Shrinking Space for Free Expression in Cambodia during Covid-19

In Covid-19, a vast number of countries have faced their biggest public health crisis in a century. For many such countries, the pandemic has emerged at a critical juncture following consecutive years of so-called democratic backsliding, where political space has narrowed and fundamental freedoms are under increasing threat. This trend is particularly observable within hybrid regimes under “Strongman” rule. A question posed by the Covid-19 crisis is the extent to which such regimes are taking advantage of the pandemic in order to hastily usher in new restrictions on human rights. Such leaders, it has been claimed, are actively capitalising on the crisis to further cement their rule, and to rapidly stock their arsenals with weapons of “lawfare” to more efficiently quash current or future dissent. A secondary, related question is the extent to which such accusations are being unfairly levelled against leaders of hybrid regimes for taking steps that liberal democracies are also taking without the same level of scrutiny from international observers. After all, the legitimate limitation by states of citizens’ exercise of their rights in times of exception is a norm firmly set out in international law. This article uses a case study of Cambodia, focusing on the impact of its Covid-19 response on the exercise of free expression. Applying the “three-part test,” it analyses whether Cambodia’s response falls within the permissible restrictions on freedom of expression during a time of normalcy (given Cambodia, at the time of writing, has not declared a state of emergency). It then also assesses whether Cambodia’s newly promulgated Emergency Law should be seen as a clear case of a hybrid regime exploiting Covid-19 to hasten restrictions on rights, or whether the criticism levelled against it is excessive, given the constitutional basis for such legislation and the critical nature of the Covid-19 pandemic

GIS analysis of the mid-nineteenth century emigration of the Old Lutherans from Prussia

The Old Lutherans constituted fewer than 20% of the Germans who emigrated from Prussia between 1835 and 1854. In this study, more than 483 cities and villages of origin of 6,911 Old Lutherans were mapped. These origins were in the central provinces of Brandenburg, Pomerania, Posen, Saxony, and Silesia. More emigrants came from Pomerania overall and during every time period except 1849-54. The areas with the most emigrants were north central Pomerania, northern Brandenburg, southeast Brandenburg, and western Silesia. Emigrant destinations were primarily America and Australia. American destinations included New York, Wisconsin, and Texas, but the state that many went to has not yet been discovered. Some overlap of source and destination occurred when examining the overall emigration, but extremely little occurred during each of the time periods reviewed. More than 83% of emigrant origins were within 15 miles of a major river, the primary source of transportation

Increasing Lift by Releasing Compressed Air on Suction Side of Airfoil

The investigation was limited chiefly to the region of high angles of attack since it is only in this region that any considerable change in the character of the flow can be expected from such artificial aids. The slot, through which compressed air was blown, was formed by two pieces of sheet steel connected by screws at intervals of about 5 cm. It was intended to regulate the width of the slot by means of these screws. Much more compressed air was required than was originally supposed, hence all the delivery pipes were much too small. This experiment, therefore, is to be regarded as only a preliminary one

On floats and float tests

The principal source of information on float resistance is the model test. In view of the insuperable difficulties opposing any attempt at theoretical treatment of the resistance problem, particularly at attitudes which tend toward satisfactory take-off, such as the transitory stage to planing, the towing test is and will remain the primary method for some time

The Small Wind Tunnel of the DVL

A general description of the small DVL wind tunnel is provided, with emphasis on air conduction, blower and velocity regulation, velocity measurement, and balance and model suspension

Determination of Stresses and Deformations of Aircraft Propellers

A method is described for testing the strength of propellers of any shape. It is shown that the shape of the propeller greatly affects the stresses, and that great caution must be exercised if the relieving effect of the centrifugal force, which exists in every propeller with a straight blade axis, is to be increased by curving the blade axis. In a numerical example, the calculation is made for a certain revolution speed at which the actual distortion is then measured. The results of the calculation agree satisfactorily with the experimental results

Force measurements on airplanes

The most essential phenomena of aircraft should be classified according to their origin and then measured. Information can thus be obtained in a quicker, cheaper, and more reliable way than otherwise would be possible