Using emission standards under incomplete compliance

Using the case study of water pollution in the Flemish textile industry, we discuss three empirical questions concerning the use of emission standards. We find that the Becker result ("maximal fine / minimal inspection") does not hold if we include rule making, implementation and enforcement costs into the model. There is a balance between the fine and the inspection variables. Making enforcement more stringent does not mean to put the fine levels as high as possible and only then increase the inspections. We have also shown that is extremely important to have correct estimates of people's willingness to pay for environmental improvement. These WTP estimates determine in great part the optimal environmental strategy and its associated optimal monitoring and enforcement policy. Moreover, it really pays off to optimise the monitoring and enforcement strategy associated with an emission standard. This optimisation does not necessarily mean that monitoring and enforcement should be as stringent as possible. It is often possible to obtain the desired result by some intermediate value of the monitoring and enforcement parameters. This is due to the balancing of costs and benefits associated with monitoring and enforcement.Environmental Law; Illegal behaviour; Enforcement of Law

Experimental investigation of the effects of foam heoght, emissivity and orientation on Bouyancy-driven convection in open-cell aluminium foam

Papers presented to the 11th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, South Africa, 20-23 July 2015.In this paper air-saturated buoyancy-driven convection in open-cell aluminium foam is studied. The effects of foam height, radiative heat transfer and orientation are experimentally investigated. Two aluminium foam heat sinks with the same baseplate dimensions (6” by 4”) are tested. Their respective foam height is 22 mm and 40 mm. The aluminium foam has a porosity of 0.946 and a pore density of 10 pores per linear inch. The heat sinks are tested in a vertical and a horizontal orientation. The effect of radiation is studied by comparing untreated heat sinks with painted versions. During the experiments the power dissipated by the heat sinks is measured as function of the temperature difference between the baseplate of the heat sink and the ambient. The temperature difference is varied from 10 to 70°C.am201

Ethnocentrism in the Low Countries: A comparative perspective

Contains fulltext : 3361.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)New Community, continued by: Journal of ethnic and migration studies [1369-183X

Design of an experimental set-up to determine the influence of corrosion on heat transfer

In the exploitation of geothermal energy, heat exchangers are essential to distribute heat to energy conversion systems (e.g. organic Rankine cycles) or district heating networks. The geothermal brine found in Belgium however has a high temperature and a high salinity which makes it extremely corrosive. In such environments, the classic solution is to construct a heat exchanger with a highly corrosion resistant metal such as titanium or nickel. However, since these metals are very expensive, alternatives are investigated. One such alternative is using heat exchangers made of less corrosion resistant materials, but where detailed information about the corrosion process is available. This information is then used during design and for predictive maintenance. An experimental set-up to determine the corrosion rate and the influence of corrosion on the heat transfer is designed.Papers presented at the 13th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Portoroz, Slovenia on 17-19 July 2017 .International centre for heat and mass transfer.American society of thermal and fluids engineers

Pioglitazone Prevents Capillary Rarefaction in Streptozotocin-Diabetic Rats Independently of Glucose Control and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Expression

Background/Aims: Reduction of capillary network density occurs early in the development of metabolic syndrome and may be relevant for the precipitation of diabetes. Agonists of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-gamma transcription factor are vasculoprotective, but their capacity for structural preservation of the microcirculation is unclear. Methods: Male Wistar rats were rendered diabetic by streptozotocin and treated with pioglitazone in chow for up to 12 weeks. Capillary density was determined in heart and skeletal muscle after platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1) immunostaining. Hallmarks of apoptosis and angiogenesis were determined. Results: Capillary density deteriorated progressively in the presence of hyperglycemia (from 971/mm(2) to 475/mm(2) in quadriceps muscle during 13 weeks). Pioglitazone did not influence plasma glucose, left ventricular weight, or body weight but nearly doubled absolute and relative capillary densities compared to untreated controls (1.2 vs. 0.6 capillaries/myocyte in heart and 1.5 vs. 0.9 capillaries/myocyte in quadriceps muscle) after 13 weeks of diabetes. No antiapoptotic or angiogenic influence of pioglitazone was detected while a reduced expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-3 alpha and PPAR coactivator-1 alpha (PGC-1 alpha) mRNA as well as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) protein possibly occurred as a consequence of improved vascularization. Conclusion: Pioglitazone preserves microvascular structure in diabetes independently of improvements in glycemic control and by a mechanism unrelated to VEGF-mediated angiogenesis. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger AG, Base

Prenatal stress exposure is associated with increased dyspnea perception in adulthood

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Dyspnoea is the aversive cardinal symptom in various prevalent conditions such as respiratory, cardiovascular and neuromuscular diseases and is associated with great individual and socioeconomic burden [1]. Over the past years, several physiological and also psychological factors have been demonstrated to affect the perception of dyspnoea [1, 2]. For example, high levels of anxiety in adulthood were associated with increased dyspnoea perception in patients with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but also in healthy controls [2]. Moreover, adverse, separation-related experiences in childhood were linked to the subsequent development of increased anxiety and dyspnoea [3]. However, the effects of adverse experiences in early, prenatal life on dyspnoea perception remain widely unknown, although prenatal exposure to maternal stress and anxiety has convincingly been related to the development of other health and behavioural problems later in life, including impairments of the respiratory control system and high anxiety levels [4–9]. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between prenatal exposure to maternal stress and the perception of dyspnoea in adulthood 28 years later