Projects
Spring is a new beginning: an investigation into the European Union's autonomous sanctions practice following the Arab spring KU Leuven
In recent years, the European Union (EU) has invoked several sanctions – or restrictive measures in the framework of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) – against its southern neighbors. In 2011, when the Arab Spring struck the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), it froze the assets of the former Tunisian and Egyptian regimes and imposed a large number of sanctions on the regimes of Qaddafi (Libya) and Assad (Syria). In 2010-2012, ...
What if care compels VIVES
From mass noun to count noun in French and Dutch. A contrastive corpus-based study on the nature and productivity of coercion Ghent University
This project proposes a detailed corpusbased contrastive analysis (French vs.Dutch) of a case of coercion, viz. the occasional use of mass nouns in constructions typical of count nouns, including also a limited experimental psycholinguistic verification. Besides the descriptive question (frequency, semantic effetcs, conditions/restrictions), the project addresses the question of the nature and relevance of coercion as a theoretical ...
A Belgian civil procedure approach to non-compensatory goals in tort law KU Leuven
Claimants increasingly rely on extra-contractual liability claims to pursue other goals than compensation (in kind or by way of pecuniary damages). Attention for the multifunctionality of extra-contractual liability law has grown over the past decades. This is clear, for example, in the draft bill regarding the introduction of the extra-contractual liability provisions in the new Civil Code, and is also apparent in Belgian doctrine and even ...
A neuroscience approach to prison experience: On the influence of prison on the sense of agency and empathy for pain among (ex-)inmates and prison guards. Ghent University
At the end of the prison sentence, former inmates are expected to reintegrate the social system. However, past research and criminological data highlight that prison sentences are not an effective mean for preventing recidivism. This project aims to investigate, with a social neuroscience approach, the potential influence of the coercive and restrictive nature of prison on two neurocognitive processes related to decision-making: The sense of ...
Tailoring Applications-Relevant Properties in Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride)-based Homo-, Co- and Ter-Polymers through Modification of Their Three-Phase Structure KU Leuven
Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)-based homo-, co- and ter-polymers are well-known for their ferroelectric and relaxor-ferroelectric properties. Their semi-crystalline morphology consists of crystalline and amorphous phases, plus interphase regions in between, and governs the relevant electro-active properties. In this work, the influence of chemical, thermal and mechanical treatments on the structure and morphology of PVDF-based polymers and ...
The substantive and procedural relationship between administrative sanctions and criminal penalties for market abuse KU Leuven
Financial crimes aim at large illegal financial gains and are often of a complex nature. This is particularly the case for offences related to the functioning of financial markets such as insider dealing and market manipulation. The legislation provides for a classical criminal procedure to deal with these crimes, but also allows for an administrative sanctioning procedure. In the former case, the actors of the criminal law come into play. In ...
Language productivity at work Ghent University
Language patterns are more or less ‘productive’, depending on their lexical scope. An interdisciplinary approach is needed to compare attested productivity, in present-day language use as well as through history, to on-line and off-line language processing, and to measure the impact of
personal variables. Only in this way can one arrive at a better understanding of what productivity is.
When things go wrong in the bureaucratic encounter: Citizen failure and government failure in public service interactions. KU Leuven
The interface between public officials and citizens consist of two actors: the public official and the citizen. The former, the citizen, is often in a dependent position and subject to coercion, though multiple exit and voice options are possible. The latter, public officials, need to make decisions, often in a situation with considerable discretion and/or incomplete information. They do not always trust citizens. At this interface between ...