Titel Promotor Affiliaties "Korte inhoud" "Transportinfrastructuur en regionale ontwikkeling in China gedurende de Maoïstische periode" "Valeria Zanier" "Onderzoeksgroep Chinese Studies, Leuven" "1. IntroductionThis project aims to investigate the link between transport infrastructure and regional economic development in China during the Mao era. Economists argue that public investments have a positive impact on economic growth for a number of reasons. As we will elaborate in what follows, the Chinese story contains many unique and intriguing elements which complicate this statement. A thorough investigation of the topic will allow us to better understand present day’s China in terms of infrastructure and variations in economic development. Furthermore, it will provide guidelines for countries which are presently on the path of development.This PhD project will touch upon several academic fields, among which development economics and Chinese history. In this section we first explore the link between transportation and economic development, after which we turn to the Chinese case.2. The relation between transport infrastructure and economic growth2.1. Transportation and economic growthThe PhD project is mainly interested in the effects of transport investments on economic development. Since Aschauer’s pioneering study in 1989, the link between public investment and economic growth has become a popular research topic. Aschauer suggested that infrastructure investments had a significant positive effect on economic production. Theoretically, one can make a strong case why transport infrastructure would have a positive impact on economic growth. First, factor mobility is considered requisite for economic development, industrialisation and growth (Banerjee et al., 2012; Wu Wenjie, 2017, p. 141). Second, a proper transport network reduces both travel time and transportation costs, which increases efficiency. Third, improved accessibility of (remote) regions enlarges the market size. On the one hand, this stimulates local production and development. On the other hand, it improves competition between firms, which threatens the existence of monopolies and pushes companies to explore more efficient production methods. Fourth, free movement of people improves the efficiency of the labour market. Finally, a reliable and dense transport system attracts national and foreign investments (OECD, 2002; Sloboda & Haliemun, 2010; Qu Xiaojuan, 2012; Hong Junjie et al., 2011).However, although most scholars agree that public investment in transport has a positive impact on economic growth, empirical research finds mixed evidence of the magnitude of this impact. Some authors point out to the fact that transport infrastructure is indeed a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for economic growth (Blum & Dudley, 2002, p. 56; Wei Zou, 2008). Furthermore, scholars vary in their understanding of the causal direction of this relationship. While a bunch of literature supports the idea that infrastructure promotes economic development (e.g. Barro, 1990; Bleaney et al., 2001), others find that transport infrastructure is mainly a result rather than a cause of economic growth. The latter is in line with Wagner’s law, which prescribes that higher incomes will lead to higher public investments (e.g. Wagner, 1958; Verma & Arora, 2010). All in all, empirical results vary greatly depending on which direct and indirect effects are accounted for in the econometric model, and on which place and time are being investigated. More research on the relation between transport infrastructure and economic growth is required, as this will bring important insights for both economists and policy-makers (Montolio & Solé-Ollé, 2007).2.2. Transportation in developing countriesThe past thirty years, the majority of research has been focusing on investments and growth in developed countries. Much less attention has been devoted to developing countries. Transport infrastructure will most probably have another impact on economic growth in less-developed countries than it does in high-developed nations. The Industrial Revolution in the Western world was strongly supported by the existence of trains and railways for the transport of primary resources to the industrial centres. At the start of industrialisation, a transport network is of great importance to make specialisation, agglomeration effects and scale effects possible (Njoh, 2000). Unfortunately, there is a dearth of empirical literature on the impact of transport infrastructure in developing countries. However, recently some scholars are starting to investigate this topic. O’Fallon (2003) finds that the impact of transport infrastructure on the economy is higher in developing countries than in first world countries. Njoh’s results describe a significant positive relationship between infrastructure and development in Sub-Sahara Africa. Mapuru & Mazumder (2017), on the other hand, comes to the conclusion that regional development in India is more or less in line with Wagner’s law.Disparities in regional economic development has drawn a lot of scientific attention during the past sixty years. Kuznets (1955) was the first to introduce the ‘inverted-U-hypothesis’, which suggests that in the early stages of economic development, income inequality within the country first rises, before it falls again in a later phase. In the following decades, there have been studies confirming this hypothesis (e.g. Lindert & Williamson, 1985), while others have been challenging it (e.g. Alesina & Rodrik, 1994). Until today, theories and empirical results are mixed (e.g. Forbes, 2000; Barro, 2000). Related to this, Williamson (1965) perceived that in developing countries all over the world, there tend to be one (or a few) regions within a country developing earlier and faster than others – causing inequality to increase. This is a peculiar phenomenon, as one would expect knowledge and technology to spread easily within national borders. Williamson considers the absence of a proper transport and communication network as a possible explanation.3. Transport infrastructure and regional development in Mao’s ChinaThe above makes clear that many questions regarding the impact of transport infrastructure in developing countries remain to be solved. This is especially the case for China in the 20th century, certain unique characteristics of this period make the link between infrastructure and regional development even more complex. However, we start with a concise overview of the socio-economic situation in China during the communist period.3.1. China during the Mao eraMost scholars agree to date the Mao era from 1949 (the year in which the People’s Republic of China was founded) until 1978 (the start of the economic Reform and Opening). This period in Chinese history was characterised by the implementation of a planned economy and an authoritarian party-state, while the ideas of Chairman Mao Zedong were presented as the national ideology. Both historians and economists tend to emphasize the shortcomings of the socialist economy, which resulted in a distortion of incentives, low productivity and low economic growth, notwithstanding the two ‘disasters’ of the Great Leap Forward and the Great Cultural Revolution. However, much less highlighted is the fact that much progress was made in terms of human development. Both literacy and schooling levels improved, and life expectancy rose rapidly. By 1978, the Gini-coefficient in China was 0.30, one of the lowest in the world (Naughton, 2007, p. 218). Gini thereafter rose rapidly during the period of economic reforms, to 0.47 in 2017 (CEIC National Bureau of Statistics, 2018). While some scholars consider the thirty years of Maoism as a black page in Chinese history (e.g. Deng & Shen, 2018), others tend to highlight the rather positive social outcomes (e.g. Bramall, 2009). This is to show that nothing is black or white: although communism had many flaws, this should not cause us to overlook possible positive aspects.3.2. The link between transportation and economic development in a planned economyThe Chinese territories cover a vast area with distinctive geographical structures. While the east coast is flat and easily accessible, with a high population density, the west is characterised by deserts and mountains, which makes it a lot more difficult to access. In 1949, China’s road and railway network was rather primitive, although there had been some efforts to expand the transport network during the Republican Era. The first five-year plan was mainly concerned with rebuilding infrastructure after the war. Furthermore, the railway network was expanded inland with aid of the Soviet Union, with the eye on industrialisation (Mom, 2018). In the following years, the construction of roads and railroads took place in the North- and Southwest. On the one hand for the goal of supporting heavy industry there, on the other hand as a means for ‘territorial integration’. Within a socialist context, all citizens and minorities should be united as one, therefore, a proper transport and communication network would make the spread of central policy measures easier (Comtois, 1990; Wu Wenjie, 2017, p. 3). When the relation with the USSR deteriorated in the 1960s, much investment flew to transport infrastructure in the Western ‘thirdtier’regions, in order to make them easily accessible – and thus defensible against foreign powers. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), transportation was severely disturbed. In summary, by the end of the Mao era, the transport network had considerably expanded since 1949, but the density of roads remained to be much higher in the East than in the Western regions. This brief overview shows that investment decisions did not only stem from economic considerations, on the contrary the government was very concerned with social unification and defence. Regarding regional economic development, one would expect of a planned economy that all investment decisions were made on a national level by party policy-makers. However, reality proved to be different. Although there was indeed an overarching central policy, much independence was granted to the local governments, especially since the 1960s. As a result of this self-sufficiency, cities and localities executed different plans and therefore followed uneven developmental paths (Wu Wenjie, 2017; Démurger, 2001). There exists a dearth of literature on this topic, local party archives should be investigated to attain a more thorough understanding of this phenomenon.While several scholars have focused on regional economic development in China and its link with transport infrastructure since the Reform and Opening, it is surprising that there are no studies concerned with the impact and planning of transport during the communist era. Only Wu Wenjie (2017) touches upon this topic, but mainly focuses on general planning policies. Researchers concerned with the period after 1978 came to mixed results, but the overall conclusion seems to point to a positive impact of transport infrastructure on economic development. Wei Zou et al. (2008) suggest a unidirectional positive relationship between transport investment in poor regions and economic growth. Banerjee et al. (2012) find that proximity to transport networks has a moderate positive effect on household incomes. Both Wei Zou et al. and Banerjee et al. explain their results in terms of improved factor mobility. Démurger concludes that differences in geographic location and transport and telecommunication networks have a significant impact onthe variation in economic growth between provinces. Yu et al. (2011) find a bidirectional relationship between transport infrastructure and economic growth in the affluent eastern regions for the period 1978-2008. However, for the low-income regions in the centre and the west and on a national scale, the results point to a unidirectional relation in which economic growth induces investments in transport infrastructure. This is in line with Mohmand et al.’s (2016) conclusions for Pakistan." "Draagbaar knie exoskelet voor power training bij ouderen" "Beweging en Voeding voor Gezondheid en Prestatie" "Recente bewijs suggereert dat een krachttrainingsprogramma voor ouderen power training moet bevatten (d.w.z. oefeningen gericht op spiercontracties die zo snel mogelijk worden uitgevoerd). Niet alle ouderen zijn echter in staat om power te trainen (bv. omwille van beperkte mobiliteit). Daarom is het belangrijk om trainingsvormen te identificeren die haalbaar zijn in deze doelgroep. Het uiteindelijke doel van dit project is de ontwikkeling van een gebruiksvriendelijk draagbaar Research Council Regulations | Chapter 5, Article 19 – Centraal Werkingsreglement Onderzoek | approved AB 17.02.2020Research proposal description (clearly add expected outcome): Population aging is a worldwide trend nowadays. According to the World Population Prospectsof the United Nations, the number of older adults (i.e. people aged 65 or older) is projected to grow from an estimated 703 million in 2019 to nearly 1.5 billion in 2050 [1]. Hence, by 2050, 1 in 6 people in the world will be over the age of 65 [1].With the present population aging, the problem of age-related loss of physical function and mobility poses serious consequences. A recent literature review has shown that ageing resultsin wide-ranging physical losses, with a decrease in lower limb maximum muscle strength (33%between 25-75 years), muscle power (49% between 25-75 years) and maximal aerobic capacity (40% between 20-80 years) [2]. Along with these physical losses, numerousfunctional losses arise. For example, steps per day decrease by 75% (60-85 years), maximum walking speed decreases by 24% (25–75 years), self-selected walking speed decreases by 21% (20–85 years) and number of falls relative to the number of steps per day increases by 800% [2]. To combat muscle strength loss, muscle mass loss, physiological vulnerability, and their debilitating consequences on physical functioning, mobility and independence, research has demonstrated that resistance training is a powerful intervention [3]. As a result, resistance training has become a cornerstone in the exercise prescription for older adults. Recent evidence suggests that a properly designed resistance training program for older adults should include power-oriented exercises (i.e. concentric muscle contractions performed at maximum velocity) [3, 4]. This is because, as we age, muscle power (the product of force and velocity or force per unit time) declines faster than muscle strength (the ability to produce maximal force) [5], and muscle power is more closely related to physical function than muscle strength [6].Despite its demonstrated value [5], power-oriented resistance training can pose limitations in older adults. For example, the limited mobility of many older adults can constitute a barrier to the regular practice of traditional lower limb exercises. Considering that 24% of older adultsuse mobility aids (e.g., canes, walkers, or wheelchairs) [7], traditional exercises performed while standing unaided may not be realistic for older adults with compromised balance and mobility [3]. On top of that, power-oriented exercises are usually performed with exercise machines, elastic bands or weights [4]. Exercise machines, on the one hand, are expensive, stationary and not configured to exact body size and type. Elastic bands and weights, on the other hand, are cheap and portable, but require careful supervision to ensure that older adults are performing exercises in a safe and correct manner (i.e. full range of motion and maximumknie-exoskelet dat doeltreffender is voor het verhogen van power dan traditionele oefeningsprogramma's. Als eerste essentiële stap naar dit lange-termijn doel zullen we de ZAP startbonus gebruiken om de gebruikerseisen, ergonomische eisen en biomechanische eisen te bestuderen, en deze te verwerken in het ontwerp van een bestaand knie exoskelet dat oorspronkelijk werd ontwikkeld voor het assisteren van wandelen en zit-naar-stand na een beroerte. Voor zover we weten, zou dit het eerste draagbare exoskelet zijn dat ontworpen wordt voor power training van de onderste ledematen bij ouderen" "De Potentieel Beschermende Rol van Vetweefsel Tijdens Kritieke Ziekte" "Greet Van den Berghe" "Laboratorium voor Intensieve Geneeskunde" "Critical illness is the disease state in which the function of one or more organ is hampered to the extent that the patient will die shortly, unless intensive medical support is administered. Although the majority of patients are discharged from the intensive care unit within 5 days, at least30% remain dependent on intensive care for a longer period. Mortality in these prolonged critically ill patients still remains around 20% worldwide. Critically ill patients requiring prolonged intensive care display a feeding-resistant hyper catabolism characterized by profound protein loss. Muscle tissue functions as a great protein reservoir providing amino acids for gluconeogenesis and synthesis of acute-phase proteins in the liver. Muscles provide substrate to reparative cells for healing, especially in the acute phaseof critical illness when food intake and nutrient absorption are compromised. Consequently, when critical illness is prolonged, the profound decrease of lean body mass evokes weakness, delays weaning from mechanicalventilation, and impairs rehabilitation. At the same time, paradoxically, adipose tissue is preserved. Moreover, aggressive nutritional support does not prevent protein loss in spite of fat gain. The primary metabolic role of adipose tissue is to store excess energy as triglycerides. This excess energy mainly originates from circulating lipids, which are taken up by adipocytes. A much smallerpart of the stored triglycerides in adipocytes is de novo synthesized from circulating carbohydrates through lipogenesis. Critically ill patients suffer from dyslipidemia and hyperglycemia. The severity of these alterations is associated with adverse outcome. Moreover, elevated circulating glucose and triglycerides levels can aggravate vital organ function during critical illness.We hypothesized that adipose tissue during prolonged critical illness could respond to increased levels of circulating toxic metabolites by increasing its storage properties. We studied this hypothesis by elucidating the nutritional impact on adipogenesis and macrophage accumulation during critical illness in human adipsoe tissue bioppsies and in our mouse model of critical illness. Secondly, we investigated wehter pre-existing obesity induces a different resposne to critical illness, again in human adipose tissue biopsies and in our mouse model of critical illness." "InsightProducts: Actionable Insights into Product Service Delivery" "Anna Hristoskova" "ICT & Software Engineering" "InsightProducts zal diepgaande analyse van industriële condition monitoring oplossingen uitvoeren, met het oog op het architectuurontwerp, sensoren, embedded software, communicatie en data- analytics. Focus is drievoudig: 1. Geoptimaliseerd systeemontwerp en -werking resulterend in een verbeterde productwaarde, op basis van nieuwe inzichten afgeleid van sensorgegevens gecapteerd van producten. 2. Verbeterde productkwaliteit en minder storingen, ondersteund door geoptimaliseerde sensor plaatsing aangepast aan de specificaties van het product en resulterend in het genereren van kwalitatieve gegevens. 3. Verbeterde analyse van de impact van het leveren van productdiensten op het productmanagement, organisatie, businessmodellen en go-to-market strategie van de industrie.Het project richt zich op het verbeteren van producten gebruik makend van het capteren van nieuwe inzichten in hun ontwerp, levering en werking. Target sectoren zijn energie-, automotive en productiebedrijven, die steeds meer investeren in een digitale dienstaanbieding (Digital Business Industry). In Vlaanderen zijn deze zeer diverse groepen: 3.000 ICT, 492 service, 400 productiebedrijven, en spin-offs en scale-ups waarvan: 84 productiebedrijven met IoT, 112 met geconnecteerde hardware en 114 met data analytics als kerncompetenties. Daarvan werden een 454 bedrijven geïdentificeerd die de projectresultaten kunnen integreren in hun oplossingen.De opkomst van sensing, IoT, Big Data voor machinebeheer en de overgang naar voorspellend onderhoud, zijn drijvende factoren voor de groei van machine conditie monitoring. De toenemende complexiteit van bv. productie-, energie- & automotivesystemen vereist robuuste technieken voor real-time monitoring, opsporen van storingen, flexibele onderhoud en hoge betrouwbaarheid. Oplossing is optimaal gebruik van sensor netwerken, rekening houdend met: • afweging tussen de grootteorde van de sensornetwerk en de vereiste systeembetrouwbaarheid; • optimalisatie van de hoeveelheid gegenereerde data voor analyse en daarbij horende systeemkosten, met het oog op het verminderen van de irrelevante en/of tegenstrijdige gegevens; • mind switch van het leveren van producten tot het flexibele levering van diensten gekoppeld aan productenInsightProducts zal inzetten op een totaaloplossing bestaande uit de volgende projectresultaten: • Business – Digitale Servitizatie: Gebruik ervan als nieuwe waarde creatie model voor productiebedrijven. Daarbij ondersteunen digital transformatie technologieën (i) automatie, (ii) verhoogde productiviteit van het leveren aan diensten, en (iii) het aanwenden ervan op grote schaal dichter bij de klant en tegen lagere kosten. • Organisatie – Digital Business Industry: Ondersteunen van een ecosysteem die de economische dynamiek modelleert tussen de diverse bedrijven. Dit bevordert technologische ontwikkeling en innovatie met focus op het digital product. Het ecosysteem biedt samenwerking rekening houdend met individuele marktimpact en eisen. • Proces – Performance criteria: Optimalisatie van infrastructuur- en personeelskosten gebruik makend van gecapteerde verborgen productinzichten. Essentiële procesoptimalisatie is de overgang van het integreren van componenten tot flexibele real-time levering van diensten. • Technologische componenten en demonstratoren: Open geïntegreerde architectuur gebaseerd op (i) selectie van geschikte sensoren en wireless communicatie, (ii) optimalisatie in performantie en energieverbruik voor embedded preprocessing, (iii) identificatie van een data exchange format en infrastructuur als optimalisatie van de data verwerking, (iv) extractie van verborgen productinzichten op basis van intelligente dataverwerking, en (v) gebruik maken van deze inzichten ter ondersteuning van servitizatie. • Sensibilisering van een brede gebruikersgroep: Uitgebreide disseminatie en exploitatie van de projectresultaten onder de vorm van events, workshops, masterclasses en een bootcamp. The main project results were situated around three areas: technological building blocks, industrial demonstrators, and knowledge transfer, dissemination & exploitation.Technical building blocksThe technological building blocks included the design of an open modular architecture, the selection of suited sensors and communication technologies, and the exploration of product insights based on the captured product monitoring data. Taking into account current best practices, we investigated the following aspects:A guided design process highlighting the selection process of specific technologies and building blocks - from sensors, communication, messaging to data handling - based on an in-depth overview of available technologies and on an in-depth evaluation of application requirements. The final result included an extensive overview of available technology building blocks and decision trees depending on the application requirements consisting of:Secure design of IoT systems: secure reference architectureTechnology selection: communication & data protectionSensor & MC selection & optimal placementQualitive data acquisition & annotationActionable insights extractionThe design of a basic reference architecture for product monitoring, including examples of various domain and technology-dependent instantiations for a small prototype, an industrial clean room set-up, a distributed building environment, and a moving robot. These included the selection and validation of relevant communication, messaging and security technologies.Industrial demonstratorsSeveral industrial demonstrators were realised validating the developed building blocks around the following five areas (see the following blog post):Optimal use of sensor and communication solutions supported by and supporting qualitative dataDetermining how to acquire qualitative data and extracting actionable product insights from itEnhancing the design and operations of a product based on qualitative data insightsEnabling a product to be deployed as a service ('product-as-a-service')Gaining access to customer dataThese included experimentation with industrial datasets in different real-life industrial settings, design and development of several industrial sensors such as the environmental monitoring InsightPro sensor, and exploration of the benefits of fast prototyping in view of initial product monitoring through the SPICY demonstrator.Knowledge transfer, dissemination & exploitationFinally, at the level of knowledge transfer, dissemination & exploitation, the following main results were achieved:Extensive overview of guidelines on requirements, architectural design and available technologies and their selectionSeveral dissemination activities reaching over 170 companies through participation in external eventsInsightProducts events, reaching 21 extra companies, including a dedicated public workshop in October 2019Exploitation activities consisting of the set-up of several national and European projects some of which have already been accepted or runningInsightProducts paved the road to collecting and mining qualitative data on products through a stepwise approach from architectural design, to technological adoption (proper data handling and processing techniques, improved sensor design & deployment), fast prototyping resulting in the SPICY experimentation toolkit (blog and videos to follow), and finally product services and cost." "Strategic Research Programme: Molecular Imaging and TARgeting of Macrophages" "Tony Lahoutte" "Cellulaire en Moleculaire Immunologie, Toegepaste Biologische Wetenschappen, Medische Beeldvorming, Translationele Beeldvorming Onderzoeksalliantie, Ondersteunende Klinische wetenschappen" "Onderzoekt enerzijds de specifieke biologische vragen bij intact levende proefpersonen met behulp van niet-invasieve beeldvorming op basis van emissietomografie en optische beeldvorming in combinatie met anatomische beeldvorming (CT en MRI) en anderzijds de ontstekingen gekoppeld aan infectieziekten en kanker" "Strategic Research Programme: Ruilwaarde en publieke waarde van content- communicatiediensten toekomstige in de media-ecologie" "Pieter Ballon" "Brussels Centrum voor Mededingingsbeleid, Communicatiewetenschappen, Studies van Media, Vernieuwing en Technologie" "Richt zich op de positie van de individuele maker in de audiovisuele waardeketen; terwijl het het kwetsbaarste deel van de waardeketen is en zeer belangrijk in het licht van de behoefte aan inhoud van hoge kwaliteit, wordt de individuele maker vaak genegeerd in de media-economie en studies over de veranderende media-ecologie. Het introduceren van deze track in de SRP draagt bij aan de kwaliteit en 'volledigheid' van het bestuderen van verschillende delen van de waardeketen, inclusief creatie op individueel en op organisatieniveau, verpakking, distributie en consumptie."