D2S International (Belgium)

Abstract This chapter reviews relevant literature to reconstruct the evolution of Belgium’s involvement with the United Nations (UN). It shows how Belgium continuously plays the small state card while refusing to accept the limitations that come with it. While the choice for cooperation and specialization has made Belgium a valuable and valued UN partner, the partnership has also experienced difficult times. The Congo Crisis (1960–4) and the Rwandan genocide (1994) stand out here. This chapter also shows that academic interest in Belgium’s functioning at the UN largely echoes the highs and lows of Belgium’s involvement with the organization. Based on this observation, this chapter offers some recommendations that may transform the Belgian case from an interesting read for a smaller audience into a case that is relevant for understanding wider patterns in global politics.

Abstract Drawing on ethnographic data from the 2019 SyrianFoodFutures and the 2020 From the FIELD projects, this article provides insights into the early effects of the COVID‐19 pandemic on refugee labour in agriculture in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey. In spring 2020, movement restrictions and supply chain disruptions caused displaced Syrian farmworkers to lose their jobs and face increased food insecurity. The authors situate their findings in the context of host countries' use of legal ambiguity in governing refugees, Middle Eastern agriculture's reliance on migrant labour, and the region's long‐standing food insecurity. They conclude that formalizing refugee labour cannot alone address exploitation.

Societal Impact StatementBiodiversity loss is happening at an unprecedented rate. Understanding and protecting biodiversity has never been more urgent, and scientific research is key to this. Fair and transparent access and benefit sharing policies enable research to take place, whilst supporting sustainable livelihoods of communities and ensuring benefits are shared. Current national legislation has been unevenly implemented and, in this article, we recommend frameworks be developed to standardize the provision and use of genetic resources for non‐commercial research.Summary Access to genetic resources for scientific research is vital to support and promote the conservation and sustainable use of the world's biodiversity. The regulatory framework for research is stipulated by Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) legislation at a national level, but other elements – legal transparency, respect, cooperation, and trust – are essential for its effective and sustainable implementation. Despite the intention of this “ABS regime” to protect natural resources and associated knowledge from misappropriation, several studies have questioned whether national regulatory approaches have led to constraints on research and conservation. We analyse evidence and provide case studies on how these regulations are affecting research. We find that the number of Internationally Recognized Certificates of Compliance (IRCC) of the Nagoya Protocol (NP), the key compliance mechanism of the ABS system, doubled in the six months prior to February 2020 and analyse why this may be the case. Additionally, a survey of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Authorities in 28 countries, found differences in the way the Registered Scientific Institute scheme is interpreted and used to facilitate scientific research. Our results suggest while the regulatory systems are perceived as hindering research and conservation, regulatory mechanisms enabling responsible research are becoming increasingly functional. We argue that functional and transparent systems are needed for both regulators and researchers, to ensure that non‐commercial research can continue smoothly, and present conclusions to support research for the benefit of all countries and partners involved, through appropriate frameworks for implementation and reporting.

Apart from regular wheel wear such as decreasing wheel diameters and reduced flange thicknesses and heights, wheel flats (WF) and oval wheels (or OOR, Out-Of-Roundness) are the most common wheelset problems for railway vehicles. Within the FP7 Research Project “Saferail”, APT has developed an innovative wheelset monitoring system so-called “Wheel flat and Out of Roundness Monitoring (WORM) system”. The monitoring system is installed on the track and is based on the vibration signals measured during the passage of trains. The main advantages of vibration signals are the short measurement time of just a few seconds, and the very limited number of sensors to be installed. As a consequence, the track space required for the installation of the equipment is very limited and thus the associated installation cost is significantly reduced. Early detection of wheel flats combined with appropriate corrective action not only contributes to lower track stresses and wear, but also results in a longer wheel life. The WORM system reports all measured vehicles via a web interface so no user software installations are necessary. A historical overview of measurements and alarms can easily be retrieved from the proposed system. Immediate alerts can be programmed to be sent by email or text message. These advantages make the APT-WORM system as a strong device to increase the service life of the wheel and decrease the maintenance cost by optimizing the maintenance intervals.

A novel obligately anaerobic bacterium, designated strain TC1T, was isolated from methanogenic granular sludge in a full-scale mesophilic upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor treating high-strength starch-based wastewater. Cells had a multicellular filamentous morphology, stained Gram-negative and were non-motile. The filaments were flexible, generally >100 μm long and 0.3-0.4 μm wide. Growth of the isolate was observed at 25-43 °C (optimum 37 °C) and pH 6.0-8.5 (optimum pH 7.0). Strain TC1T grew chemo-organotrophically on a range of carbohydrates under anaerobic conditions. Yeast extract was required for growth. The major fermentative end products of glucose, supplemented with yeast extract, were acetate, lactate, succinate, propionate, formate and hydrogen. Co-cultivation with the hydrogenotrophic methanogen Methanospirillum hungatei DSM 864T enhanced growth of the isolate. The DNA G+C content was determined experimentally to be 42.1 mol%. The major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C15 : 0, iso-C15 : 0 and iso-C17 : 0 3-OH. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain TC1T belonged to the class Anaerolineae in the phylum Chloroflexi, in which Ornatilinea apprima P3M-1T was its closest phylogenetic relative (88.3 % nucleotide identity). Phylogenomic analyses using 38 and 83 single-copy marker genes also supported the novelty of strain TC1T at least at the genus level. Based on phylogenetic, genomic and phenotypic characteristics, we propose that strain TC1T represents a novel species of a new genus, for which we suggest the name Flexilinea flocculi gen. nov., sp. nov. The type strain of Flexilinea flocculi is strain TC1T ( = JCM 30897T = CGMCC 1.5202T).

As all experimental procedures, Experimental Modal Analysis (EMA) is subject to a wide range of potential testing and processing errors. The modal identification methods are sensitive to these errors, yielding modal results which are uncertain up to certain error bounds. The question hence is what these error bounds on test data and modal parameters are. In this paper, the studied source of uncertainty is related to the variance (noise) on the Frequency Response Function (FRF) measurements. Under the H1 assumptions and in single-input cases, the FRF variances can be computed from the coherences and the FRFs. In multiple-input cases, some more measurement functions are required. Advanced system identification methods like the Maximum Likelihood Estimator (MLE) and PolyMAX Plus have the possibility to take the uncertainty on the measurement data into account and to propagate the data uncertainty to (modal) parameter uncertainty. This paper will review FRF variance estimation techniques, including some pragmatic approaches. The basic concepts of Maximum Likelihood Estimation and the calculation of confidence bounds will be discussed. Some typical structural testing and modal analysis cases will be used as illustration of the discussed concepts.

The Transfer Path Analysis (TPA) presented in this paper has been performed on the Agusta Westland AW-109 helicopter. A combination of laboratory measured FRFs and in-flight operational data has been gathered: while the structural and acoustic FRFs have been collected in a measurement campaign held at Politecnico of Milan employing the helicopter mock-up, the operational data, i.e. the paths acceleration, were obtained on the actual helicopter in a succeeding session that took place in the Agusta Westland factory. Since the data analysis has brought to light some corrupted data concerning the set of the structural FRFs, an attempt to perform the TPA using POLYMAX synthesized FRFs has been brought to completion with the aim of verifying at first the reliability of such an approach and then to assess whether this technique could be employed to substitute corrupted data with synthesized ones when the database occurred to be unreliable.

The aim of this paper is to present the implementation of the Modelisar Functional Mock-up Interface (FMI) in LMS Virtual.Lab Motion. This functionality enables co-simulation between multi-disciplinary subsystem models for a range of industrial applications. The validity of the methodology and industrial applicability of the implementation is demonstrated on an application case taken from automotive industry, with an Opposite Wheel Travel scenario using a half vehicle model in LMS Virtual.Lab Motion and an Air-spring FMU based on Modelica code.