Between The Sea And Giants: The Case on Nature- Based Solutions along the Flemish Coast

The Belgian coastline is 65 kilometres, has 15 coastal towns and, like many of its North-Sea neighbours, experiences the volatile dynamics of sea level rise and raised demand for effective coastal safety measures. Today, we are seeing the consequences of hard and grey infrastructural solutions which solely address the concerns of coastal safety in a majority technical way. Along the Belgian coast, exists an array of sea walls, dikes, and beaches along a traditional sweeping concrete surface delineating the edge between land and sea. Through the perspective of  Nature Based Solutions (NBS) this paper will unpack how NBS has been planned and implemented across three of the Belgian coastal towns Bankenberge, Middelkerke and Ostend. These three Flemish pilots are representative for the typical coastal conditions of a dense urban frontage along concrete boulevards, substantiating the edge condition to the sand and sea. The pilots are a showcase of how NBS can acts as a performative buffer, or interface, between the urban edge and the sea, between the sea and giants. &nbsp

Building a multisystemic understanding of societal resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic

The current global systemic crisis reveals how globalised societies are unprepared to face a pandemic. Beyond the dramatic loss of human life, the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered widespread disturbances in health, social, economic, environmental and governance systems in many countries across the world. Resilience describes the capacities of natural and human systems to prevent, react to and recover from shocks. Societal resilience to the current COVID-19 pandemic relates to the ability of societies in maintaining their core functions while minimising the impact of the pandemic and other societal effects. Drawing on the emerging evidence about resilience in health, social, economic, environmental and governance systems, this paper delineates a multisystemic understanding of societal resilience to COVID-19. Such an understanding provides the foundation for an integrated approach to build societal resilience to current and future pandemics

AlGaInAs/AlGaAs SSQW GRINSCH lasers for the wavelength region between 800 and 870 nm

A semiconductor laser is proposed which has an optical active region consisting of an 8 nm thick Al0.20Ga0.65In0.15As / Al0.20Ga0.80As strained single quantum well. The spectral emission peak of this quantum well is situated between 814 and 818 nm. The optical confinement is achieved using a standard graded refractive index separate confinement heterostructure optimised for the emission wavelength of the quantum well. Preliminary results show these lasers to have a threshold current of 18 mA

GAAS SINGLE-QUANTUM WELL GRIN-SCH RIDGE LASERS GROWN ON INP BY MOVPE

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