Brexit is a wake-up call for a rapprochement with the peoples of Europe

Brexit is already acting as a stimulus for the EU to rethink its priorities for the future. It especially poses both challenges and opportunities for Social Europe, writes Konstantinos Alexandris Polomarkakis (University of Lincoln). The UK’s exit represents a window of opportunity, considering the strong opposition by the UK to anything social at EU level in the past. But it also serves as a wake-up call for a rapprochement with the – somewhat neglected and consequently disenchanted – peoples of Europe

The European Pillar of Social Rights and the Quest for EU Social Sustainability

This article sets out to review the policies introduced by the European Pillar of Social Rights and its accompanying initiatives in light of their contribution to European Union (EU) social sustainability, particularly in comparison with their predecessors. The balance between economic and social policies at EU level has long been tipped in favour of the economic, leaving an atrophic social side a servant of market-based objectives. Social sustainability appeared absent from the European vocabulary, at least in substantive terms, something exacerbated by the effects of the 2008 crisis. The criticisms that ensued led to a resurgence of interest in establishing a socially sustainable Union, crystallized in the Pillar and its accompanying initiatives. Despite their potential, further commitment by the Member States as well as more concrete and legally binding pro- posals are necessary, for without them this social resurgence might once again surrender to economic hegemony

Measuring customer satisfaction in the context of health clubs in Portugal

The present study aimed to test the psychometric properties of the need-satisfaction scale developed by Alexandris et al. (1999), in the context of health clubs in Portugal. The sample of the study consisted of four hundred and twenty six (N=426) individuals, who were members of five private clubs in Braga, Portugal. The principal component analysis of the need-satisfaction scale revealed five dimensions, which were labeled as follows: facilities / services, staff, relaxation, health / fitness, social / intellectual. All the sub-scales were shown to have good internal consistency reliabilities. The results further indicated that there were significant demographic differences in some of the satisfaction dimensions. Females were shown to be less satisfied in the facilities / services dimension, while individuals with higher levels of education were shown to be less satisfied both in the facilities / services and social / intellectual dimensions

On Self-interference Suppression Methods for Low-complexity Full-duplex MIMO

Full-duplex wireless communication offers improved spectral efficiency, as well as more efficient relaying and medium access, but requires suppression of self-interference. In this paper we analyze the existing methods for active RF suppression and use the ”Rice architecture” for its low complexity and favorable scaling when applied to multi-antenna systems. We analyze the effects of the different sources of self-interference and quantify the potential for further suppression (genie-aided suppression). Our single-chain implementation using a circulator achieves −48 dB of active RF suppression, but only −66 dB of total suppression in the analog domain. On the other hand, our single-chain implementation using separate antennae reaches −85 dB of total analog suppression, thus reducing the self-interference to the noise floor. Extending these setups, we present a low complexity implementation of a 2 × 2 full-duplex MIMO node, which achieves even higher suppression than the single-chain counterparts

UK Agriculture and Care Visas:Worker Exploitation and Obstacles to Redress

This research report looks into the conditions attached to visa routes for both the care and agricultural sectors, known as ‘tied’ and short-term visas respectively, and the increased vulnerability to exploitation associated with these visas.The findings show significant issues of debt and deductions of wages across both sectors and barriers to reporting concerns.This report is based on research conducted by five academics (led by Primary Investigator Dr Inga Thiemann) in partnership with four NGOs: Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX), the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), Southeast and East Asian Centre (SEEAC) and Kanlungan Filipino Consortium (Kanlungan), with support from Unison

UK agriculture and care visas: worker exploitation and obstacles to redress

This is a summary of research conducted by five academics (led by Primary Investigator Dr Inga Thiemann) in partnership with four non-governmental organisations (NGOs): Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX), Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), Southeast and East Asian Centre (SEEAC) and Kanlungan Filipino Consortium (Kanlungan), with support from UNISON. The project was funded through an open call for proposals by the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre (Modern Slavery PEC), which in turn is funded and supported by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The Modern Slavery PEC has actively supported the production of this Research Summary. However, the views expressed in this summary and the full report are those of the authors and not necessarily of the funders