Legitimating Limburgish: The reproduction of heritage

Limburgish in the Netherlands is another example of a language whose status has risen through protection under European policies of recognition. Formerly viewed as a dialect of Dutch, Diana Camps examines the discourses and practices which legitimate Limburgish as a language in its own right. Beginning with a document analysis of protection policies under the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages, she notes the role that discourses of heritage play in the legitimation of Limburgish at international and national levels. At the local level of a language classroom, Camps draws on observation data to examine how a teacher of Limburgish legitimates himself and the language through appropriating the discourse of heritage and deploying a discourse of linguistic expertise

An interdisciplinary research approach: A legal and discursive analysis of social rights policy in the UK

This briefing document has been prepared for the Nuffield Foundation project on ‘Access to Justice for Social Rights: Addressing the Accountability Gap’, led by Dr Katie Boyle. It shows that the project’s unique interdisciplinary approach to analysing empirical data offers a valuable contribution to the socio-legal research field. After setting out in brief the motivations behind the overall project, this briefing addresses the benefits of an interdisciplinary research approach for examining how the social rights frameworks across UK jurisdictions are taken up in practice. Part I explains the value of directing attention to discourse in analysis. Part II shares some examples to illustrate how certain mechanisms and (social) processes are made visible though a critical examination of discourse

An interdisciplinary research approach: A legal and discursive analysis of social rights policy in the UK

This briefing document has been prepared for the Nuffield Foundation project on ‘Access to Justice for Social Rights: Addressing the Accountability Gap’, led by Dr Katie Boyle. It shows that the project’s unique interdisciplinary approach to analysing empirical data offers a valuable contribution to the socio-legal research field. After setting out in brief the motivations behind the overall project, this briefing addresses the benefits of an interdisciplinary research approach for examining how the social rights frameworks across UK jurisdictions are taken up in practice. Part I explains the value of directing attention to discourse in analysis. Part II shares some examples to illustrate how certain mechanisms and (social) processes are made visible though a critical examination of discourse

Boyle And Camps Written Evidence Independent Review of Administrative Law 19 Oct 2020

1.1. The exercise of power by the executive does not occur in a vacuum. It forms part of a broader constitutional framework whereby executive power is vested in government and the government and all those exercising power on behalf of the state must exercise that power lawfully. Judicial Review (‘JR’) constitutes an important accountability mechanism within this framework. The scope of the independent review as it currently stands (which focusses on whether JR should be curtailed) could equally be framed as a review of whether or how to extend executive power. Any review of executive power, and whether or how it should be exempt from any existing checks and balances (including JR), must ensure both legitimacy in process as well as substance. Likewise, and because JR can act as an important accountability mechanism for violations of rights, any changes to the existing framework must include participation of citizens (rights holders). Indeed, JR is a pathway to justice and access to justice in and of itself constitutes a common law right in the UK. The terms and the scope of this particular review merits close scrutiny for the purposes of ensuring it is conducted in a methodologically sound way and in a way that engages in a substantive acknowledgment of how JR performs a key cornerstone of the UK’s constitution

Boyle And Camps Written Evidence Independent Review of Administrative Law 19 Oct 2020

1.1. The exercise of power by the executive does not occur in a vacuum. It forms part of a broader constitutional framework whereby executive power is vested in government and the government and all those exercising power on behalf of the state must exercise that power lawfully. Judicial Review (‘JR’) constitutes an important accountability mechanism within this framework. The scope of the independent review as it currently stands (which focusses on whether JR should be curtailed) could equally be framed as a review of whether or how to extend executive power. Any review of executive power, and whether or how it should be exempt from any existing checks and balances (including JR), must ensure both legitimacy in process as well as substance. Likewise, and because JR can act as an important accountability mechanism for violations of rights, any changes to the existing framework must include participation of citizens (rights holders). Indeed, JR is a pathway to justice and access to justice in and of itself constitutes a common law right in the UK. The terms and the scope of this particular review merits close scrutiny for the purposes of ensuring it is conducted in a methodologically sound way and in a way that engages in a substantive acknowledgment of how JR performs a key cornerstone of the UK’s constitution

Experimental measurements of radio signal attenuation and Faraday rotation in an inductively coupled plasma facility

Spacecraft entering a planetary atmosphere are surrounded by a plasma layer containing high levels of ionization due to the high temperatures on the shock layer. The high electron number densities cause attenuation and rotation of the emitted signal, leading to communication blackout. This work presents experimental measurements of radio signal attenuation and Faraday rotation due to an ionized plasma flow. These measurements are conducted at the VKI Plasmatron using circularly polarized directive horn lens antennas with a waveguide orthomode transducer. Clear attenuations are observed when the signal is propagating through the plasma, and Faraday rotation measurements show a good agreement with the theoretical estimation.Diana Luıs research is funded by a doctoral fellowship (2021.04930.BD) granted by Fundaçao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT Portugal). The MEESST project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 899298.Postprint (author's final draft

Measuring Control to Dynamically Induce Flow in Tetris.

Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment (DDA) is a set of techniques that aim to automatically adapt the difficulty of a video game based on the player’s performance. This paper presents a methodology for DDA using ideas from the theory of flow and case-based reasoning (CBR). In essence we are looking to generate game sessions with a similar difficulty evolution to previous game sessions that have produced flow in players with a similar skill level. We propose a CBR approach to dynamically assess the player’s skill level and adapt the difficulty of the game based on the relative complexity of the last game states. We develop a DDA system for Tetris using this methodology and show, in a experiment with 40 participants, that the DDA version has a measurable impact on the perceived flow using validated questionnaires.pre-print456 K

The Practitioner Perspective on Access to Justice for Social Rights: Addressing the Accountability Gap

First paragraph: This report examines access to justice for social rights across the UK drawing on legal and empirical data across each of the UK’s jurisdictions. Social rights form part of the international human rights framework, including the right to housing, the right to food and fuel and the right to social security. State parties who have signed up to the international framework are under an obligation to protect these rights in the domestic context, this includes the UK. As part of its international obligations the UK is required to provide access to an effective remedy if there is a failure to meet these obligations. We adopt a conceptualisation of access to justice using this international human rights law lens (that remedies are “accessible, affordable, timely and effective”). The research therefore examines whether people in the UK who experience a violation of the rights to housing, food, fuel or social security are able to access effective remedies to address that violation. We interviewed practitioners in each of the UK’s jurisdictions to better understand the access to justice journey for social rights. As this report demonstrates, it became clear that the UK and its devolved jurisdictions consists of a complex (legal) framework that intersects with international and domestic laws and institutions, politics, public services and the third sector, e.g. non-governmental agencies (NGOs) that serve and work with rights holders seeking to access justice. Our report recognises that the research we undertook barely touches the surface of access to justice for social rights violations and we hope this report serves as the basis for numerous future studies to enquire further and deeper into an increasingly emergent field of innovative interdisciplinary study. Ultimately, the aim of the research and the report seeks to better equip those who support rights holders accessing justice for social rights claims – there is a significant accountability gap in this respect across the UK and a pressing need to address this gap

The Practitioner Perspective on Access to Justice for Social Rights: Addressing the Accountability Gap

First paragraph: This report examines access to justice for social rights across the UK drawing on legal and empirical data across each of the UK’s jurisdictions. Social rights form part of the international human rights framework, including the right to housing, the right to food and fuel and the right to social security. State parties who have signed up to the international framework are under an obligation to protect these rights in the domestic context, this includes the UK. As part of its international obligations the UK is required to provide access to an effective remedy if there is a failure to meet these obligations. We adopt a conceptualisation of access to justice using this international human rights law lens (that remedies are “accessible, affordable, timely and effective”). The research therefore examines whether people in the UK who experience a violation of the rights to housing, food, fuel or social security are able to access effective remedies to address that violation. We interviewed practitioners in each of the UK’s jurisdictions to better understand the access to justice journey for social rights. As this report demonstrates, it became clear that the UK and its devolved jurisdictions consists of a complex (legal) framework that intersects with international and domestic laws and institutions, politics, public services and the third sector, e.g. non-governmental agencies (NGOs) that serve and work with rights holders seeking to access justice. Our report recognises that the research we undertook barely touches the surface of access to justice for social rights violations and we hope this report serves as the basis for numerous future studies to enquire further and deeper into an increasingly emergent field of innovative interdisciplinary study. Ultimately, the aim of the research and the report seeks to better equip those who support rights holders accessing justice for social rights claims – there is a significant accountability gap in this respect across the UK and a pressing need to address this gap

Effect of electron number densities on the radio signal propagation in an inductively coupled plasma facility

Spacecraft entering a planetary atmosphere are surrounded by a plasma layer containing high levels of ionization, due to the extreme temperatures in the shock layer. The high electron number densities cause attenuation of the electromagnetic waves emitted by the on-board antennas, leading to communication blackout for several minutes. This work presents experimental measurements of signal propagation through an ionized plasma flow. The measurements are conducted at the VKI plasma wind tunnel (Plasmatron) using conical horn antennas transmitting in the Ka-band, between 33 and 40 GHz. Testing conditions at 15, 50 and 100 mbar, and powers between 100 and 600 kW cover a broad range of the testing envelope of the Plasmatron as well as a broad range of atmospheric entry conditions. The transmitting antenna is characterized at the UPC anechoic chamber, obtaining the radiation patterns, beamwidth, and gain at the boresight direction; and an optical ray tracing technique is used to describe the electromagnetic waves propagation in the plasma flowfield inside of the Plasmatron chamber. The signal propagation measurements show clear attenuation when the signal is propagating through the plasma, varying between 2 and 15 dB depending on the testing conditions. This attenuation increases with electron number densities, which are driven by the Plasmatron power and pressure settings. Preliminary evidence of Faraday rotation effects caused by the plasma is also observed.Diana Luís research is funded by a doctoral fellowship (2021.04930.BD) granted by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT Portugal). The research of Vincent Fitzgerald Giangaspero is supported by SB PhD fellowship 1SA8219N of the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO). The resources and services used for the BORAT simulations were provided by the VSC (Flemish Supercomputer Center), funded by the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) and the Flemish Government. The MEESST project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 899298.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version