From the end of 2017, until March 2024, I was a PhD Student at the University of Antwerp. I studied the locomotion of piglets with various non-invasive techniques (force recordings, high-speed videography, x-ray videos, inertial measurement sensors). Besides my regular project, many side tracks lead me to explore things that are exciting, challenging, sometimes frustrating, or even beautiful. Usually, I acquire technical skills or learn something about the broad general context of my studies. Some of these side tracks are publishable, others are not; but even if not, acquiring technical skill is personal achievement.

This blog is an informal assembly of such personal achievements, which are not fit for formal publication. This does not mean they are less interesting. On the contrary, if you find them herein, I found them worth documenting. Usually they are just a collection of known things or personal observations and viewpoints, shuffled and re-assembled to the context of my PhD project, or to my subsequent work as a teacher, and now as a data scientist. This blog thus started out as my way of publicly gathering appendix chapters for my PhD thesis. It turned into a compendium of small tools which I myself return to every now and then.

And I hope this assembly of knowledge can be of use for you, and wish you a pleasant reading.

Because knowledge accumulates and may even change, I will (or will not) accumulate and adjust the blog posts at my own taste. This might well be triggered by you, if you decide to send me a meaningful comment by mail. I will add them to the post of interest, moderate comments openly and generously, but please do not feel disappointed if you receive no response. I will also reject comments which I find inappropriate, without further explanation.

Header Artwork History:

Maja Mielke (2019): Steampunk piglet. Original drawing. Kindly prepared on demand for a research day poster.

Jef Lambeaux (1898): Charles Darwin met allegorische figuur. Foto (2018). KMDA/Zoo Antwerpen.