Faculty of Law | Bachelor European Law School 

"Like, Subscribe and Find a Fair Balance… The Digital Services’ Personalized Content and What the Consumers Think of Them"

Ioana-Daria's elevator pitch
In the past few years, consumers’ personal data has become a tradable asset when contracting with digital service providers, such as social media apps. Consumers give up their personal information to the platform, either to receive a personalized service or to generate personalized advertisements. However, these personalization practices could trigger privacy or consumer protection issues which the EU has aimed to remedy through several different instruments (UCPD, UCTD and GDPR). By conducting an empirical study looking at consumers’ fairness perception of personalization, this essay explores whether the protective measures imposed by legislation mirror consumers’ needs and behaviours.

  Faculty of Law | Bachelor Tax Law

"De BTW-gevolgen bij sale-and-leaseback transacties"

Ivana's elevator pitch
Lease transactions have long been popular and are common in commercial traffic. A special form of leasing is the so called ‘sale-and-leaseback’. The VAT treatment of this financing form is not always clear and is therefore often subject of case law. Due to new case law, introduced in 2019 and early 2021, it is argued that there has been provided more clarity about the sale-and-leaseback. The purpose of this thesis was to research this form of financing and, in particular how the aforementioned case law relates to the principle of fiscal neutrality and the principle of legal certainty. These principles of taxation are fundamental in the VAT system and serve as a relevant assessment framework.

  Faculty of Law | Bachelor Dutch Law

"Ongeboren en toch al slachtoffer van willekeurig beleid"

Linda's elevator pitch
This thesis explores the possibility to issue a supervision order for an unborn child under Dutch Law. Currently, this form of prenatal child protection is only possible by using the existing ‘postnatal’ child protection rules and applying them under the codified nasciturus-fiction. However – when various judges apply these standards differently, what does that mean for the parents’ legal certainty? Using case law research and more importantly, conducting interviews amongst (legal and other) experts in the field, this thesis attempts to formulate the possibility to codify the prenatal supervision order in the Dutch Civil Code in order to better protect the rights of those involved.

  Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences | Bachelor Digital Society

"“Meaningful” Human Control in Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems Ethical Challenges for International Humanitarian Law"

Anne-Sophie's elevator pitch
Intersecting legal and ethical studies, my thesis draws on the concepts of meaningful human control and autonomy. The central question of investigation aims at exploring to what extent International Humanitarian Law can and should ensure meaningful human control in the use of Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems. I conducted an extensive, integrative literature review comparing how legal and ethical perspectives define aspects of autonomy and human control, and how they place them in the use of autonomous weapons systems. My findings suggest that either terms have not been sufficiently defined or agreed upon to include all stakeholders’ views and, therefore, lack relevance to both hard law and soft law.

  Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences | Bachelor Arts and Culture

"We Are All Born Naked and the Rest is Drag” Resistance Conceptualized Through Drag Performance: From the 1960s to the Present Day"

Stefani's elevator pitch
The artform of drag is often considered to serve a political function: to challenge and deconstruct existing assumptions about gender and sexuality. Applying Judith Butler’s queer theoretical approach, this thesis explores drag queen resistance in the 1968 documentary The Queen and season 13 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Stemming from the fact that today’s drag is commercially viable, brand-oriented, and mainstream, this thesis explores whether embracing said mainstream entails the dissipation of meaningful challenges to capitalism. By comparing how resistance was enacted by drag queens in the 1960s, and the present day, it becomes clear that although the commercialization of drag culture has dampened the artforms’ subversive potential, we have yet to reach a stage in which drag performances are a normative act.

  Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences | Bachelor European Studies

"Observations on Interventions on Public Space During Covid 19 A comparative analysis of Cork, Ireland, and Aachen, Germany"

Nuria's elevator pitch
You would think the Covid 19 pandemic has impacted public space rather negatively, wouldn’t you? Restrictions on the use of public space ranging from lockdowns to limitations on group sizes have been common reactions by policymakers. This thesis takes a closer look at different policies on public space implemented in Europe and has compared interventions in Cork, Ireland, and Aachen, Germany.

Counterintuitively, Covid 19 was found to have turned into a window of opportunity as public space was attributed renewed importance. Consequently, middle-sized city administrations became more experimental and creative in the creation and management of public space, applying different forms of urban design.

  Faculty of Science and Engineering | Bachelor University College Venlo

"Comprehensive review on the efficacy and gut modulation properties of diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome treatments"

Panos' elevator pitch
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is the most prevalent gastrointestinal condition, and diarrhea-predominant IBS (IBS-D) is the second most predominant subtype, with the lowest perceived quality of life. Although its pathology is not fully elucidated, gut microbiota (GM) has been implicated as a contributing factor. This thesis (a) suggested a potential ranking system for IBS-D interventions, using IBS Symptom Severity Score as the point of comparison, and (b) investigated potential intervention-GM interactions. After comprehensive research, low fermentable oligo-di-monosaccharides and polyol (FODMAP) diets and certain multistrain probiotics emerged as prominent interventions in mitigating IBS-D symptom severity. Definitive characterization of the compositional and functional effect of such interventions in GM pends on additional research.

  Faculty of Science and Engineering | Bachelor Data Science and Artificial Intelligence

"Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning With Graph Neural Networks For Online Multi-Hoist Scheduling"

Lars' elevator pitch
“The multi-hoist scheduling arises when multiple hoists are used to lift loads. The goal is to determine when to use each hoist so that the loads are lifted in the most efficient manner. Unfortunately, it is extremely computationally expensive to compute efficient ways to solve this problem. In this thesis, I apply reinforcement learning to the problem, which is a field in artificial intelligence that allows machines to learn through experience. I propose an approach that computes an efficient solution to the problem quickly, by making hoists communicate with each other and learn with the experiences they observe.”

  Faculty of Science and Engineering | Bachelor University College Maastricht

"Is the Grass Really Greener Now? A Study Investigating the Effects of Instagram use on Social  Comparison and Self-Esteem among Emerging Adults at the End of the Acute Stage of the COVID-19 Pandemic"

Vittoria's elevator pitch
Instagram offers its users infinite opportunities for social comparison, which inevitably affects self-esteem. In light of the growing use of this platform, the purpose of my thesis was to investigate the effects of Instagram use at the end of the acute stage of the COVID-19 pandemic on social comparison and self-esteem. Overall, the research findings suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic changed how we approach social media only during periods of social isolation. Hence, the feelings stemming from Instagram use (e.g., lower self-esteem) did not improve after the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings hold several implications both on an academic and societal level, highlighting the need to safeguard individuals’ psychological well-being.

  Faculty of Science and Engineering | Bachelor Maastricht Science Programme

"A study on modes of aquatic locomotion: how speed varies among and within Niphargus species"

Chiara's elevator pitch
"During my thesis, I studied the speed of locomotion of the amphipod genus Niphargus. I compared the velocity at which three Niphargus species walked, crawled or swam, to discover if these speeds differed significantly between the three species and/or between individuals of the same species. To accomplish this, I created an experimental set up which allowed me to record each individual's path and velocity in 3D. My bachelor thesis was incredibly exciting as I worked along with the Subterranean Biology Lab at University of Ljubljana, and conducted my thesis at the Jovan Hadži Institute of Biology, using Noldus IT video tracking software.”