The fall-out from the Brussels terrorist attacks. EPC Commentary, 16 June 2016

On 22 March, Belgium got a brutal wake-up call. In a coordinated attack, two nail bombs exploded in the departure hall of the Brussels National Airport. A little over an hour later, a third bomb exploded inside a metro train passing through Maelbeek station. 32 civilians lost their lives, while more than 300 people were injured. The Islamic State (IS) network, which was responsible for the Paris attacks on 13 November 2015, claimed responsibility. The arrest of Salah Abdeslam, the sole survivor of the Paris attacks, on 18 March, seems to have made IS expedite the Brussels attacks following a claim from the Paris prosecutor that Abdeslam would cooperate with the French Justice Department over the Paris attacks

Automatic Detection of Online Jihadist Hate Speech

We have developed a system that automatically detects online jihadist hate speech with over 80% accuracy, by using techniques from Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning. The system is trained on a corpus of 45,000 subversive Twitter messages collected from October 2014 to December 2016. We present a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the jihadist rhetoric in the corpus, examine the network of Twitter users, outline the technical procedure used to train the system, and discuss examples of use.Comment: 31 page

Predicting hypercapnia and hypoxia by the ventilator's built-in software in children on long-term non-invasive ventilation: A pilot study

IntroductionFollow-up of children on long-term non-invasive ventilation (NIV) could be improved by telemonitoring, using the ventilator's built-in software (BIS) parameters as alternative for in-hospital sleep studies to reduce costs, enhance patient independence and contribute to early detection of infections. This pilot study investigated whether analysis of BIS parameters can predict abnormal nocturnal transcutaneous CO2 (TcCO2) and saturation (SpO2) measurements in children on long-term NIV.MethodsChildren on long-term NIV in follow-up at the Antwerp University Hospital were retrospectively included. Nocturnal TcCO2 and SpO2 measurements were collected together with BIS parameters at three different time points: the night of the sleep study (BIS1), mean values from 48 h (BIS2) and 72 h (BIS3) before the sleep study. Predictions were calculated for following outcome measures: % recording time TcCO2 > 46.9 mmHg (%RT TcCO2; abnormal if ≥2%), recording time SpO2 < 93% (RT SpO2; abnormal if >1 h), abnormal TcCO2 or SpO2, mean TcCO2, mean SpO2.Results69 patients were included. %RT TcCO2 was separately predicted by reached tidal volume2 [OR 0.97 (0.93; 1.00); p = 0.051; AUC = 30%] and reached IPAP1 [OR 1.05 (1.00; 1.10); p = 0.050; AUC = 66%]. Leak1 predicted RT SpO2 [OR 1.21 (1.02; 1.43); p = 0.025; AUC = 84%]. Mean TcCO2 correlated with reached tidal volume2 (R2 0.10, p = 0.033).DiscussionCertain BIS parameters can predict nocturnal hypercapnia and desaturation in children on long-term NIV. Future studies with larger sample sizes are warranted to further investigate the predictive value of the identified BIS parameters

New design challenges to widely implement 'Sustainable Product-Service Systems'

Sustainable Product-Service Systems (S.PSS) carry great potential to deliver social well-being and economic prosperity while operating within the limits of our planet. They can however be complex to design, test, implement and bring to the mainstream. To increase our understanding of the potential benefits, drivers and barriers in S.PSS design, the research community has been inspired to collect and analyse an extensive number of cases in diverse sectors and to develop and test several design methods and tools. This Special Volume on "New Design Challenges to Widely Implement 'Sustainable Product-Service Systems'" presents results of key studies in the following areas: user satisfaction and acceptance of S.PSS solutions, how industrial partnerships and stakeholder interactions can be designed for environmental and socio-ethical benefits, how knowledge of socio-technical change and transition management feeds S.PSS design processes, and the role of policy instruments to foster their implementation and scale-up. This Introduction reviews the current state of research and summarises the articles presented. The articles demonstrate increasing confidence in integrating approaches and theoretical frameworks from other arenas. These approaches include sociological practice theory, to shed new light on consumer practices in S.PSS configurations, and strategic niche management, to foster a suitable design and experimentation milieu. Experimentation, iteration and cyclical design processes were also seen by many authors as crucial to implementing and stabilising S.PSS solutions, but also their continuous sustainability evaluation. Several articles highlight the importance of local authorities, in developing S.PSS-enabling policies as well as supporting novel networks of stakeholders in the co-production of value. Finally this Introduction highlights key issues for a design research agenda, including but not limited to the development of new knowledge to support S.PSS designers (such as S.PSS design in low and middle-income contexts) and the role of Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) in the diffusion of knowledge and know-how to companies. Together, the papers in this special volume provide insight into the promise of the S.PSS concept for understanding, advancing and accelerating sustainability

The History and Influence of the Belgian ISIS Contingent

This paper provides an insight into how the Belgian Jihadi scene and recruitment evolved since the outbreak of the Syrian war in 2011. We will look into the recruitment hubs and provide a brief demographical background of recruits. After an introduction to the various networks in Belgium that led to the biggest Western European per-capita foreign fighter contingent, we will zoom in on the various groups in which the Belgian foreign fighters were involved and how these groups eventually were responsible for organising the biggest terrorist attacks in North-Western Europe since World War II: the attacks in Paris in November 2015 and the March 2016 Brussels attacks. Subsequently, we will look into the evolution of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) as an internationally focused terrorist organisation and how Western European foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) played a highly important role in the internationalisation of ISIS terror.No ISSN/ISBNstatus: Published onlin

Belgian Radical Networks and the Road to the Brussels Attacks

As the Paris and Brussels attacks made clear, the high number of Belgian foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq has severe national security implications for Belgium and neighboring European countries. The emergence of three overlapping radical networks in Antwerp and Brussels and their early recruitment of fighters for the Syrian jihad is the key reason why Belgium has more foreign fighters per capita than any other Western nation.status: Published onlin

Analysis of the Business Potential of Product-Service Systems for Investment Goods (Analyse van het zakelijk potentieel van product-dienstsystemen voor investeringsgoederen)

Over the last decade, insight has grown that between a pure product manufacturer and a pure service provider, various business model options exist, in which products and services are combined to varying degrees. This concept is described by the term Product--Service Systems (PSSs), which is the subject of a considerable amount of recent research attention. The overarching goal of the presented work is to analyze the business potential of a PSS from the point of view of a manufacturer of investment goods. The PSS research field is often criticized for lacking maturity and a coherent terminology. In this thesis, a theoretical foundation for PSS research is proposed, including a new PSS definition, representation scheme and typology. Moreover, Functional Hierarchy Modeling is presented, a theoretical framework that allows to represent the functions of an investment good on different levels of abstraction. Three complementary approaches for PSS ideation, that support manufacturers in identifying a broad set of PSS options, are proposed and illustrated.The second part of this dissertation presents a generic methodology to evaluate the business potential of a PSS. This methodology focuses on the innovation potential of a PSS in cost and value and allows to analyze the impact of risks and uncertainties. It is validated through itsapplication on five in-depth case studies, performed for Belgian industrial manufacturers. The business potential of a PSS is analyzed for a manufacturer of elevators, a provider of lighting control systems, a provider of fire detection systems, a developer of diamond polishing systems and a manufacturer of wind turbine gearboxes. <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" defunhidewhenused="true"  <w:lsdexception="" locked="false" priority="0" semihidden="false"  status: publishe

Belgian fighters in Syria and Iraq

Part II of our series on ISIS : Blogforum "Kalifat des Terrors: Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf den Islamischen Staat" On Thursday January 15, only a week after the bloodyattacks in Paris by the Kouachi brothers and AmedyCoulibali, Belgium was on high alert. In a raid carriedout by police and security forces in the small villageof Verviers, two alleged terrorists were shot dead, a third suspect wasarrested. The action was part of a larger operation carried out throughout thecountry to prevent imminent attacks by a group of Islamists, some of whomwere directly tied to the war in Syria and Iraq. In the days that followed itbecame clear that the prevented attacks probably were aimed at a highranking police official. The terror threat level was subsequently raised tolevel three, indicating that the threat of attacks was imminent. What makesBelgium such a hub for Jihadis?.