Design of a speed meter interferometer proof-of-principle experiment

The second generation of large scale interferometric gravitational wave (GW) detectors will be limited by quantum noise over a wide frequency range in their detection band. Further sensitivity improvements for future upgrades or new detectors beyond the second generation motivate the development of measurement schemes to mitigate the impact of quantum noise in these instruments. Two strands of development are being pursued to reach this goal, focusing both on modifications of the well-established Michelson detector configuration and development of different detector topologies. In this paper, we present the design of the world's first Sagnac speed meter (SSM) interferometer, which is currently being constructed at the University of Glasgow. With this proof-of-principle experiment we aim to demonstrate the theoretically predicted lower quantum noise in a Sagnac interferometer compared to an equivalent Michelson interferometer, to qualify SSM for further research towards an implementation in a future generation large scale GW detector, such as the planned Einstein telescope observatory.

Equality of opportunity and equality of outcome

The report on the findings of extensive empirical research on equality of educational opportunities carried out in the US on a very large sample of public schools by Coleman and his colleagues has had a major impact on education policy and has given rise to a large amount of research and various interpretations. However, as some interpreters have highlighted, even more important than the findings of the survey themselves has been Coleman’s redefinition of equality of opportunity, abandoning the then prevailing conception of equality of educational opportunities as equality of starting points and replacing it with the concept of equality of educational opportunities as equality of educational outcomes. The question is, therefore, whether equality of outcomes really is one of the two types of equality of opportunity. The purpose of the present article is to show that equality of opportunity and equality of outcomes are two different types of equality. If they are different, the interpretation that Coleman has redefined the concept of “equality of educational opportunity” turns out to be incorrect. (DIPF/Orig.)

The principle of least effort within the hierarchy of linguistic preferences: external evidence from English

The thesis is an investigation of the principle of least effort (Zipf 1949 [1972]). The principle is simple (all effort should be least) and universal (it governs the totality of human behavior). Since the principle is also functional, the thesis adopts a functional theory of language as its theoretical framework, i.e. Natural Linguistics. The explanatory system of Natural Linguistics posits that higher principles govern preferences, which, in turn, manifest themselves as concrete, specific processes in a given language. Therefore, the thesis’ aim is to investigate the principle of least effort on the basis of external evidence from English. The investigation falls into the three following strands: the investigation of the principle itself, the investigation of its application in articulatory effort and the investigation of its application in phonological processes. The structure of the thesis reflects the division of its broad aims. The first part of the thesis presents its theoretical background (Chapter One and Chapter Two), the second part of the thesis deals with application of least effort in articulatory effort (Chapter Three and Chapter Four), whereas the third part discusses the principle of least effort in phonological processes (Chapter Five and Chapter Six). Chapter One serves as an introduction, examining various aspects of the principle of least effort such as its history, literature, operation and motivation. It overviews various names which denote least effort, explains the origins of the principle and reviews the literature devoted to the principle of least effort in a chronological order. The chapter also discusses the nature and operation of the principle, providing numerous examples of the principle at work. It emphasizes the universal character of the principle from the linguistic field (low-level phonetic processes and language universals) and the non-linguistic ones (physics, biology, psychology and cognitive sciences), proving that the principle governs human behavior and choices. Chapter Two provides the theoretical background of the thesis in terms of its theoretical framework and discusses the terms used in the thesis’ title, i.e. hierarchy and preference. It justifies the selection of Natural Linguistics as the thesis’ theoretical framework by outlining its major assumptions and demonstrating its explanatory power. As far as the concepts of hierarchy and preference are concerned, the chapter provides their definitions and reviews their various understandings via decision theories and linguistic preference-based theories. Since the thesis investigates the principle of least effort in language and speech, Chapter Three considers the articulatory aspect of effort. It reviews the notion of easy and difficult sounds and discusses the concept of articulatory effort, overviewing its literature as well as various understandings in a chronological fashion. The chapter also presents the concept of articulatory gestures within the framework of Articulatory Phonology. The thesis’ aim is to investigate the principle of least effort on the basis of external evidence, therefore Chapters Four and Six provide evidence in terms of three experiments, text message studies (Chapter Four) and phonological processes in English (Chapter Six). Chapter Four contains evidence for the principle of least effort in articulation on the basis of experiments. It describes the experiments in terms of their predictions and methodology. In particular, it discusses the adopted measure of effort established by means of the effort parameters as well as their status. The statistical methods of the experiments are also clarified. The chapter reports on the results of the experiments, presenting them in a graphical way and discusses their relation to the tested predictions. Chapter Four establishes a hierarchy of speakers’ preferences with reference to articulatory effort (Figures 30, 31). The thesis investigates the principle of least effort in phonological processes, thus Chapter Five is devoted to the discussion of phonological processes in Natural Phonology. The chapter explains the general nature and motivation of processes as well as the development of processes in child language. It also discusses the organization of processes in terms of their typology as well as the order in which processes apply. The chapter characterizes the semantic properties of processes and overviews Luschützky’s (1997) contribution to NP with respect to processes in terms of their typology and incorporation of articulatory gestures in the concept of a process. Chapter Six investigates phonological processes. In particular, it identifies the issues of lenition/fortition definition and process typology by presenting the current approaches to process definitions and their typology. Since the chapter concludes that no coherent definition of lenition/fortition exists, it develops alternative lenition/fortition definitions. The chapter also revises the typology of phonological processes under effort management, which is an extended version of the principle of least effort. Chapter Seven concludes the thesis with a list of the concepts discussed in the thesis, enumerates the proposals made by the thesis in discussing the concepts and presents some questions for future research which have emerged in the course of investigation. The chapter also specifies the extent to which the investigation of the principle of least effort is a meaningful contribution to phonology.

The Fourth Attempt to Construct a Politics of Welfare Obligations

Since the 1980s there have been three main attempts to ground citizenship upon the principles of duty, obligation and responsibility: conservative, communitarian and Third Way. Each of these are reviewed below. The principal task of this article, though, is to examine the emergence of a fourth attempt which, by relating duty to equality through the principle of reciprocity, represents a synthesis of traditional social democracy with the new politics of obligation. Our focus will be upon The Civic Minimum by Stuart White since this is arguably the most cogent expression of duty-based egalitarianism to have emerged in recent years. Key words: citizenship, equality, reciprocity, Basic Income

Equity, equality and diversity : A cross-country comparison

Differences in the workplace, also known as workforce diversity, evoke varied approaches in different countries. These include equity, equal opportunities, affirmative action and managing diversity. This paper compares methods in the US, Canada, UK, India, and South Africa. The system in each country is described and compared using several parameters. These are: the emphasis on sameness or difference; focus on individuals versus groups, classes or categories; voluntary action versus compulsory requirements; and remedies available. All are examined within the context of the national background and culture. The paper concludes that each system has both benefits and drawbacks, and gives lie to the assumption that there is any perfect legislative or voluntary approach to workplace diversity.

«We need more women in managerial jobs» – Gender equality and management in the Nordic context : Deconstruction and critical perspectives

Focusing on the Nordic context, this article highlights complexities between gender equality discourse established at the societal level and discursive practice in organizations, particularly in relation to management, managing and managers. This research task is carried out by deconstructing a management text, and grounding the deconstruction in critical feminist literature. This analysis illustrates how managerial discourse is challenged and questioned by pro-egaliterian arguments in the Nordic context. However, it also demonstrates the pervasiveness of the gendered elements in managerial discourse, which relies on specific conceptions of parenthood where motherhood is constructed as problematic whereas fatherhood remains absent – and thus unproblematic. It is suggested that the ‘Nordic case’ provides a fruitful basis for similar studies in other societal contexts in Europe.

Emerging Gender Regimes and Policies for Gender Equality in a Wider Europe

This article addresses some implications for gender equality and gender policy at European and national levels of transformations in family, economy and polity, which challenge gender regimes across Europe. Women’s labour market participation in the west and the collapse of communism in the east have undermined the systems and assumptions of western male breadwinner and dual worker models of central and eastern Europe. Political reworking of the work/welfare relationship into active welfare has individualised responsibility. Individualisation is a key trend west − and in some respects east − and challenges the structures that supported care in state and family. The links that joined men to women, cash to care, incomes to carers have all been fractured. The article will argue that care work and unpaid care workers are both casualties of these developments. Social, political and economic changes have not been matched by the development of new gender models at the national level. And while EU gender policy has been admired as the most innovative aspect of its social policy, gender equality is far from achieved: women’s incomes across Europe are well below men’s; policies for supporting unpaid care work have developed modestly compared with labour market activation policies.Enlargement brings new challenges as it draws together gender regimes with contrasting histories and trajectories. The article will map social policies for gender equality across the key elements of gender regimes – paid work, care work, income, time and voice – and discuss the nature of a model of gender equality that would bring gender equality across these. It analyses ideas about a dual earner–dual carer model, in the Dutch combination scenario and ‘universal caregiver’ models, at household and civil society levels. These offer a starting point for a model in which paid and unpaid work are equally valued and equally shared between men and women, but we argue that a citizenship model, in which paid and unpaid work obligations are underpinned by social rights, is more likely to achieve gender equality.

Gender and East Asian Welfare States: from Confucianism to Gender Equality

How can we understand the gender logic underpinning the welfare states/systems of East Asia? Does the comparative literature, which has largely been concerned with western Welfare states, whether in The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (Esping-Andersen 1990), or in gender-based analysis of the male breadwinner model (Lewis 1992, 2001, 2006), have anything to offer in understanding the gender assumptions underpinning East Asian welfare states? Are the welfare systems of East Asian countries distinctive, with Confucian assumptions hidden beneath the surface commitment to gender equality? We will use the (mainly western) comparative literature, but argue that Confucian influences remain important, with strong assumptions of family, market and voluntary sector responsibility rather than state responsibility, strong expectations of women’s obligations, without compensating rights, a hierarchy of gender and age, and a highly distinctive, vertical family structure, in which women are subject to parents-in-law. In rapidly changing economies, these social characteristics are changing too. But they still put powerful pressures on women to conform to expectations about care, while weakening their rights to security and support. Nowhere do welfare states’ promises bring gender equality in practice. Even in Scandinavian countries women earn less, care more, and have less power than men. We shall compare East Asian countries (Japan, Korea, Taiwan where possible) with some Western ones, to argue that some major comparative data (e.g. OECD) show the extreme situation of women in these countries. Some fine new qualitative studies give us a close insight into the experience of mothers, including lone and married mothers, which help us to understand how far the gender assumptions of welfare states are from Scandinavia’s dual earner model. There are signs of change in society as well as in economy, and room for optimism that women’s involvement in social movements and academic enquiry may be challenging Confucian gender hierarchies.

Direitos do aluno em contexto escolar : um estudo comparado entre o Ensino Secundário Público e o privado no Concelho de Lisboa

Considerando o importante papel que as instituições educativas desempenham na formação das crianças e dos jovens, o respeito pelos direitos dos alunos é condição fundamental, para lhes proporcionar uma educação de qualidade. Partindo desta consciência, resolvemos efetuar um estudo de caso, numa escola da rede pública de ensino e numa escola da rede privada de ensino, ambas situadas no concelho de Lisboa, com o objetivo de conhecer as perceções dos alunos sobre a promoção dos seus direitos em contexto escolar e descortinar as semelhanças e as diferenças entre os dois contextos educativos, atendendo à diferente natureza jurídica das duas instituições. Para concretizarmos esse objetivo, formulámos as seguintes perguntas derivadas, cujas respostas procuraremos obter no decurso do nosso estudo: (i) os alunos têm conhecimento de que são titulares de direitos?; (ii) exercem os seus direitos em condições de plena igualdade e sem qualquer discriminação?; (iii) o interesse superior do aluno é a primordial consideração que a Escola tem em conta, em todos os assuntos que lhe dizem respeito?; (iv) o direito à vida, à sobrevivência e ao desenvolvimento dos alunos é garantido na Escola? e (v) a opinião dos alunos é tida em consideração, em todos os assuntos que lhes dizem respeito?. Para atingirmos os objetivos que delineamos, desenvolvemos um estudo de caso, recorrendo a uma abordagem metodológica predominantemente qualitativa, com recurso a técnicas variadas, designadamente a entrevista, o inquérito por questionário e a análise documental. Procedemos à revisão da literatura, de acordo com as áreas conceptuais previamente definidas, que se consubstanciaram nos princípios gerais de direito internacional, consignados na Convenção sobre os Direitos da Criança de 1989, e à luz dos quais todos os direitos nela constantes devem ser interpretados: o princípio da não discriminação, o princípio do interesse superior da criança, o direito à vida, à sobrevivência e ao desenvolvimento, e o princípio do respeito pelas opiniões da criança. A análise dos conceitos e da diferente natureza jurídica das duas instituições foi, também, objeto do nosso estudo. Por outro lado, a legislação portuguesa relacionada com os direitos dos alunos, também, foi por nós revista neste estudo, nomeadamente, os diversos estatutos do aluno que se sucederam no tempo. A análise dos resultados obtidos permitiu-nos concluir que o respeito dos direitos dos alunos, nas suas diversas dimensões, não foi ainda totalmente conseguido, sobretudo o seu direito à não discriminação e o seu direito à participação a nível micro e meso. Não se podendo generalizar o estudo, a comunidade educativa tem de desenvolver um esforço para a compreensão da dimensão e da importância do respeito dos direitos dos alunos, sobretudo na criação de um clima democrático, que favoreça a plena igualdade de oportunidades a todos os alunos e a livre escolha do projeto educativo pelas famílias das crianças e dos jovens.

Beyond the Cosmological Principle

Simplifying the Einstein field equation by assuming the cosmological principle yields a set of differential equations which governs the dynamics of the universe as described in the cosmological standard model. The cosmological principle assumes the space appears the same everywhere and in every direction and moreover, the principle has earned its position as a fundamental assumption in cosmology by being compatible with the observations of the 20th century. It was not until the current century when observations in cosmological scales showed significant deviation from isotropy and homogeneity implying the violation of the principle. Among these observations are the inconsistency between local and non-local Hubble parameter evaluations, baryon acoustic features of the Lyman-α forest and the anomalies of the cosmic microwave background radiation. As a consequence, cosmological models beyond the cosmological principle have been studied vastly; after all, the principle is a hypothesis and as such should frequently be tested as any other assumption in physics. In this thesis, the effects of inhomogeneity and anisotropy, arising as a consequence of discarding the cosmological principle, is investigated. The geometry and matter content of the universe becomes more cumbersome and the resulting effects on the Einstein field equation is introduced. The cosmological standard model and its issues, both fundamental and observational are presented. Particular interest is given to the local Hubble parameter, supernova explosion, baryon acoustic oscillation, and cosmic microwave background observations and the cosmological constant problems. Explored and proposed resolutions emerging by violating the cosmological principle are reviewed. This thesis is concluded by a summary and outlook of the included research papers.

El principio de igualdad y no discriminación en relación con la pensión de viudedad y el «matrimonio gitano»

El punto de partida de nuestro estudio se sitúa en el polémico y discutido asunto resuelto por la sentencia del Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos de 8 de diciembre de 2009, Caso Muñoz Díaz c. España, donde se condena al Estado español por denegar la pensión de viudedad a una ciudadana casada exclusivamente por el rito matrimonial gitano. Al hilo de esta resolución analizaremos, entre otras cuestiones, las diversas formas matrimoniales a las que nuestro legislador otorga efectos civiles, la incidencia de dichas disposiciones en el principio de igualdad y no discriminación consagrado en el artículo 14 de la Constitución y en el artículo 14 del Convenio Europeo de Derechos Humanos, y la posible vulneración de dicho principio en el marco de las prestaciones sociales reguladas en la Ley General de la Seguridad Social, recientemente reformada.

Direito da religião

This dissertation stands out the religious and social role of Christian religious minorities in Portuguese society, where the vast majority of the believers profess the Catholic faith. This work serves to demystify the widespread prejudice against minorities and clarify its place in the religious phenomenon in Portugal. We intend to define the concept of Religion, missing in the Portuguese legislation, framing it in Portuguese constitutional history, which allows us to evaluate the relations State/Catholic Church and State/religious minorities, since Liberalism. We attempt to measure how the legal system accepts the religious phenomenon and how to deal with religious diversity, according to the principle of religious freedom postulated in the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic. It is also our intention to relate the concepts of sect and religious minority, which tendentiously are misunderstood. In order to understand the underlying dynamics of religious minorities, we take the example of the Portuguese Evangelical Alliance, which we monitored closely throughout the investigation. We will give some space for a small analysis of the state and social discrimination experienced by the minorities. With this work we can conclude in general that Portugal, despite its weak religious diversity, has a good advance on the religious freedom. The Portuguese State has made a remarkable effort to cooperate with the churches, an effort that must be continued in order to fill some gaps found, particularly in the absence of legislation regarding the criminalization of religious discrimination and competence of the Committee on Religious Freedom in case of a possible complaint. We prove similarly that there is also a special attention to the Catholic Church in the composition of the Committee on Religious Freedom and the Committee Broadcast Time of Religious Confessions. In the end, we prove that the society is the major source of discrimination against minorities.

Aplicação do princípio da igualdade na legislação experimental em Portugal

The experimental legislation follows the development of legislative evaluation practices. Being a legislative technique used not only with the aim of gathering political and social consensus, but also, especially in controversial matters, to provide data and information that will serve as basis for a clarified and justified legislative decision. The characteristic features of the experimental laws are its limited application in time and/or in territory and the prediction, in the law itself, of an evaluation after the experimental period. The application of an experimental law just in a specific geographic area raises constitutional issues because of the implications of the principle of equality. Indeed, the principle of equality, despite admitting some treatment differences between people, commands that these differences have to be legitimate, reasonable and proportional, namely, not arbitrary. Besides the constitutionality problem for the violation of the principle of equality, the experimental laws may also consist of laws restricting fundamental rights and be the cause of the liability of the State, within its legislative function.

The Principle of Proportionality in International Law

Whilst the principle of proportionality indisputably plays a crucial role in the protection of fundamental rights, it is still unclear to what extent it applies to other fields in international law. The paper therefore explores the role it plays in selected fields of public international law, beyond human rights. The examination begins in the classical domain of reprisals and in maritime boundary delimitation and continues to analyse the role played in the law of multilateral trade regulation of the World Trade Organization and in bilateral investment protection. In an attempt to explain differences in recourse to proportionality in the various fields, we develop in our conclusions a distinction between horizontal and vertical constellations of legal protection.

Igual consideração e respeito, independência ética e liberdade de expressão em Dworkin : uma reconciliação entre igualdade e liberdade e a possibilidade do discurso do ódio em um ordenamento coerente de princípios

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Direito, Pós-Graduação Stricto Sensu em Direito, 2016.