drukkers nieuwe manieren zochten om hun boeken aantrekkelijk te maken. Deze scriptie onderzoekt hoe de vormgeving in deze periode veranderde aan de hand van de casus van één drukkers: de Antwerpenaar Joannes Grapheus.

Het proces voor de directe valorisatie van biomassa, meer bepaald hout, tot lichte nafta-alkanen wordt bestudeerd. Deze lichte nafta-alkanen kunnen verder verwerkt worden tot bio-benzine en tal van chemicaliën en materialen. Met het oog op het behalen van 10% biobrandstof in 2020, wordt in deze scriptie onderzocht of de directe implementatie van dit proces op industrieel niveau mogelijk is.

Deze scriptie is een onderzoek naar het filosofisch raamwerk waarbinnen de poëzie van Jim Morrison, meest bekend als de zanger van de rockgroep The Doors, vorm hebben gekregen. Deze scriptie is bovendien een kleine aanzet tot een grotere interesse en waardering van deze, vooralsnog onbekende, poëzie.

In deze thesis beschrijf de probleemstelling omtrent esthetische energieproductie op grote schaal en bied ik enkele mogelijke oplossingen. Ook wordt er één specifieke technologie uitgekozen en verder uitgelegd.

Wat is precariteit en wat voor effect heeft het op de muziekindustrie? Aan de hand van een kwalitatieve analyse van zeven ondervraagde muzikanten wordt er gezocht naar problemen en mogelijke oplossingen met betrekking tot precariteit. De conclusie is dat het nog niet te laat is om de belangen van de muzikant te verdedigen en de precariteit weg te werken.

That concert is performed live is essential to its definition, particularly in contrast with non-live performances on recordings or radio broadcasts. Yet, despite the centrality of the issue, there is little research asking whether there is indeed a distinctive nature to performing live. This master thesis employs techniques of ethnographic research, analysis and qualitative interviewing to explore empirically originating understandings of how ‘liveness’ influences music performance from artist’s perspective. The topic is highly relevant and challenging as it explores the importance of performing live as opposed to mediatised performance (radio, TV broadcasts, CD recordings). ‘Liveness’ is a concept that applies to the theatre and music but not to the other forms of arts, such as visual arts, literature since the core of ‘liveness’ lies within the simultaneous presence of the artist and the audience. In terms of scope of literature in this area, this specific topic is still rather under-researched with growing interest in its relevance. Whereas there are many researchers and articles exploring ‘liveness’ in theatre or from audience perception, this thesis fills the niche of the impact of performing live upon the artist in the field of music.

Nowadays, performing multitasking activities on the move has become more and more popular. Such propensity has increasingly attracted lots of attentions from scholars. In this streamline, the thesis is to explore how multitasking activities are performed in different modes of public transport (PT) in Brussels city, and whether they are affected by the demographics, distance and level of crowdedness factors. In addition, it looks into the way and how PT passengers interact with their information and communication technology (ICT) devices. Structured observation is used to conduct the survey of 1216 PT passengers (on bus, tram and metro) in May 2016. The result shows, on the one hand, that the length of the journey and demographics have significant impact on passengers’ decision to multitask. On the other hand, it proves that the frequency of using ICTs not only being influenced by demographics, but its relationship with the transport types is also moderated by crowdedness level. On top of that, a comparison with a previous study which adopted a different methodology but in the same context is conducted both to confirm the reliability and validity of this paper and to give an insight about Brussels public transport and its users’ multitasking tendency.

In dit onderzoek gaan we na of talige elementen uit Nederlandstalige tweets gelinkt kunnen worden aan de Big Five of Personality.

Theoretisch en praktisch onderzoek naar toepassing van waterweerstandsvermindering op scheepsrompen. Dit door toepassing van haaienschubbenstructuur, ribbelstructuur en micro-luchtbubbels.

Iedereen zucht wel eens. Voor de meeste mensen is dit zo een normaal deel van de ademhaling dat er niet over nagedacht wordt. We weten al dat zuchten een resetter functie heeft voor de ademhaling. Maar toch gaan mensen soms op vreemde momenten zuchten. Kan men leren zuchten?

Deze scriptie geeft een algemeen overzicht over middeleeuwse dodenrollen, waarna de dodenrol van Elisabeth 'sConincs (1458-1459), abdis van de Benedictijner abdij te Vorst (Brussel), nader wordt bekeken wat betreft de fysieke kenmerken en commemoratieve functies. Een data-set bestaande uit 54 tituli uit de middeleeuwse provincie Vlaanderen staat toe om de gebedsuitwisseling tussen verschillende religieuze huizen in de late middeleeuwen te bestuderen. Dodenrollen worden meestal bestudeerd door historici maar verdienen de aandacht van andere disciplines.

That concert is performed live is essential to its definition, particularly in contrast with non-live
performances on recordings or radio broadcasts. Yet, despite the centrality of the issue, there is
little research asking whether there is indeed a distinctive nature to performing live. This master
thesis employs techniques of ethnographic research, analysis and qualitative interviewing to
explore empirically originating understandings of how ‘liveness’ influences music performance
from artist’s perspective. The topic is highly relevant and challenging as it explores the
importance of performing live as opposed to mediatised performance (radio, TV broadcasts, CD
recordings). ‘Liveness’ is a concept that applies to the theatre and music but not to the other
forms of arts, such as visual arts, literature since the core of ‘liveness’ lies within the
simultaneous presence of the artist and the audience. In terms of scope of literature in this area,
this specific topic is still rather under-researched with growing interest in its relevance. Whereas
there are many researchers and articles exploring ‘liveness’ in theatre or from audience
perception, this thesis fills the niche of the impact of performing live upon the artist in the field of
music.