Take note, Justin Trudeau: three reasons why changing an electoral system is so hard

Canada is thinking about changing its electoral system, write Kristof Jacobs and Lidia Núñez. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pledged that 2015 would be the last time Canadians elect a federal government using the first-past-the-post system. A parliamentary committee has been set up and talks are on the way. If Canada were to succeed, it would only be the second established democracy to change away from the first-past-the-post system – after New Zealand. It might also boost the case for reform in the UK. Electoral reform is often on the political agenda, yet actual changes are very rare. Why are electoral systems so hard to change? And how likely is Canadian electoral reform

Is Twitter a populist paradise?

A prominent social media presence is typically seen as critical to the success of populist politicians. However, Kristof Jacobs and Niels Spierings find that in the key case of the Netherlands, populist politicians were slower to adopt Twitter and engage with fewer people on it, seemingly preferring instead to stick to their own echo chamber

Populist MPs on Facebook: Adoption and emotional reactions in Austria, the Netherlands, and Sweden

The argument goes that social media can reinforce the rise of populism as populists' emotionally charged language fits well with social media algorithms. However, whether this potential materializes in practice depends on (1) populists' actual social media adoption and (2) whether their messages actually elicit more (emotional) responses. This is a study of those two core elements of populist politicians' presence on Facebook. We examine 682 members of parliament (MPs) Facebook uptake in the Netherlands, Sweden, and Austria and the emoji responses to 10,355 of their posts. First, we argue that populist parties' centralized structure enforces discipline, which makes Facebook use by populist MPs other than the leader more problematic. Our study shows indeed that populist party leaders use Facebook prolifically to reach out to their community, but relatively few of populist parties' other MPs use Facebook. Second, we argue that Facebook posts of populist MPs activate feelings of indignation, triggering responses that are more emotional. Empirically this expectation is borne out. Compared to other parties, messages posted by populist actors receive more emojis than ordinary likes. In particular, “anger” and “haha” stand out. An exploration of the content of such messages shows that both are related: “haha” also reflects sarcastic ridiculing of political opponents, paving the way for anger.publishedVersio

Development of Resonant Tunnelling Diode Terahertz Emitter

This thesis reports on the development of high current density InGaAs/AlAs/InP resonant tunnelling diodes (RTDs) grown by metal-organic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE) for terahertz (THz) applications. A wide variety of characterisation techniques are employed to investigate the material properties and quality on the wafer level allowing future device and growth optimisation. An optical characterisation technique based on photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy is developed to non-destructively map the doping and structural composition of the RTD on the wafer level. A new non-destructive optical characterisation technique to resolve the absolute energy level position of the first electron state of RTDs through low temperature PL spectroscopy is also reported. The absolute energy levels are resolved by a combination of type-I and type-II quantum well (QW) recombination, allowing an investigation into important scattering mechanisms affecting device performance, and monitor the QW alloy content and thickness non-destructively. Details of the growth process and the characterisation techniques are discussed. A new fabrication technique based on conventional i-line photolithography for micron scale high current density RTD devices is also developed with accurate control over the final device area (and hence characteristics). This is achieved by measuring the V-I characteristic of the RTD during the fabrication process, which has not been previously possible. This was made possible by guiding the emitter current through the full RTD structure by a large second contact electrode on the collector side and using an air-bridge contact to the collector. Important information about the RTD performance is extracted by using this method. Temperature dependent V-I characterisation is also carried out to investigate the valley current of the RTD. Details of the design, fabrication, and characterisation of a room temperature operating THz emitter in the 300 GHz band are reported

Characterisation of High Current Density Resonant Tunneling Diodes for THz Emission Using Photoluminescence Spectroscopy

We discuss the numerical simulation of high current density InGaAs/AlAs/InP resonant tunneling diodes with a view to their optimization for application as THz emitters. We introduce a figure of merit based upon the ratio of maximum extractable THz power and the electrical power developed in the chip. The aim being to develop high efficiency emitters as output power is presently limited by catastrophic failure. A description of the interplay of key parameters follows, with constraints on strained layer epitaxy introduced. We propose an optimized structure utilizing thin barriers paired with a comparatively wide quantum well that satisfies strained layer epitaxy constraints

There is little evidence citizens with populist attitudes are less democratic

A great deal of research has been conducted on the impact of populist parties on democracy, but do populist voters think differently about democracy than the rest of the electorate? Drawing on recent research, Andrej Zaslove, Bram Geurkink, Kristof Jacobs and Agnes Akkerman explain that individuals with populist attitudes are slightly more in favour of democracy, less likely to protest, and more supportive of referendums and deliberative forms of political participation than those who are less populist

Vampir Dugout. Opgravingsverslag archeologische prospectie. Locatie: Ieperstraat 208 - 8980 Zonnebeke

Dit rapport werd ingediend bij het agentschap samen met een aantal afzonderlijke digitale bijlagen. Een aantal van deze bijlagen zijn niet inbegrepen in dit pdf document en zijn niet online beschikbaar. Sommige bijlagen (grondplannen, fotos, spoorbeschrijvingen, enz.) kunnen van belang zijn voor een betere lezing en interpretatie van dit rapport. Indien u deze bijlagen wenst te raadplegen kan u daarvoor contact opnemen met: [email protected]

The Promises and Pitfalls of the European Citizens' Initiative

Throughout the world, the idea of "democracy", the idea that the people should be governed by the people, remains a popular idea, enthusiastically embraced in many places by the opponents of autocratic regimes and safely protected in other places by the norms of political correctness. Nonetheless, the actual functioning of democratic regimes, based as it is in our country and elsewhere on the electoral process, seems to experience, if not a crisis, at least a deep malaise. And this malaise prompts a questioning of its foundations and a search for alternatives.Two such alternatives are provided by deliberative assemblies of randomly chosen citizens on the pattern of the G1000 experiment that took place in Brussels in 2011 and by the European Citizens' Initiatives launched in 2012. The 7th Re-Bel event organized on 24 May 2012 took these two interesting new experiments as the starting point of a reflection on the malaise of democracy and what to do about it.The present e-book includes a much enriched version of the two main presentations made on that occasion, respectively by Didier Caluwaerts (VUB) and Min Reuchamps (UCL) and by Kristof Jacobs (University of Nijmegen). These two pieces are preceded by a set of aphorisms on democracy by the historian and writer David Van Reybrouck, the mastermind of the G1000 and author of Tegen verkiezingen (De Bezige Bij, 2013, translated as Contre les élections, Actes Sud, 2014). They are followed by a commentary by Philippe Van Parijs, which benefited greatly from the discussion at the Re-Bel event and in particular from the contributions by Henri Monceau (Notre Europe), Charlotte Rive (European Commission), Jean-Pierre Rondas (ex VRT) and Daniel Van Lerberghe (Euractiv). And this commentary is in turn followed by an epilogue in the form of a letter in which David Van Reybrouck responds to Philippe Van Parijs's commentary

Non-destructive characterization of thin layer resonant tunnelling diodes

We present an advanced nondestructive characterization scheme for high current density AlAs/InGaAs resonant tunneling diodes pseudomorphically grown on InP substrates. We show how low-temperature photoluminescence spectroscopy (LT-PL) and high-resolution X-ray diffractometry (HR-XRD) are complementary techniques to increase the confidence of the characterized structure. The lattice-matched InGaAs is characterized and found to be of high quality. We discuss the inclusion of an undoped “copy” well (C-well) in terms of enhancements to HR-XRD and LT-PL characterization and quantify the improved precision in determining the structure. As a consequence of this enhanced precision in the determination of physical structure, the AlAs barriers and quantum well (QW) system are found to contain nonideal material interfaces. Their roughness is characterized in terms of the full width to half-maximum of the split LT-PL emission peaks, revealing a ±1 atomic sheet variance to the QW width. We show how barrier asymmetry can be detected through fitting of both optical spectra and HR-XRD rocking curves