Title Promoter Affiliations Abstract "Development, implementation and pilot-testing of a gamified E-learning platform for the improvement of (motor)cycling knowledge & skills of Vietnamese adolescents" "Kris BRIJS" "Traffic Safety, Ton Duc Thang University" "Traffic accidents and traffic concerns are always types of heavy pressure on the society. Several studies indicate that violation of traffic laws and a lack of situation awareness are core issues leading to traffic accidents, especially, poor hazard perception and undeveloped driving skills are main reasons of young-novice accidents. In Vietnam, to improve road safety in adolescents, a number of solutions such as strengthening communications on traffic safety among people, spreading traffic rules on the mass media and even increasing the fine for violating regulations, are introduced. However, most of interventions have not been highly effective because they focus on raising awareness instead of learning knowledge and training skills. By using the gamified e-learning platform in the co-operation to IMOB, the research focus on promoting (motor)cycling-related knowledge and skills among Vietnamese adolescents. This gamified educational tool is extremely useful for young people to improve their knowledge of road traffic laws and predictions traffic situation in order to make timely handling. To begin with, needs of improvement in (motor)cycling-related knowledge and skills of Vietnamese adolescents will be identified through assessing key problems related to risk motorcyclist behaviour. Next, e-learning platform will be developed to adapt to Ho Chi Minh City by collecting and transforming traffic data of the local context. Finally, pilot testing of e-learning platform in the context of Ho Chi minh City will be conducted. Results from pilot testing will be analysed and evaluated to identify the impact of the application on improvement in (motor)cycling-related knowledge and skills of the focus group in the comparison to that of the target group." "In-Dept Analysis of Motorcycle Riders'Risk-Taking Behaviors and Measures to Improve Road Safety for Motorcyclists." "Kris BRIJS" "Traffic Safety" "In both developed and developing countries, the travel demand of transport by motorcycles is increasing as a result of the benefits they provide. Especially in developing countries, the number of registered motorcycles are sharply increasing every year. In addition, with the rapid development of science and technology, the engine of motorcycles are getting stronger and cheaper, so traffic users' choice of motorcycles with large displacement engines f is increasing. As a consequence of the increase in the number of motorcycles, the number of serious and very serious accidents related to motorcycles is on the rise and the rate of fatalities per accident is very high. Currently, there is little research on improving and enhancing the quality of transport infrastructures and motorcycles to avoid accidents . Specifically, there is a lack of studies on safety solutions related to transport infrastructures and motorcycles to help people stay alive and uninjured in a crash. To solve those problematic situations, this research presents a package of comprehensive measures to enhance traffic safety for motorcyclists including active and passive solutions in developing countries. The active solutions help drivers to avoid accidents, the passive solutions help people stay alive and uninjured in a crash. The research will be conducted based on the analysis of the data from traffic accidents and the risk-taking behaviours of motorcyclists at typical intersections and motorways. This analysis clearly points out the type and nature of collisions, occupant characteristics and the causation of injuries. Furthermore, an in-depth interview on the behaviours of motorcycle riders will be conducted to determine the main risk-taking behaviours that are usually performed by riders." "Traffic conflicts as surrogate safety measure for accidents involving vulnerable road users." "Stijn DANIELS" "Traffic Safety" "The main objective of this research it to develop a safety indicator with its specific use to evaluate vulnerable road users' safety. In recent years, the use of traffic conflicts as a surrogate for accidents has become more common, but the developed safety indicators seem less applicable for conflicts involving cyclists and pedestrians. An thorough literature review is conducted in order to identify which behavioral processes contribute to traffic conflict involvement of vulnerable road users. Current safety indicators are examined in order to determine why they are less applicable for cyclists and pedestrians. Based on these findings, a new indicator will be developed and tested using several empirical studies." "Peripheral Points of View." "Erik Myin" "Centre for Philosophical Psychology" "In this project, we will continue and broaden our artistic, scientific, and philosophical approach to investigating peripheral vision, i.e., visual perception outside the centre of gaze. We will create an entirely new image type - images that can be recognized in the periphery but not in central vision, and explore the results, as well as our previous findings from the point of view of each discipline. We will increase our public outreach, present at universities and exhibit in galleries and museums." "Research into the road safety effect of free programmable illuminated traffic signs." "Tom BRIJS" "Transportation Behaviour, Traffic Safety" "The assignment involves investigating the effect on traffic safety of freely programmable illuminated signs (VPVB) for the Agency for roads and traffic (AWV), Department of Expertise traffic and telematics (EVT), team safety and design in Brussels. VPVB is a collective term for signboards or billboards that use different types of technologies such as LED, plasma, LCD, OLED, etc. VPVB are increasingly used by dealers and companies to display and distribute (advertising) messages along the Flemish road network. Because these VPVB may have an impact on road safety, coupled with the fact they pop up more and more on the streets, it is important to determine the impact of these boards on the behaviour of road users. There was already a first literature study conducted on the effects of VPVB on road safety. From this study, it is apparent that there is no uniformity at international level in dealing with VPVB. There is, therefore, a need for additional research on this theme. The results of the literature study already carried out must be checked against reality. The effects on road safety in different type situations will need to be examined, adapted to the Flemish context. These different conditions need to be analysed and evaluated in terms of the impact on road safety. The already conducted literature study is integrally made available. The results of this study will be used to create a legal framework concerning the terms of VPVB in Flanders." "Benchmarking road safety performance in China and Europe" "Elke HERMANS" "Traffic Safety" "The Research Council has approved the short stay at Beijing Institute of Technology, China , chargeable to the BOF-program 'Short Stays - outgoing mobility'. During this stay, dr. Yongjun Shen will perform research in collaboration with prof. dr. Wuhong Wang. The stay will take place in july, august and september 2014." "The effect of roadway geometry on road traffic safety in Ethiopia: analysis of black spots." "Stijn DANIELS" "Traffic Safety" "Traffic accident claims 1.2 million lives and disables more than 50 million annually. However, the problem is worse in low-income countries with an acute increasing trend. As a low-income developing country, Ethiopia is also facing the same problem. According to WHO estimate, the fatality rate was 386.5 fatality/10,000 vehicles which is one of the highest fatality rates in Africa. Furthermore, analysis on the reported traffic accident showed that, both fatality and total crash doubled only in the last ten years. Despite the serious problem, the whole blame for the accident cause focus on driver behaviour without in-depth investigation. However; different researches in developed countries showed that, roadway environment do have significant contribution for the road traffic accident and also easily treated or mitigated. Hence, this research will be dedicated to investigate the effect of the roadway geometry on road safety in Ethiopia case by focusing on black spots. Empirical-bay and before-after analysis will be used for identifying, prioritizing and investigating effects." "Mediated touch sensations in an online store:The role of image interactivity, user control and input device." "Karolien Poels" "Media, ICT and interpersonal relations in Organisations and Society (MIOS)" "Touch is an important source of affect and information to consumers. In online stores physically handling products is impossible. We tackle this barrier by investigating the creation and effects of touch sensations online. First, we test to what extent touch can be created through image interactivity. We further investigate the role of user control. Third, we test how the type of device (mouse vs touch) moderates touch sensations and effects." "What unites us: Investigating the power of social talk and shared meals on shared basis, cooperation and trust in ephemeral interactions." "Charlotte De Backer" "Media, ICT and interpersonal relations in Organisations and Society (MIOS)" "Many societies today are characterized by ephemeral interactions. We communicate with many, yet with most we no longer have a shared basis, which leads to lower levels of cooperation and trust. Previous research and literature suggests that celebrity gossip and sharing food may have the power to connect people, even within this context of ephemeral interactions. This will be tested by means of social experiments." "Emotional reactions towards art objects: a bio-informational approach." "Karolien Poels" "Media, ICT and interpersonal relations in Organisations and Society (MIOS)" "This research deals with the emotional response to art objects. The questions to be asked are:""How does art induce emotions?"", ""Does this communication adhere to an underlying system/model?"" and ""Why are some art objects more successful than others?"". In order to analyze emotional responses to art objects we will make use of the knowledge, models and measurement instruments used in psychology (of emotions), communication sciences, and product development."