"Making home" in the neighborhoods of Esch-sur-Alzette (LU) during the first half of the 20th century

Presentation (2022, June 16)

Methods and tools for analysis and management of risks and regulatory compliance in the healthcare sector: the Hospital at Home – HaH

Doctoral thesis (2022)

Changing or creating a new organization means creating a new process. Each process involves many risks that need to be identified and managed. The main risks considered here are procedural risks and legal ... [more ▼]

Changing or creating a new organization means creating a new process. Each process involves many risks that need to be identified and managed. The main risks considered here are procedural risks and legal risks. The former are related to the risks of errors that may occur during processes, while the latter are related to the compliance of processes with regulations. Therefore, managing the risks implies proposing changes to the processes that allow the desired result: an optimized process. In order to manage a company and optimize it in the best possible way, not only should the organizational aspect, risk management and legal compliance be taken into account, but it is important that they are all analyzed simultaneously with the aim of finding the right balance that satisfies them all. This is exactly the aim of this thesis, to provide methods and tools to balance these three characteristics, and to enable this type of optimization, ICT support is used. This work is not intended to be a computer science or law thesis but an interdisciplinary thesis. Most of the work done so far is vertical and in a specific domain. The particularity and aim of this thesis is not so much to carry out an in-depth analysis of a particular aspect, but rather to combine several important aspects, normally analyzed separately, which however have an impact on each other and influence each other. In order to carry out this kind of interdisciplinary analysis, the knowledge base of both areas was involved and the combination and collaboration of different experts in the various fields was necessary. Although the methodology described is generic and can be applied to all sectors, a particular use case was chosen to show its application. The case study considered is a new type of healthcare service that allows patients in acute disease to be hospitalized to their home. This provide the possibility to perform experiments using real hospital database. [less ▲]

INTERTWINED DESTINIES & STRENGTHENED TIES: “A COLÔNIA LUXEMBURGUESA”. A PARTICIPATORY TRANSMEDIA PROJECT ON STEEL-FRAMED MIGRATION FROM LUXEMBOURG TO BRAZIL (1921-2022)

Doctoral thesis (2022)

A Colônia Luxemburguesa unveils a century of steel-framed migration between Luxembourg and Brazil. This transmedia documentary delves into intersecting stories from different angles and across different ... [more ▼]

A Colônia Luxemburguesa unveils a century of steel-framed migration between Luxembourg and Brazil. This transmedia documentary delves into intersecting stories from different angles and across different platforms – an interactive and participatory experience to draw a multifaceted portrait of a curious Colônia forged by steel. www.colonia.lu [less ▲]

Organiser: Workshop on the Subject of Social Space

Presentation (2022, June 16)

Presenter: Visualizing the habitation practices of migrants in Dudelange (1924)

Presentation (2022, June 16)

Environmental performance assessment of an innovative modular construction concept composed of a permanent structure and flexible modular units

Doctoral thesis (2022)

To face the challenges of global warming, the building sector is currently undergoing a noticeable revolution. Buildings are tending to consume less energy, use more renewable energy sources, be built ... [more ▼]

To face the challenges of global warming, the building sector is currently undergoing a noticeable revolution. Buildings are tending to consume less energy, use more renewable energy sources, be built with eco-friendly materials, and generate less wastes during their construction and end-of-life stage. Yet, they could be more resilient or else capable of quickly responding to the housing demand, which may fluctuate in time and in space. Innovative concepts therefore need to be developed to allow buildings to expand and/or shrink. Modular buildings could be a solution to combine these criteria, since they offer faster construction process, provide better construction quality, allow reducing construction waste and are potentially flexible. Frames of modular units can be made of metal, timber, concrete, or mixed materials but lightweight structures do not always allow erecting high-rise buildings and generally present a higher risk of overheating and/or overcooling. To reconcile these pros and cons, a building typology called Slab was designed by a group of architects jointly with the team of the Eco-Construction for Sustainable Development (ECON4SD) research project. The Slab building is an innovative modular building concept based on plug-in architecture, which is composed of a permanent concrete structure on which relocatable timber modular units come to slot in. With respect to flexibility, the Slab building was designed to adapt to any orientation and location in Luxembourg. This doctoral thesis mainly deals with the environmental performance assessment of the Slab building but also involves the development of an energy concept for this one. In this regard, the minimum required wall thicknesses of the Slab building’s modules were determined in compliance with the Luxembourg standard although the current regulation does not yet cover flexible buildings. In this process, two module variants were designed; the first one fulfils the passive house requirements which match with the AAA energy class requirements, and the second one complies with the current building codes requirements, also known as the requirements for building permit application, which in principle correspond to low energy house requirements. Calculations showed that 40 cm wall thickness is sufficient to fulfil both requirements. The environmental performance assessment focused on the appraisal of specific CO2 footprint, which considers on the one hand the operational energy and on the other hand the building materials. The operational energy of modules was determined by carrying out energy balance calculations on LuxEeB-Tool software by considering the worst-case and best-case scenarios. Besides, a method was developed to estimate the space heating demand and CO2 emissions of module aggregation, which can have different configurations over time. The method proposed in this thesis was established for the Slab building but could potentially be applicable to flexible buildings. A comparative study of the CO2 footprint considering the embodied and operational energy showed that there is no environmental benefit in having the modules comply with the passive house requirements in the worst-case scenario (window facing north and high wind exposure). A thermal comfort assessment was also done by realizing DTS on TRNSYS software, to check the necessity of active cooling. Simulations showed that with adequate solar shading and reinforced natural ventilation by window opening, summertime overheating risk could be avoided for the normal residential use scenario for both module variants. Finally, the LCA of the Slab building consisted, on the one hand of optimizing its life cycle and, on the other hand, of comparing its specific CO2 footprint with benchmarks. LCA based on 100 years of lifetime concluded that the total specific CO2 footprint of the Slab building for a low module occupancy rate is lower than that of the Slab building bis, which is a building designed based on the Slab building. The latter would be built according to conventional construction method and thereby does not provide the same level of flexibility as the Slab building. However, for a high module occupancy rate, the Slab building does not environmentally perform any better than the Slab building bis. Some solutions could be proposed to further reduce the specific CO2 footprint of the Slab building, but these would impact the architectural aspect or even the functionalities of the Slab building. [less ▲]

Essays on the Economics of Migration, Inequalities, and Culture

Doctoral thesis (2022)

The present doctoral thesis consists of three chapters of self-contained works about the economics of migration, inequalities, and culture. In the first chapter, I introduce the outline of the thesis and ... [more ▼]

The present doctoral thesis consists of three chapters of self-contained works about the economics of migration, inequalities, and culture. In the first chapter, I introduce the outline of the thesis and shortly discuss the research questions of each chapter. The second chapter explores the effects of mass migration on individual attitudes towards migrants. Using several data sources for the mass migration of Ukrainians in Poland between 2014-2016, this chapter is focused on how a massive exogenous increase in the stock of migrant residents and migrant co-workers affects the perception of migrants. Using both an IV methodology and a difference-in-difference analysis, I test two hypotheses: the labor market competition and contact theory and find some evidence favoring the second. First, difference-in-difference analysis shows that Poles become more welcoming to migrants in regions with more job opportunities for migrants. Second, I find that an increase in the size of the migrant group affects attitudes towards migrants positively inside a group of natives with similar demographic and job skills characteristics. The third chapter explores how poverty can be explained by marital status and gender using the RLMS-HSE household survey. This research shows that divorced women exhibit lower poverty levels than divorced men by employing longitudinal data from the Russian National Survey (RLMS-HSE) from 2004 to 2019. The result remains qualitatively invariant when considering a theoretical probability to divorce for married couples that take into account the age of the partners, labor force participation, and education. A higher probability to divorce impacts positively only men's poverty level. Investigating an inter-related dynamic model of poverty and labor market participation, we find that divorced women work more than divorced men, which is why divorce hits harder on husbands than on wives. In the fourth chapter of the thesis, we study the effect of past exposure to communist indoctrination during early age (9-14 years) on a set of crucial attitudes in the communist ideology aiming to create the \emph{new communist man/woman}. We focus on the indoctrination received by children during their pioneering years. School pupils automatically became pioneers when they reached 3rd or 4th grade. The purpose of the pioneer years was to educate soviet children to be loyal to the ideals of communism and the Party. We use a regression discontinuity design exploiting the discontinuity in the exposure to pioneering years due to the fall of the USSR in 1991, implying a strong association that hints to causality. We find robust evidence that has been a pioneer has long-lasting effects on interpersonal trust, life satisfaction, fertility, income, and perception of own economic rank. Overall, these results suggest that past pioneers show a higher level of optimism than non-pioneers. Finally, we look for gender differences because various forms of emulation campaigns were used to promote the desired virtues of the new communist woman. However, we find no evidence of the effect of exposure to communism on women. The indoctrination seems to have left more substantial effects on men. [less ▲]

Rapport annuel sur les migrations et l'asile 2021 – Luxembourg

Report (2022)

Ce rapport décrit les tendances statistiques en matière de migration, d’asile et d’intégration, les changements législatifs ou politiques et retrace les débats nationaux importants qui ont eu lieu au ... [more ▼]

Ce rapport décrit les tendances statistiques en matière de migration, d’asile et d’intégration, les changements législatifs ou politiques et retrace les débats nationaux importants qui ont eu lieu au Luxembourg au cours de l’année 2021. Les principaux changements et débats au cours de l'année 2021 étaient de nature législative ; en particulier deux lois ont été adoptées : La loi du 16 juin 2021 modifiant la loi sur l'immigration est entrée en vigueur le 5 juillet 2021. Cette loi modifie la loi sur l'immigration, en allégeant la charge administrative pour les ressortissants de pays tiers, et en modifiant certaines dispositions relatives aux travailleurs transférés intragroupe, aux stagiaires et au regroupement familial. La loi du 16 juin 2021 modifiant la loi sur l'asile est entrée en vigueur le 5 juillet 2021. Cette loi modifie les voies de recours à disposition des demandeurs de protection internationale (DPI). Elle renforce leur efficacité et garantit une sécurité juridique maximale dans le cadre des transferts sous le règlement Dublin, des décisions définitives de clôture de la procédure relative à une demande de protection internationale et des décisions de retrait de la protection internationale. Par ailleurs, la loi du 30 juillet 2021 portant modification de la loi modifiée du 8 mars 2017 sur la nationalité luxembourgeoise (ci-après loi sur la nationalité) est entré en vigueur le 22 août 2021. Selon cette loi, un candidat (descendant en ligne directe d'un ancêtre luxembourgeois) au recouvrement de la nationalité luxembourgeoise doit signer la déclaration de recouvrement de la nationalité luxembourgeoise auprès de l'officier d'état civil avant le 31 décembre 2022. En 2021, trois projets de loi concernant divers volets des politiques d’intégration ou d’immigration ont été déposés à la Chambre des Députés ; la procédure législative de ces trois projets étant toujours en cours au moment de la rédaction du présent rapport. Le 2 septembre 2021, le gouvernement a déposé à la Chambre des Députés le projet de loi n°7877, visant à modifier la loi électorale modifiée du 18 février 2003 (ci-après la loi électorale). Le texte du projet vise à soutenir la participation politique du nombre sans cesse croissant de résidents non luxembourgeois en abolissant la condition de durée de résidence de cinq ans des citoyens de l'UE et de pays tiers habitant au Luxembourg pour pouvoir participer aux élections communales, tant au niveau de l’électorat actif que passif. Par ailleurs, la date de clôture de l'inscription des résidents de nationalité étrangère sur les listes électorales communales est ramenée de 87 jours à 55 jours avant l’échéance électorale. Le 26 novembre 2021, le Conseil de gouvernement a approuvé un projet de loi proposant de modifier la loi sur l'immigration. Ce projet de loi vise à assurer une gestion plus efficace de l'éloignement des ressortissants de pays tiers résidant illégalement sur le territoire en structurant les différentes catégories de mesures d'éloignement de manière claire et cohérente. Ce projet de loi a été déposé à la Chambre des Députés le 19 janvier 2022 sous le n°7954. Le projet de loi n°7881 sur les échanges d’informations relatives aux ressortissants de pays tiers à l’Union européenne ainsi que le système européen d’information sur les casiers judiciaires (ECRIS) a été déposé à la Chambre des Députés le 10 septembre 2021. Ce système permettra de rechercher les inscriptions du casier judiciaire des ressortissants de pays tiers qui ont fait l’objet de décisions de justice de juridictions pénales d'autres États membres de l'UE. Comme déjà indiqué dans le Rapport Annuel sur les Migrations et l'Asile 2020 du EMN Luxembourg, le gouvernement prévoit de réformer la loi modifiée du 16 décembre 2008 sur l'accueil et l'intégration des étrangers (ci-après loi sur l'intégration). Les premières consultations d'acteurs sociétaux ont déjà été réalisées en 2020 et ce processus s'est poursuivi en 2021. De multiples consultations avec les acteurs de la société civile, les partenaires sociaux et les communes ont eu lieu et, dans ce contexte, l'OCDE a publié son étude intitulée « Vers un processus d'intégration réussi : Le fonctionnement du système d'intégration et ses acteurs au Grand-Duché de Luxembourg » le 25 novembre 2021. Début 2021, le « Pakt vum Zesummeliewen » (PvZ) a remplacé le Plan communal intégration (PCI) afin de créer un processus d'intégration plus dynamique et pluriannuel pour une inclusion plus forte des communes luxembourgeoises. La formation continue des résidents luxembourgeois a été rendue plus accessible et des cours supplémentaires, adaptés aux demandeurs de protection internationale (DPI) et aux bénéficiaires de protection internationale (BPI), ont été insérés dans l’offre de formation du Service de formation des adultes (SFA). Le Luxembourg a entamé le processus de planification de l'extension de son système de soins de santé public. Il est prévu d'offrir un accès aux soins de santé aux personnes vulnérables, pas couvertes jusqu'à présent. Le Luxembourg a réagi à l'évolution de la situation en Afghanistan depuis la prise du pouvoir par les Talibans en août 2021. Le Luxembourg a suspendu les décisions concernant les demandes de protection internationale des Afghans jusqu'à ce que des informations suffisantes et fiables soient disponibles. Entre la prise du pouvoir par les Talibans en août et la fin de l'année 2021, 71 ressortissants afghans ont bénéficié d'une protection internationale. Ce chiffre inclut 45 ressortissants afghans évacués d'Afghanistan. Le Luxembourg s'est en outre engagé à réinstaller d’autres personnes. Si l'année 2021 a continué à être marquée par la pandémie de COVID-19, plusieurs développements importants, tels que la disponibilité de vaccins et de tests rapides, ont réorienté l'activité de lutte contre la pandémie sur des voies différentes de celles de 2020. L'accent a été mis sur les tests et la vaccination de tous les Luxembourgeois, y compris les DPI et les personnes en situation de séjour irrégulier. Toutefois, la seule frontière extérieure du Luxembourg, à savoir l'aéroport international du Luxembourg, est restée fermée aux ressortissants de pays tiers (RPT). La réglementation luxembourgeoise en matière d'entrée sur le territoire, a été ajustée à de multiples reprises et de manière dynamique en fonction de l'évolution de la pandémie, tout en prévoyant plusieurs dérogations permettant l'entrée de certaines catégories de ressortissants de pays tiers. Le 22 décembre 2021, un règlement grand-ducal a prolongé cette fermeture de la frontière du 31 décembre 2021 au 31 mars 2022. [less ▲]

Neurotoxic amyloidogenic peptides in the proteome of SARS-COV2: potential implications for neurological symptoms in COVID-19

in Nature Communications (2022), 13

COVID-19 is primarily known as a respiratory disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. However, neurological symptoms such as memory loss, sensory confusion, severe headaches, and even stroke are reported in up to 30 ... [more ▼]

COVID-19 is primarily known as a respiratory disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. However, neurological symptoms such as memory loss, sensory confusion, severe headaches, and even stroke are reported in up to 30% of cases and can persist even after the infection is over (long COVID). These neurological symptoms are thought to be produced by the virus infecting the central nervous system, however we don’t understand the molecular mechanisms triggering them. The neurological effects of COVID-19 share similarities to neurodegenerative diseases in which the presence of cytotoxic aggregated amyloid protein or peptides is a common feature. Following the hypothesis that some neurological symptoms of COVID-19 may also follow an amyloid etiology we identified two peptides from the SARS-CoV-2 proteome that self-assemble into amyloid assemblies. Furthermore, these amyloids were shown to be highly toxic to neuronal cells. We suggest that cytotoxic aggregates of SARS-CoV-2 proteins may trigger neurological symptoms in COVID-19. [less ▲]

Studying transnational events through web archives

Scientific Conference (2022, June 13)

This presentation was an update of the work of WG2 related to web archives and transnational events I'm leading within the WARCnet project.