Scriptiebank overzicht

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.

Om aan te tonen hoe de indivduele gegevensoverdracht verloopt tussen wetenschappers en uitvinders, gaan we door verschillende variabelen aantonen dat de sterkte van deze relatie tussen academici en uitvinders een belangrijk effect heeft op de uiteindelijke waarde van de uitvinding. We onderzoeken ook of deze relatie belangrijker is in het geval van novel research.

This master thesis aims to acquire more understanding in the advantages of bus lanes. The paper is subdivided into two main parts. The first part of the research is a literature study, where one will investigate very briefly the evolution of traffic and the use of public transport. This will be followed by a closer look into the phenomenon of bus lanes. Here one will summarize the different types of bus lanes and their possible advantages in certain situations. The first part will be closed with the information one gained during the literature study concerning the methods of measurements to mathematize and visualize the possible relevant advantages. There are two common ways in capturing the details of the underlying system, the first one is a method based on simulation (microscopic-cellular automata). The second one is based on an analytical approach (the queuing theory).
In the second part one will couple the gained knowledge regarding the literature study with a case study in Ghent. For this research one has chosen the Rooigemlaan, in particular the area of the intersection between the Rooigemlaan and the Drongensesteenweg in Ghent. The goal of this case study will be to scale the advantages of an ordinary lane, a dedicated bus lane with and without set back and a lane with intermitted priority for buses. These advantages will be linked with the advantages offered by the use of transit signal priority. To end this thesis one will evaluate the previous described bus lane types and their influences on traffic, this will be done by sensitivity analysis where one will change the input values. To finalize the research, a conclusion will be formed based on a cost-benefit analysis.

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 het eerste gedeelte wordt een studie gemaakt van wat reeds speelt in de wetgeving, zowel op internationaal, Europees als Vlaams niveau. Daarbij wordt vooral de nadruk gelegd op duurzame maatregelen. Zo is recent de “Europe 2020”-strategie opgesteld, waarin drie grote klimaatdoelstellingen worden vooropgesteld. De informatie werd gehaald van officiële overheidssites. Wanneer men graag meer informatie wenst over bepaalde onderwerpen, kan dit gevonden worden via de informatiebronnen in de voetnoten. Daarnaast wordt de nodige aandacht besteed aan de bestaande methodologie en tools.

Het cluedo van de economische journalist
Onwetendheid, verbijstering, paniek. En eenmaal die gevoelens gingen liggen, woede. Dat waren de publieke emoties rond de financieel-economische crisis die het banksysteem deed daveren op haar grondvesten. Ondanks het kostelijke ingrijpen van overheden en centrale banken verdwenen onaanraakbaar geachte financiële instellingen van het toneel. Het waren de media die het publiek over deze ontwikkelingen inlichtten. Burgers konden naast hun politici blijkbaar ook hun bankiers niet meer vertrouwen.