The evolution of the coastal aquifer of Belgium

In the unconfined aquifer below the coastal area of Belgium salt water Occurs under a fresh-water layer at depths that vary from 2 to more than 25 m. Radiocarbon dating of groundwater samples set the seawater encroachment in the deep parts of the aquifer back at least in the Sub boreal period. A working hypothesis concerning the evolution of the aquifer is formulated

ARGOS policy brief on semantic interoperability

Semantic interoperability requires the use of standards, not only for Electronic Health Record (EHR) data to be transferred and structurally mapped into a receiving repository, but also for the clinical content of the EHR to be interpreted in conformity with the original meanings intended by its authors. Accurate and complete clinical documentation, faithful to the patient’s situation, and interoperability between systems, require widespread and dependable access to published and maintained collections of coherent and quality-assured semantic resources, including models such as archetypes and templates that would (1) provide clinical context, (2) be mapped to interoperability standards for EHR data, (3) be linked to well specified, multi-lingual terminology value sets, and (4) be derived from high quality ontologies. Wide-scale engagement with professional bodies, globally, is needed to develop these clinical information standards

Litostratigrafie van de kwartaire sedimenten in het Oostelijk Kustgebied (België)

The composition of the Quaternary surface sediments in the Coastal Area is known in detail since the making of the geological map and especially since the systematic soil survey. The knowledge of the deeper Quaternary sediments however remains still fragmentary .Field work by the Center for Hydrogeological Research at the State University of Ghent has provided new data about the relief of the Tertiary substratum and the lithostratigraphy of the Pleistocene and Holocene sediments of the eastern part of the Coastal Area. A south-north section indicates the existence, in the burried surface of the Tertiary substratum, of two degradation levels (between -17 and -22 and between -8 and -6). Several lithostratigraphic units have been distinguished. The deepest deposit is the gravel-sand Ostend formation of Eemian age. This deposit is covered by the sandy Uitkerke formation of Weichselian age. The Wenduine formation on top of this sand is very heterogeneous; it has been formed during the transition between Pleistocene and Holocene. Along the edge of Inner Flanders the -8 level is overlain by the clayey Meetkerke formation with Hydrobia. In seaward direction this formation becomes sandy when passing laterally into the Houtave formation. The chronostratigraphic relationship between the two formations is not clear although the latter was probably deposited during the Atlantic. They are covered by the sands of the Zuienkerke formation, of which the northern part is also of Atlantic age. During this period and the Subboreal the Nieuwmunster peat was formed. This peat has been covered by the Dunkirk formation, except in the "Moere" of Meetkerke

Geo-elektrische profielen bij de geologische en hydrologische detailkartering

Geoelectric traverses have been made in several regions of the F1anders, in order to test their usefulness for mapping purposes. The three regions selected had previously been covered by a grid of resistivity soundings mostly in Wenner arrangement.In the Beernem area different arrays have been used along the same line. These multiple traverses have provided data which allowed a comparison of the different arrays as well as a detailed subdivision in geoelectrical homogeneous zones coinciding with lithological units.Along traverse 136 GP/EE axial dipole measurements have been made over a distance of 2,7 km. For every point two values were determined : one for an array 2-20-2 and another for a 5-20-5 array. The first number stands for the length in meters of the current electrode separation, the third for the length of the voltage electrode separation, and the second for the distance between the two inner electrodes of bath dipoles.On the traverse 136-212 GP / AA Wenner arrangement perpendicular to the line has been used over a distance of 9,6 km to determine at each spot Q20' Q40' and Q80. Along the same line apparent resistivities have been measured with axial dipole arrays 2-20-2, 5-20-5, 5-40-5 and 10-40-10, parallel with the line.In the Westhoek area, a part of the coastal plain with salt-water encroachment in the unconfined aquifer, 21 traverses (194 GPW to 194 GPW21) have been run in the vicinity of Veurne (Furnes). The resistivities Q10 were measured by a longitudinal Wenner array. Since the traverses had been confined to a geoelectric homogeneous zone a quantitative interpretation could be performed. A relationship between Q10 and the depth of the saltwater - fresh water interface was computed from previous soundings. This relationship has been used to convert the apparent-resistivity data along the traverses into depth to interface values.The polder area of the F1emish Valley north of Ghent also has an unconfined aquifer with brackish water at variable depths. The situation is very similar to the one in the coastal plain although the variations here may not so readily find an explanation. One single traverse 142 GPW1 of 3550 m length has been run with a Wenner array for Q10. A relationship based upon former soundings has been used to convert resistivity data into interface depths.Resistivity traversing proves to be a very accurate and speedy tool for detailed mapping. Even a qualitative interpretation of a traverse, multiple if possible, can be sufficient to outline the boundaries between lithological or hydrogeological units. Quantitative interpretation is possible when in conjunction with a sounding grid, previously established, a relationship between the fixed electrode array and the unknown factor is found.Once a relationship is established, fixed-electrode separations allow a more detailed survey than resistivity soundings. These have to be long enough to obtain a reliable curve and hence average depth or resistivity data over longer a distance than fixed-electrode measurements which tend to be as short as possible. When traversing for qualitative purpose dipole arrangements have an advantage over Wenner arrangement in being speedier

A validation study of the age-of-acquisition norms collected by Ghyselinck, De Moor, & Brysbaert

Ghyselinck, De Moor & Brysbaert (2000) collected age-of-acquisition (AoA) norms for 2,816 Dutch four- and five-letter nouns based on student ratings. To assess the validity of these ratings, we presented a sample of the words to children from kindergarten and the last year primary school. Overall, the validity data are in agreement with the rating data, so that the Ghyselinck ei al. measures can be used for further research on the effects of AoA. In addition, the rated AoA norms correlate with young children's actual spoken language use, as assessed on the basis of the CHILDES data base

Age-of-acquisition ratings for 2816 Dutch four- and five-letter nouns

Studies on object and word naming have shown that the age at which words are acquired is an important factor in processing times. Research on the issue in Dutch has been hampered by the fact that only teacher ratings were available about which words should be known by 6-year-olds. As a supplement to these teacher ratings, we conducted a large-scale study in which 558 students rated the agr-of-acquisition of 2816 four- and five-letter nouns. Reliability of the ratings is high, and correlations with word frequency and word imageability are in the same order as those reported for English