In this paper we attempt to analyze the independence and credibility of five Belgian regulatory agencies. In the theoretical part we cover the existing literature and find that although independence and credibility are different phenomena independence is usually used as a proxy for credibility. In the empirical part we therefore concentrate on the independence of Belgian regulatory agencies usi...

OBJECTIVE To compare quantitative measures and clinical assessments of behavior as an indication of psychologic well-being of stabled horses provided drinking water continuously or via 1 of 3 intermittent delivery systems. ANIMALS 22 Quarter Horse (QH) or QH-crossbred mares and 17 Belgian or Belgian-crossbred mares (study 1) and 24 QH or QH-crossbred mares and 18 Belgian or Belgian-crossbred ...

Analysis of crop genetic diversity and structure provides valuable information needed to broaden the narrow genetic base as well as to enhance the breeding and conservation strategies of crops. In this study, 95 Austrian and Belgian wheat cultivars maintained at the Centre for Genetic Resources (CGN) in the Netherlands were characterised using 1052 diversity array technology (DArT) markers to e...

The Belgian Electronic Identity Card enables Belgian citizens to prove their identity digitally and to sign electronic documents. At the end of 2009, every Belgian citizen older than 12 years will have such an eID card. In the future, usage of the eID card may be mandatory. However, irresponsible use of the card may cause harm to individuals. Currently, there exist some privacy and security pro...

BACKGROUND Infants of North African immigrants are reported to have higher birthweights than their Belgian counterparts. It is unclear what mechanism contributes to this difference. METHODS Analyses were based on a hospital-based cohort of 1,162 women. RESULTS Infants of North African immigrants were less likely to be born preterm, compared to infants of Belgian women. After adjusting for s...

This article addresses the perceptual identification of French regional accents by listeners from the Paris region and Belgium. It is based on the geographical localisation of about thirty speakers from seven French-speaking areas: Vendee (West of France), Languedoc (South of France), Alsace (East of France), Romand Switzerland, East, Centre and West of Belgium. Contrary to the speake bracket (...

This paper examines intrinsic vowel pitch (IF0) in Moroccan Standard Arabic and Belgian Standard Dutch in order to investigate the hypothesis that IF0 may depend on the size of the vowel inventory. The results of a production task with 11 Moroccan native speakers of Standard Arabic and 10 Belgian native speakers of Dutch reveal that IF0 in Arabic is significantly smaller (1.28 ST) than in Dutch...

AIMS OF THE STUDY This study wants to examine the availability of Belgian healthcare data in the three main international health databases: the World Health Organization European Health for All Database (WHO-HFA), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Health Data 2009 and EUROSTAT. METHODS For the indicators present in the three databases, the availability of Belgian data...

The butterfly Boloria aquilonaris is a specialist of oligotrophic ecosystems. Population viability analysis predicted the species to be stable in Belgium and to collapse in the Netherlands with reduced host plant quality expected to drive species decline in the latter. We tested this hypothesis by rearing B. aquilonaris caterpillars from Belgian and Dutch sites on host plants (the cranberry, Va...