Title Promoter Affiliations Abstract "62.836,01 Euro: New Feet for 5 Years a Minute (Jo Van Den Berghe promotor, Jeroen D'hoe (LUCA Lemmensinstituut) co-promotor." "Jo Van Den Berghe" "Architecture, Sint-Lucas Brussels and Ghent Campuses" "Transdisciplinary research architecture-music." "Dose-response effect of computer-aided design foot orthoses on foot and lower limb biomechanics of patients with patellofemoral pain." "Kevin Deschamps" "Rehabilitation Sciences, Bruges Campus" "Patellofemoral pain (PFP) is very prevalent amongst the general population (23%) and even more in certain sport activities (up to 35% in elite cycling). The aetiology is thought to be a “complex interplay among various anatomical, biomechanical, psychological, social and behavioural influences”. A recent paper summarised the biomechanical factors that could lead to an elevated patellofemoral joint loading and supposedly to patellofemoral pain. In addition to a number of proximal deficits (e.g. altered trunk and hip kinematics, impaired quadriceps function), altered foot mechanics appeared to be a potential contributing factor (i.e. subtalar joint pronation resulting in more tibial internal rotation through coupling mechanisms). As a consistent result with this potential aetiology, the latest guidelines seems to confirm the effectiveness of foot orthoses (FO) for PFP treatment. However, this effectiveness was suboptimal since evidence also showed a large amount of non-responders to FO, just as the treatment encompassing hip exercices. Reasons for these suboptimal outcomes may be associated with several factors. Firstly, studies performed hitherto did not consider subgroups of patients in their PFP population. However, this is an emerging phenomenon in the literature. In fact, growing evidence suggests that proximal deficits may dominate in some PFP subjects, and distal deficits in others. Secondly, the distal component (foot and ankle biomechanics) has mainly been studied throughout the application of one-segment foot models. Unfortunately, these models do not present an accurate picture of its 33 joints complexity. The use of multi-segment kinematic and kinetic foot models could overcome these limitations. Finally, the critical appraisal of FO approaches used in previous studies highlights that adequate dosage-response modelling is lacking, since appropriate digital design and manufacturing processes were not included. The current PhD project will address the aforementioned shortcomings by developing, in a first instance, various methodological optimisations in the field of FO research. In a second stage, a RCT will study the influence of these optimisations on the lower limb biomechanics of PFP patients facing dominantly distal deficits." "Effect of Targeted Education for Atrial Fibrillation Patients" "Hein Heidbuchel" "Cardiovascular diseases (CARDIOVASC)" "The aim of this study is to evaluate a new and innovative educational application based on targeted education on the adherence level for NOACs (non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants) in AF patients, compared with standard care, online targeted education and in-person targeted education.Several other parameters (knowledge level, quality of life, symptom burden, self-care capabilities, evaluation of educational efforts) will be studied." "Exploiting the “dark matter” of the genome to defeat melanoma" "Eleonora Leucci" "Laboratory for RNA Cancer Biology" "The 5-year survival rates of patients with metastatic melanoma are still about 30%. The major reason for the low survival rate of melanoma patients is intrinsic and acquired resistance to the existing therapies. It is therefore essential to develop new therapeutic strategies that will help eradicating resistant cells. By single-cell RNA sequencing of BRAF mutant patient-derived xenograft (PDX) melanoma models analysis we obtained the lncRNA signatures of all the drug tolerant cell states arising upon exposure to MAPK inhibition using Dabrafenib and Trametinib. With this project we aim at designing a unique therapy to avoid relapse by targeting lncRNA specifically expressed by drug-tolerant cells. We will characterize lncRNAs common to all drug tolerant states using CRISPRi, CRISPRa, FISH and cell fractionation. From a therapeutic point of view, lncRNAs expression can be easily manipulated in vivo using antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), a category of drugs increasingly used in clinical trials for their flexible and easy design and the relatively low cost. With this project we aim at designing a unique therapy to avoid relapse by targeting lncRNA specifically expressed by drug-tolerant cells. After identification and characterization of these lncRNAs, we will conduct preclinical testing of ASO combinations to prevent melanoma relapse in zebrafish PDX models." "Organic - inorganic interactions between shale and sandstone and its effect on reservoir properties: a case study from the Campine basin (NE-Belgium)" "Rudy Swennen" "Division of Geology" "Organic-inorganic interactions, which refer to the reactions that participate in alteration processes in sandstone reservoirs, have been studied in sedimentary basins for many years. These organic-inorganic interactions create or destroy the porosity and permeability of sandstone reservoirs. In this project, we will sample comparable sedimentary successions with sandstone/shale and sandstone/coal relationships that have been buried at different depth and by looking to inorganic and organic parameters to deduce which diagenetical processes that played a role in these tight sandstones. The aims of this project are (1) to investigate inorganic-organic interactions in Westphalian A & B sandstone systems and related clay/coal interlayers with sandstones that underwent different burial depths and that consist of different mineralogies, (2) to evaluate their consequences on reservoir alteration. Conducting this study has far-reaching implications for successful reservoir prediction and engineering. Formation of pore-filling minerals, such as kaolinite, dickite and/or calcite, ankerite could significantly deteriorate reservoir quality by both reducing porosity and permeability of rocks for oil/gas recovery, or for the use of these reservoirs for geothermy or CCS. In contrast, dissolution of feldspar and carbonate may produce secondary porosity that could greatly improve reservoir quality." "The effect of pelvic floor muscle training on bowel symptoms after low anterior resection for colorectal cancer" "Inge Geraerts" "Research Group for Rehabilitation in Internal Disorders, Abdominal Surgical Oncology" "Colorectal cancer is a serious heath problem in industrialized countries. Worldwide it is the second most common cancer in women and the third in men. Approximately 35% of these tumors originated in the rectum. There are several treatment strategies for rectal cancer, depending on the location and the stage of the tumor. Since amny years, low anterior resection (LAR) of the rectum with total mesorectal excision (TME) is the gold standard for surgical treatment of mid and distal rectal cancer. This technique includes an excision of the tumor and the mesorectum with preservation of the autonomic nerves of the pelvis. Often, a TME is accompagnied by a temporary ileostomy and (neo-)adjuvant therapy is offered to most patients to respectively downstage and downsize the tumor, but also to reduce the risk of local recurrences. About 60-90 % of patients after radical surgery experience a wide range of bowel symptoms. The combination of these bowel symptoms is often referred to as Low Anterior Resection Syndrome (LARS) and is characterized by: frequent bowel movements, incontinence for flatus or feces, urgency and clustering of defecation. Additionally, urinary and sexual function can also be significantly impaired after low anterior resection. The current management for these bowel symptoms includes antidiarrheal medication, diatery instructions or a rather neglective advice to wait for improvement. Although, pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) is highly recommended in the treatment of bowel symptoms in non-cancer populations, there is, until today, no evidence for the effect of PFMT in patients suffering from LARS. Therefore, the main objective of this research project entails examining the effect of PFMT on bowel symptoms after low anterior resection for rectal cancer. To investigate its effectiveness, all consecutive patients after LAR will be randomized into a treatment (12 weeks of PFMT) or a control group (information regarding bowel symptoms). Other objectives entail (i) the examination of the effect of PFMT on urinary and sexual symptoms, associated with the treatment (low anterior resection and (neo-)adjuvant therapy) for rectal cancer, (ii) the determination of the evolution in physical activity during the first year after low anterior resection and the detection of several predictors for a possible decrease in physical activity at different levels (sports, household, work and leisure time) and finally (iii) the analysis of the propulsive colonic contractions and the effect of hindgut denervation on the presence of coordinated proximal to distal contractions. Therefore high-resolution colon manometry (HRCM) can be valuable to get a greater insight of these changes in colonic motility. One month following surgery, or in case a temporary loop ileostomy was performed, one month after stoma closure, patients (n = 120) will be randomly assigned to the treatment group (N = 60) or the control group (N = 60). All patients will be evaluated 4 times (respectively 1,4,6 and 12 months after surgery or stoma closure), using different questionnaires concerning their bowel (LARS-score, CoReFo), urinary (ICIQ-FLUTS/ICIQ-MLUTS) and sexual function (FSFI / IIEF), but also regarding their physical activity (FPACQ) and quality of life (SF-12). The progress in recovery of bowel and bladder symptoms will be evaluated using a bladder and bowel diary. Muscle tone, strength, endurance and exhaustion of the pelvic floor muscles will be tested with digital palpation. The experimental group will receive 12 weeks of PFMT; including pelvic floor muscle exercises, biofeedback, rectal balloon training and relaxation. In addition, high resolution colon manometry will be performed in a subset of included patients (N = 20), 12 months after LAR or after closure of the ileostomy, to evaluate propulsive colonic contractions and to assess the effect of hindgut denervation on the presence of coordinated proximal to distal contractions." "Advance semiconductor wetting and drying: limitations, defect formation and solutions" "Marc Heyns" "Surface and Interface Engineered Materials" "Semiconductor device fabrication still follows the Moore’s law to increase the process yield by increasing the number of cleaning steps to minimize the number of surface defects.  Process induced defect (PID) is a characterization term defined as the main failure mechanism toward efficient cleaning rinsing and drying process.  Source of defects might be extrinsic, which represent all contaminations coming from water, ambient and the surface of the wafer.  Intrinsic sources means contamination produced during rinsing and drying process like dissolved silica, surface roughness, and structural defects.  Evaporation of the droplet remained after drying process leave a residue on the wafer surface called watermark (WM).  WM is the most problematic failure mechanism of PID in wet cleaning process. Sessile droplet model system is proposed to monitor the evaporation process and interaction of liquid and substrate of isolated droplet in a controlled ambient (relative humidity, oxygen concentration, and light intensity).  High resolution profiling revealed the WM residue consists of “2 components”; a Ring-shape (with a height about a few hundreds of nm), and a second component of relatively flat residue bed (with a height of tens of nm) inside the ring.  A modified high-resolution profilometery technique has been developed to quantitatively measure the volume of the WM residue, then the silicon etch rate has calculated by a mathematical algorithm.Oxygen concentration on the ambient has showed a big impact on silicon etch rate.  By varying the O2 concentration from 0.2 nm.min-1 up to 1.2 nm.min-1 silicon etch rate is increased from 0.01 % up to 100 %.  A new phenomena of increasing the etch rate by decreasing the droplet size is investigated by in-situ monitoring of droplet drying on ATR-FTIR spectroscopy with homemade silicon crystal.In the proposed chemical reaction mechanism, the process of silicon etching is began with the process of oxygen reduction process in such a way that leads to produce H2O2 and then surface hydroxylation.  A combined CB/VB process, which first CB band electron produce an intermediate radical of HO.2 and then H2O2 is formed by releasing a VB hole.  The presence of H2O2 have two effect on increasing the silicon etch rate, first is about concentration effect due shrinkage of confined droplet volume and the second effect is about direct attack of H2O2 into the Si-Si back bond which increasing the reaction rate of slow process of Si-Si detachment. At the end, the silicon oxidation/dissolution model in the neutral pH of UPW is completed by describing the mechanism of Si-H reconstruction at the surface, which allows the etching process going forward.  " "The Tibio-Femoral Joint Line. What is the biomechanical and clinical effect of surgical modifications?" "Philippe Debeer" "Woman and Child" "Deterministic seismic hazard assessment in the Belgian Campine basin at the Mol/Dessel site: From seismic source to site effect" "Noël Vandenberghe" "Division of Geology" "The objective of this PhD is to perform a deterministic seismic hazard assessment in comparison with existing probabilistic hazard assessments for the specific case of the Mol-Dessel site, which comprises different nuclear industries. In the rare case of a large earthquake, these might pose a threat to population and environment.The expected results will consist in ground motion response spectra at the ground surface of the Mol-Dessel site, based on different types of relevant earthquake scenarios, with their best estimate parameters. For each of the deterministic scenarios we evaluate the corresponding return period and compare them to probabilistic uniform hazard  response spectra for different return return periods.To reach these final results the research is oriented in five different axes or parts:Part 1: Identification and characterisation of seismic sources near the site of Mol-Dessel.From the geologic build-up, the tectonic setting and the observed seismicity we delineate seismic source zone models. For the Roer Valley Graben, where the large faults are relatively well known from existing paleoseismic research to which I contributed, we define fault sources. For these sources the activity parameters are determined. Outside of the Roer Valley graben, at closer distance to the site, we identify the Rauw fault as the most relevant fault to study in more detail (in part 2), because of its amount of offset and the indication of Quaternary activity.Part 2: Detailed study of the Rauw fault.The Rauw fault is a 55 km length normal fault. To evaluate the potential of large earthquakes on the Rauw fault, it is first necessary to identify and locate the fault at the regional and local scale. For this purpose, geophysical methods like H/V ambient noise, electric resistivity tomography, electromagnetic resistivity and pseudo-tomography, ground penetrating radar, topographic profiles with total station and differential GPS, hand augering profiles and shallow mechanical boreholes and geotechnical cone penetration tests methods are applied and combined with existing reflection seismic data and boreholes. Based on these, we select a site where all the layers up to 35 m depth within the Late Pliocene Mol Formation (Fm) are clearly displaced 7 m vertically, without growth faulting, but deeper deposits show increasing offset. This site has been selected for a paleoseismologic investigation by digging a 3 m deep and 100 m long trench across the fault to study the timing of the most recent fault offset and evidences for surface rupturing earthquakes. The trench reveals cryoturbated, but unfaulted, late glacial coversands overlying faulted layers of Mol Fm. In-between these layers, the fault tip has been completely eroded, along with evidence for individual displacement events. The co-seismic nature of faulting is, however, attested by fragmented clay fault gouge, evidenced by micromorphology. Based on optical, cosmic ray nuclide, electron spin resonance and radiocarbon dating and trench stratigraphy, the 7 m combined displacement is bracketed between 1.2 Ma and 45 ka. The regional presence of the Sterksel Fm alluvial terrace deposits, limited to the hanging wall of the Rauw fault, indicates a deflection of the Meuse/Rhine confluence (1.0 to 0.5 Ma) by the fault’s activity, probably requiring most of the observed 7 m offset. In the trench, this deposit is eroded and only remnants of reworked gravel are found. Hence, the Rauw fault appears as typical of plate interior context, with an episodic seismic activity that concentrated between 1.0 to 0.5 Ma ago. This period of activity might be related to variations of activity in the adjacent, more permanently active Roer Valley Graben.The observed 7 m offset was thus caused by earthquakes, but the number of individual events or the amount of offset per event could not be determined from the trench. Therefore we need to model these based on scaling relations from fault length, using three assumptions on maximal fault segment length: the entire 55 km, half the length 27.5 km or the minimal fault length around 10 km to produce surface rupturing. Part 3: Path effects between seismic source and bedrock below Mol-Dessel siteAfter characterising the seismic sources we need to determine the path effects due to geometric spreading and damping of the waves between the source and the bedrock level at the site. Based on a re-analysis of existing (ONDRAF/NIRAS) shear wave velocity measurements, we first determine the position of the bedrock below the Mol-Dessel site at the largest impedance contrast where the shear wave velocity is above 800 m/s (for ""rock""). This requirement is met for the top of the Cretaceous and Early Paleogene Houtem Fm. Chalk at 609 m depth. The shear wave velocity for this bedrock is modelled at 1800 m/s and later confirmed by new measurements (by ONDRAF/NIRAS) in the Smet-Fish boreholes, Dessel. The bedrock kappa (damping) parameter is determined by spectral slope method for different events at relatively close distance, recorded at Dessel, but also at Eben-Emael where the cretaceous bedrock is at the surface. In a plot of kappa versus distance the bedrock kappa value is determined at the intersection of a linear regression through 0 distance; we obtain 0.027. We select existing ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs)  that fit those target bedrock parameters and that are valid for our tectonic setting. These GMPEs predict the range of expected ground motions at that particular bedrock due to an earthquake with specified magnitude and at a specified distance from the site. Several of these GMPEs are selected to have more confidence in the core value and range of the predicted ground motion.Part 4: Site effect between bedrock and surface at the Mol-Dessel site.The site effect describes the influence of the sedimentary cover above the bedrock on the strong ground motion at the Mol-Dessel site. Some parts of the spectrum are amplified, while others, especially the high frequencies, are damped. To obtain this, we first calculate the sedimentary column transfer function determined by the spectral ratio of earthquake S-wave signal recorded by a seismometer at the surface and in a borehole at the depth of the Cretaceous bedrock. By using different geophysical logs from boreholes near the studied site, we also evaluate the geotechnical characteristics of the different stratigraphic units of the sedimentary cover and model the resulting transfer function. Another experimental approach to verify the spectral position of the amplification peaks is H/V ambient noise. The comparison of the experimental, modelled transfer functions and H/V allows taking into account reliable uncertainties in the transfer function.Part 5: deterministic scenarios hazard calculationsFinally we compute surface response spectra for a broad set of deterministic scenarios. The selected scenarios are:Rauw fault ruptures based on 3 possible rupture lengths near the site, based on Part 2;Entire fault ruptures for the closest faults in the Roer Valley Graben, based on Part 1;Deterministic worst-case scenarios based on seismic zone models (from Part 1) where the observed (plus increment) or evaluated maximum magnitude event is positioned at closest distance to the site;Historical ground motion check of the effects of known large historical earthquakes at their actual location and using best estimate parameters from the Royal Observatory of Belgium seismic catalogue;Controlling earthquake scenarios derived from previous probabilistic seismic hazard evaluations that are deaggregated to find the magnitude and distance events that contribute most to the probabilistic hazard for a specific return period;Finally a magnitude-distance check to explain the ground motion effects at different spectral frequencies.For each of these scenarios, response spectra are first calculated for the outcropping bedrock level, using the selected GMPEs. The second step is to transfer the motion to the real ground surface by the intermediate of the sedimentary cover transfer function and random vibration theory to go from response spectra to Fourier amplitude spectra and back. The deterministic response spectra  are compared to existing probabilistic uniform hazard spectra for several return periods. For a correct comparison we also determine the return periods of all the events in our deterministic scenarios.With this comparison we can clarify certain aspects or caveats in the probabilistic approach, especially related to the frequency of exceedance in relation to worst case scenarios, the spectra of individual events and their return periods and clarity about what is represented." "Civil effect integration." "Centre for Migration and Intercultural Studies (CeMIS)" "This project represents a formal research agreement between UA and on the other hand HIVA. UA provides HIVA research results mentioned in the title of the project under the conditions as stipulated in this contract."