Suchergebnisse

The Hydrometeo System Flemish Banks consists of The Monitoring Network Flemish Banks (Meetnet Vlaamse Banken) and the Marine Forecast Centre (OMS). The Monitoring Network was set up for the acquisition of real-time oceanographical and meteorological data along the Belgian coast and continental shelf. The oceanographic parameters monitored are waves, tidal height, current and water temperature; meteorological parameters are wind, air pressure, air temperature and rainfall. The network consists of small measuring platforms on the North Sea with hydro-meteo sensors, of wave buoys, meteorological stations and telemetric water level gauges on the coast. The Network is sponsored by the government of Flanders, and set up and maintained by the Waterways and Maritime Affairs Administration (Administratie Waterwegen en Zeewezen: AWZ). AWZ is also responsible for the central server and quality control of the data. The data resulting from the Monitoring Network are primarily intended for the daily redaction of marine weather forecasts of tidal heights, waves, wind and visibility along the Belgian coast and in the shipping lane to the coastal harbours and to the estuary of the River Scheldt. The marine meteorologists of the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium at the AWZ Oceanographic Meteorological Station (OMS) in Zeebrugge produce these forecasts several times a day.Flanders Marine Institute (Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee - VLIZ) was invited by AWZ to distribute the data to the academic world, and to create a website offering public access to the most recent measurements. The website also gives a description of the Network, including location of the measuring platforms and buoys, sensors used, and frequency and precision of the measurements.AWZ participates in several international projects on the strength of its Measuring Network. The most important of these is SeaNet, a European project involving nine countries that maintain operational networks in the North Sea. SeaNet Data Interface is a European MAST project, joining measuring networks of six SeaNet partners for the exchange of data in near-real time.

The following article describes another development in the provision of a daily newspaper for visually impaired people.

The existence of a Flemish identity is a much debated issue in the Flanders. Some deny its existence on the basis of a rejection of national identities all together. Others perceive it as just one variant of a Western European identity. Still others consider it, not as a identity on its own but as part of the Belgian identity. Whatever the outcome, the discussion itself seems to be restricted to a small elite. The general public in the Flanders is not interested in the issue and doesn't seem to identify itself with a Flemish identity. A small empirical research indicates however, that part of the Flemish politicians and journalists use this identity as a perspective on politics and society. For that reason, the Flemish identity seems to be a condition which is quite similar to the one attributed by Gellner to national identities in the nineteenth century. Isn't it better therefore, to talk about a nascent instead of an existent Flemish identity ?

Corporate governance practices in family businesses (FB) remain a research domain with many unsolved questions. Nonetheless, researchers agree that corporate governance practices are important for family–backed companies. Different family ownership structures and different family generations influence the governance structures installed. So far, no research has been conducted on corporate governance characteristics among Flemish family companies. This study explores the relationships between ownership structure, board and management practices to find out where Flemish family businesses differ from non–family businesses (NFB). Additionally, this research investigates to what extent differences can be found within the group of family businesses based on family ownership and family generation.

This article reviews the literature on television viewer selectivity and links it to the findings of a Flemish survey. The article suggests that selective viewing does exist and that some viewers are more selective than others. At the same time the results show that the average viewer nevertheless watches a basic amount of most programme categories. Viewer selectivity is not necessarily efficient. Viewers develop viewing habits and as such may not watch their preferred programmes simply because they are not aware those programmes are broadcast. With respect to television effect theories the article suggests that the existence of selectivity does not necessarily reduce the `mainstream pull' of television. The VCR in particular may actually function as an accelerator of the potential effects of action drama.

Der Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über die Literatur zu selektiven Fernsehen und stellt diese den Ergebnissen einer Erhebung unter flämischen Zuschauern gegenüber. Es zeigt sich, daß es selektives Fernsehen gibt und daß es Zuschauer gibt, die selektiver vorgehen als andere. Zur gleichen Zeit zeigen die Ergebnisse, daß der durchschnittliche Zuschauer eine Grundmenge praktisch aller Programmkategorien aufnimmt. Die Zuschauerselektivität ist nicht notwendigerweise effizient. Zuschauer entwickeln bestimmte Gewohnheiten und verpassen daher manchmal die von ihnen bevorzugten Porgramme, einfach weil sie nicht wissen, daß diese gesendet werden. Unter dem Gesichtspunkt von Theorien der Fernsehwirkung läßt sich festellen, daß Selektivität nicht notwendigerweise den Sog des "Mainstreams" beim Fernsehen reduziert. Insbesondere kann der Videorecorder durch seine Anwendung die potentiellen Wirkungen von Actionfilmen verstärken. (UNübers.)

The distribution of the finite verb in the West Flemish Infinitivus Pro Participio construction provides evidence for embedded V‐movement in the lower Middle Field of the West Germanic SOV languages. Two functional heads are postulated in the lower Middle Field, F1 (which checks Tense and Negation) and F2 (which checks aspect). FP1 dominates FP2. Finite verbs may remain in F2, or move to F1 (depending on feature strength), infinitives remain in F2. The analysis accounts for the finite/non‐finite asymmetery in the distribution of the negative head en in West Flemish and provides indirect support for Kayne's antisymmetry hyposthesis.West Flemish bare infinitival complements remain to the right of F2, IPP complements occupy the specifier position of FP2, and past participles incorporate to F1. A parallelism between DP positions and the positions of non‐finite verbal complements is explored in the final part of the paper.

Competency management has become a new trend in the public sector. There is some doubt, however, if competency management is really something new or whether it is just old wine in new bottles. Academics seem to be more sceptical about its novelty than practitioners. This article attempts to combine theory and practice. Some theoretical aspects of competency management are explored and definitions, reasons for implementation, novelty and implications for the HRM function are discussed. The theory is then confronted with two cases of competency management in the public sector. The first deals with the appraisal system in the Flemish administration and the second with the HR‐policy towards public managers in the Dutch civil service. The research material for the case studies was collected during a research project on international perspectives for HRM in the Flemish government.

Flemish emigration during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is too complex to be dealt with definitively in a single article. Our main objective is to provide an overview of the migration towards France and Wallonia by looking at its chronology, and the spatial distribution of emigrants and their descendants. In this effort, patronym distribution is very helpful. As markers of migratory movements, patronyms from a collection of nominative lists give us a handle on migration flows as no other evidence can. Comparing France and Wallonia, the two destination areas, it is possible to see similarities between types of migrants: workers in heavy industry, workers in the agricultural sector, and workers engaged in domestic services. In addition, three phases may be identified in the arrival of a Flemish population in France and Wallonia: an emigration phase, an integration phase, and a redistribution phase. The last phase is also part of the urbanization process and is linked with upward social mobility.