The Economic Impacts of Port Activity in Antwerp: A Disaggregated Analysis

The importance of ports is usually measured by indicators such as added value, employment and investment on a much aggregated level. This paper tries to define the importance of the port of Antwerp for the regional and national economy on a disaggregated level. It attempts to identify, quantify and locate the mutual relationships between the different players in the port and between these players and other industries. Finally, it proposes a method to calculate the effects of changes in port activity at a detailed level. A sector analysis is done by means of a reduced regional input-output table, through a bottom-up approach. The most important customers and suppliers of the port's key players or stakeholders are identified. A geographical analysis is feasible by using data on a disaggregated level. Each customer or supplier can be located by means of their postcode. In this way, the extent of the economic impact of the port of Antwerp is quantified.

Dynamic scanning of cyclists : techniques and applications

Abstract: Technological advancements in human body modelling have experienced significant growth in recent years. A prime example is the MOVE4D system by IBV. This system combines scanning and postprocessing techniques to generate watertight 3D meshes of the human body in motion, thereby opening up numerous possibilities and applications in various fields, including the analysis of anthropometric features on the articulating human body. One limitation of the MOVE4D system is that it is unable to create watertight meshes when a subject and an object are scanned together. This issue arises when registration techniques used on a homologous mesh yield deviations from the true shape of a human, with the initial point cloud containing an articulating human together with points of an object supporting the articulation. This bottleneck is currently limiting further exploration of object-assisted human movement, as applied in fields including sports sciences and occupational ergonomics. In this study, a subject is scanned while cycling, at a rate of three frames per second, to present a technique that discards the bicycle and captures only the human subject. The resulting avatar of the cyclist is a valid representation of the articulating cyclist. Discarding the bicycle is achieved by using an infraredabsorbing black coating on a bicycle template that successfully inhibits the MOVE4D IR camera\u2019s ability to capture the bicycle template. In addition, the specific very low surface area of the geometry of the bicycle template allows the MOVE4D system to accurately capture the cyclist\u2019s body in its entirety. This coating yields very promising results that could not be achieved with the other option explored in this article: removing the bicycle algorithmically through a post-processing step. Two initial applications of our technique are presented, demonstrating how to retrieve dynamic anthropomorphic features and aerodynamic drag simulations

The economic impact of port activity in Antwerp: a disaggregated analysis

The economic relevance of the port sector is usually measured on an aggregated level by indicators such as added value, employment and investment. This paper tries to define the economic relevance for the regional as well as for the national economy on a disaggregated level. It attempts to identify, quantify and locate the mutual relationships between the various players in the port and between these players and other industries. Finally, it proposes a method to measure the effects of changes in port activity at a detailed level. A sectoral analysis is made by compiling a regional input-output table, using a bottom-up approach. The most important customers and suppliers of the port's key players or stakeholders are identified. A geographical analysis can be made by using data on a disaggregated level. Each customer or supplier can be located by means of his postcode. In this way, the economic impact of the port is quantified. In the case of the port of Antwerp, the results show important links between forwarders and agents. The geographical analysis shows agglomerating effects in Antwerp as a transhipment location point