Scientific papers

In accordance with its mission to support high level research in Belgium, the University Foundation provides financial support towards the publication in high level international journals of scientific papers which report on research in Belgian research groups. Financial support may be granted to partially cover the costs due by the author for illustrations, for page charges and for article processing fees, and for linguuistic control. 

Because the possible support is restricted to Belgian research groups, the regulations and application procedures are only available in French  and in Dutch.

Articles subsidized by the University Foundation

What follows is a list of articles to which a subsidy was awarded by the University Foundation. The titles are ordered by year of publication and by title.

Sophie Opsomer, Emelien Lauwerier, Jan De Lepeleire and Peter Pype

Opsomer S, Lauwerier E, De Lepeleire J, Pype P. Resilience in advanced cancer caregiving. A systematic review and meta-synthesis. Palliative Medicine. 2022;36(1):44-58. doi:10.1177/02692163211057749

Abstract
Background: Close relatives provide much of the care to people with cancer. As resilience can shield family caregivers from mental health problems, there has been a burgeoning interest in resilience-promoting interventions. However, the evidence necessary for the development of these interventions is scant and unsynthesized.
Aim: To create an overall picture of evidence on resilience in cancer caregiving by a theory-driven meta-synthesis.
Maxime Bellefroid et al.

Bellefroid M, Rodari A, et al. (2022) Role of the cellular factor CTCF in the regulation of bovine leukemia virus latency and three-dimensional chromatin organization. Nucleic Acids Res. Apr 8;50(6):3190-3202. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkac107. PMID: 35234910; PMCID: PMC8989512.

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV)-induced tumoral development is a multifactorial phenomenon that remains incompletely understood. Here, we highlight the critical role of the cellular CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) both in the regulation of BLV  transcriptional activities and in the deregulation of the three-dimensional (3D) chromatin architecture surrounding the BLV integration site. We demonstrated the in vivo recruitment of CTCF to three conserved CTCF binding motifs along the provirus.

Bianca SILVA et al.
Silva, B.;  et al. (2022) Safety Culture and the Positive Association of Being a Primary CareTraining Practice during COVID-19: The Results of the Multi-Country European PRICOV-19 Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19,10515. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191710515.
The day-to-day work of primary care (PC) was substantially changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Teaching practices needed to adapt both clinical work and teaching in a way that enabled the teaching process to continue, while maintaining safe and high-quality care. Our study aims to investigate the effect of being a training practice on a number of different outcomes related to the safety culture of PC practices. PRICOV-19 is a multi-country cross-sectional study that researches how PC practices were organized in 38 countries during the pandemic.
Annaëlle Demaude,* Kitty Baert, David Petitjean, Juliette Zveny, Erik Goormaghtigh, Tom Hauffman, Michael J. Gordon, and François Reniers

Demaude, A., Petitjean,  D.,  Zveny, J., Reniers, F.  et al. (2022) Simple and Scalable Chemical Surface Patterning via Direct Deposition from Immobilized Plasma Filaments in a Dielectric Barrier Discharge. Adv. Sci., 2200237. DOI: 10.1002/advs.202200237

In this work, immobilization of the often unwanted filaments in dielectric barrier discharges (DBD) is achieved and used for one-step deposition of patterned coatings. By texturing one of the dielectric surfaces, a discharge containing stationary plasma filaments is ignited in a mix of argon and propargyl methacrylate (PMA) in a reactor operating at atmospheric pressure. From PMA, hydrophobic and hydrophilic chemical and topographical contrasts at sub-millimeter scale are obtained on silicon and glass substrates.

Anne-Sophie Ghyselen, Stefan Grondelaers, Sita Doerga Misier-Patadien, Usha Balesar

Ghyselen, A.-S., Grondelaers, S et al. (2022) Standard language dynamics in postcolonial Suriname Measuring language attitudes and ideologies in Paramaribo. Lingua, Vol. 273, 103340. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2022.103340

This paper reports a large-scale survey into the language attitudes of 485 participants from the Surinamese capital Paramaribo. Suriname is an interesting arena for standard language research, as the country is steeped in multilingualism but regards the Dutch of its former colonizer as its only official language. We elicited evaluations of 10 languages spoken in Suriname in response to label- and audio-based stimuli. Responses were enriched with valence information (pertaining to their  positive/negative character), and subjected to qualitative scrutiny and regression analysis.

Sara Kassas et al.

Kassas S. et al. (2022) Study protocol for an adapted personal project analysis to measure vertical inter‑goal relations on physical activity and diet. BMC Psychology.  10:225 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-022-00931-4

Background: The promotion of multiple healthy lifestyles has been implemented as part of public health efforts to prevent and reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases. However, these interventions have shown a heterogeneity in their effectiveness. The pursuit of multiple daily goals may influence overall progress in achieving health goals. Horizontal inter-goal relations can be conflicting (due to time constraints) or facilitating (due to goal compatibility) and impact progress towards goal achievement.

Servane Bigot 1, Paula Pongrac, Martin Šala, Johannes T. van Elteren, Juan-Pablo Martínez, Stanley Lutts and Muriel Quinet
Bigot, S.; Pongrac, P.; Šala, M.; van Elteren, J.T.; Martínez, J.-P.; Lutts, S.; Quinet, M. The Halophyte Species Solanum chilense Dun. Maintains Its Reproduction despite Sodium Accumulation in Its Floral Organs. Plants 2022, 11, 672. https:// doi.org/10.3390/plants11050672.

Salinity is a growing global concern that affects the yield of crop species, including tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Its wild relative Solanum chilense was reported to have halophyte properties. We compared salt resistance of both species during the reproductive phase, with a special focus on sodium localization in the flowers. Plants were exposed to NaCl from the seedling stage. Salinity decreased the number of inflorescences in both species but the number of flowers per inflorescence and sepal length only in S. lycopersicum. External salt supply decreased the stamen length in S.

Arne Vanhoyweghen, Brecht Verbeken, Cathy Macharis & Vincent Ginis

Vanhoyweghen, A., Verbeken, B., Macharis, C. et al. The influence of ergodicity on risk affinity of timed and non-timed respondents. Sci Rep 12, 3744 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-07613-6

Expected values are the metric most often used to judge human decision-making; when humans make decisions that do not optimize expected values, these decisions are considered irrational. However, while convenient, expected values do not necessarily describe the evolution of an individual after making a series of decisions. This dichotomy lies at the core of ergodicity breaking, where the expected value (ensemble average) differs from the temporal average of one individual.

John Latham-Sprinkle

Sprinkle J.L. (2022) The Late Mamlūk Transition of the 1380s: The View from the North Caucasus. Al-Masāq Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean. https://doi.org/10.1080/09503110.2022.2135850.

This article argues that the transition between the early and late Mamlūk Sultanate in Egypt in the 1380s was partially caused by political developments in the Northwest Caucasus. The transition from “Turkish” to “Circassian” mamlūk dominance was facilitated by the rise of new princely elites in the Northwest Caucasus during the bulqaq civil wars in the Ulūs of Jochi (Golden Horde) (1359–1381). These new elites justified their rule through their access to the wider Mediterranean world and its material products.

Wouter Van Acker

Van Acker, W. (2022) The Nine Square Grid. The Surviving Image of an Architecture without Content. Joelho, 13. https://doi.org/10.14195/1647-8681_13_7

Directly influenced by Colin Rowe’s essay “Mathematics of the Ideal Villa” (1947) and the Warburgian art historical tradition, John Hejduk’s nine-square grid studio exercise had an ambiguous relation to the instrumentality of architectural history. When the nine-square grid exercise was copied in many architecture schools around the world as a first-year studio project, initiating the novice student in the realm of architectural composition, the pedagogical interpretation of its relation to architectural history varied.

Alysson Lepeut and Emily Shaw

Lepeut A. and Shaw E. (2022) Time Is Ripe to Make Interactional Moves: Bringing Evidence From Four Languages Across ModalitiesFront. Commun. 7:780124. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2022.780124

Sign language linguistics has largely focused on lexical, phonological, and morphosyntactic structures of sign languages, leaving the facets of interaction overlooked. One reason underlying the study of smaller units in the initial stages of development of the field was a pressing concern to ground sign languages as linguistic. The interactive domain has been sidestepped in gesture studies, too, where one dominant approach has been rooted in psycholinguistic models arguing for gesture’s tight relationship with speech as part of language.

Jennifer Khattar, Paco Calvo, Ina Vandebroek, Camilla Pandolfi and Farid Dahdouh‑Guebas

Khattar J., Calvo P., Vandebroek I., Pandolfi C. and Dahdouh‑Guebas F., Understanding interdisciplinary perspectives of plant intelligence: Is it a matter of science, language, or subjectivity?, Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1186/s13002-022-00539-3

Abstract Background: Evidence suggests that plants can behave intelligently by exhibiting the ability to learn, make associations between environmental cues, engage in complex decisions about resource acquisition, memorize, and adapt in flexible ways. However, plant intelligence is a disputed concept in the scientific community. Reasons for lack of consensus can be traced back to the history of Western philosophy, interpretation of terminology, and due to plants lacking neurons and a central nervous system.

Noora Taipale, Laurent Chiotti, Veerle Rots

Taipale N, Chiotti L, Rots V (2022) Why did hunting weapon design change at Abri Pataud? Lithic use-wear data on armature use and hafting around 24,000–22,000 BP. PLoS ONE 17(1): e0262185. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262185

Abstract : Projectile technology is commonly viewed as a significant contributor to past human subsistence and, consequently, to our evolution. Due to the allegedly central role of projectile weapons in the food-getting strategies of Upper Palaeolithic people, typo-technological changes in the European lithic record have often been linked to supposed developments in hunting weaponry. Yet, relatively little reliable functional data is currently available that would aid the detailed reconstruction of past weapon designs.

Narcisse Denadi, Mounirou Yolou, Ayènan Eric Dadonougbo, Jeanne Zoundjihékpon, Alexandre Dansi, Christophe Gandonou, and Muriel Quinet
Denadi, N.; Yolou, M.; Dadonougbo, A.E.; Zoundjihékpon, J.; Dansi, A.; Gandonou, C.; Quinet, M. Yam (Dioscorea rotundata Poir.) Displays Prezygotic and Postzygotic Barriers to Prevent Autogamy in Monoecious Cultivars. Agronomy 2022, 12, 872. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12040872.
Cultivated yam (D. rotundata) is a staple tuber crop in West Africa whose sexual reproduction control remains largely unknown despite its importance for plant breeding programs. In this paper, we compared self-pollination, intracultivar cross-pollination and intercultivar cross-pollination in three monoecious cultivars (Amoula, Heapala and Yassi). Results showed that pollen viability (49%) and stigma receptivity (40%) were similar in monoecious and dioecious plants, suggesting that autogamy could occur in monoecious plants.
Marine Pyl, Bruno Danis, François Oberhaensli, Angus Taylor, Peter Swarzenski, Marc Metian

Pyl, M., Danis, B. et al. (2021) An effective method to assess the sorption dynamics of PCB radiotracers onto plastic and sediment microparticles.  MethodsX, Volume 8, 101395. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2021.101395

Abstract : One important aspect of marine plastic pollution is that small particles are ubiquitously present in seawater and can transport a large variety of co-contaminants. The sorption-desorption kinetics of these co-contaminants sorbed to microplastics (MPs) are not fully understood, partially due to the lack of any standardised procedures between studies. The present work aims at describing a new and efficient method to investigate the sorption of co-contaminants onto different types of particles using proven radiotracer techniques.

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