Publicaties

Groundwater vulnerability maps are important decision support tools for water resource protection against pollution and helpful in minimizing environmental damage. However, these tools carry a high subjectivity along the multiple steps taken for the development of such maps. Additionally, the theoretical model on which they are based does not consider other important parameters, such as pollutant concentration or pollutant residence time in a ...

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the most vulnerable households and districts in Northwest Ethiopia and help decision-makers in developing and prioritising effective adaptive strategies and actions. Design/Methodological Approach: A multi-scale analytical tool and hazard-generic socio-economic indicators were developed to identify and prioritize the most vulnerable households and districts in Northwest Ethiopia. Categorical ...

In penological literature and in human rights (soft) law, specific groups of people are often categorised as vulnerable based on characteristics, such as age, gender identity, disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation or socio-economic situation. While the concept of vulnerability tends to focus on certain groups of incarcerated persons who are more likely to experience victimisation, it also allows to broaden the scope of victimisation to ...

This paper examines the structures of economic sectors and the question as to what makes them particularly susceptible to be harmed by crime and/or what creates opportunities for criminal misuse. Initially, we highlight certain bottlenecks which the two sectors are currently faced with in the Belgian context. It is argued that some of these bottlenecks might lead to criminal exploitation. Drawing upon interviews with players in the two sectors, ...

Rates of subclinical symptoms and full-blown depression significantly increase during adolescence. Hence, understanding how multiple cognitive risk factors are related to depression in adolescence is of major importance. For this purpose, we simultaneously considered multiple cognitive vulnerabilities, as proposed by three major cognitive theories for depression, namely Beck’s cognitive theory, hopelessness theory, and response style theory. In ...

The agriculture sector plays a key role in Iran's economy, and the majority of farmers are smallholders who are highly exposed to climate change. To assess their vulnerability to climate change, this study investigates the general views and perceptions of respondents towards climate change, climatic hazard events, and the factors contributing to vulnerability. The assessment is based on a cross sectional survey that was conducted with a random ...

Disasters and armed conflicts often occur together, leading to severe consequences for affected populations. While qualitative investigations have explored how conflict can influence vulnera-bility to disasters, there is still a lack of systematic quantitative studies that provide broader evi-dence on the contribution of conflict to vulnerability. Although existing qualitative work has made progress in understanding potential mechanisms, ...

The development of vulnerability maps is considered to be the first step in promoting awareness, development of protection strategies and sustainable use of karst aquifers. Nevertheless, high subjectivity of current methodologies for groundwater vulnerability assessment leads to contradictory results when different models are applied over the same area. This makes it difficult for water institutions and decision makers to determine a method to ...

This paper reports on explanatory qualitative research into vulnerabilities to crime within the hotel and catering industry in Belgium. The sector’s vulnerabilities expose its members to becoming a victim, but also a perpetrator (an accomplice, facilitator, etc.). Low profitability, exacerbated by pricing pressures customers and suppliers, predispose hotel and catering entrepreneurs to attempting a variety of non-legal modes of economic ...

Population ageing is affecting all Western countries. In order to cope with this challenge, governments focus mainly on ageing in place. Detection of frail or vulnerable older people becomes essential in order to provide appropriate support and prevent adverse outcomes. In this article we review the main paradigms on detecting frail or vulnerable older people living in the community, examine the theoretical gaps and develop new research ...