137 research outputs found

    Europe: So Many Languages, So Many Cultures

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    The number of different languages in Europe by far exceeds the number of countries. All European countries have national languages, and in nearly all of them there are minority languages as well, whereas all major languages have dialects. National borders rarely coincide with linguistic borders, but the latter (including dialect borders) mark by their nature also more or less distinct cultural areas. This paper presents a survey of the different language families represented in Europe: Indo-European, Uralic, Altaic, and the four Caucasian language families, each with their sub-branches and individual languages. Some information is given on characteristic structural phenomena and on the status and history of these languages or language families and on some of their extinct predecessors. The paper ends with a short discussion on the language policy and practices of the institutions of the European Union. Europe lacks a language with the status and power comparable to Indonesian in Indonesia. The policy is therefore based on equal status of all national languages and on respect for all languages, including national minority ones. The practice, however, is unavoidably practical: “the more languages, the more English”

    Harmonizing Europe’s payment systems: an uphill battle?

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    A model is introduced to analyze the effect of network effects and transactions patterns on the decision by banks (not) to standardize payment systems both domestically and across borders. If only a small share of all transactions is cross-border, banks have strong incentives to maintain incompatible standards across countries. The model is applied to the case of harmonizing Europe’s payment networks.economics of technology ;

    THEORIES OF RADICALIZATION: FRENCH ALGERIAN MUSLIMS AND INCARCERATION

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    This thesis is a comparative case study of two French Algerians who were radicalized in the French prison system. Social Movement Theory, Social Identity Theory, and Relative Deprivation Theory are applied to their individual circumstances during their time spent in prison on their unique paths to radicalization. Chérif Kouachi, the Charlie Hebdo terrorist, was greatly influenced by his interpersonal network; Social Movement Theory best explains Kouachi's radicalization process. Mehdi Nemmouche's self-identity was altered in prison. When he was released from prison, he traveled to Syria to fight with ISIS before returning home to carry out the terrorist attack at the Brussels Jewish Museum; Social Identity Theory best explains his path to radicalization. French society's unwillingness to welcome French Algerians' integration into French culture creates an environment that fosters radicalization risk factors. Both Kouachi and Nemmouche are French Algerian, have had social or economic struggles, were discriminated against in French society, and spent time in prison for minor crimes. They were both exposed to radical Islam in prison. This comparative case study examines the impact of risk factors on the individual through the application of three radicalization theories. More theories of radicalization can be applied in future case studies to determine similarities between how individual exposure to risk factors differentiates the path to radicalization.Civilian, Department of the NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

    W96-1204. Ganzevoort, Herman (1942- ). Papers, 1946-1970. 2.50 linear ft.

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    Papers, documents, and records dating from 1946-1970. Papers include a large body of Jan Heersink’s correspondence, as well as the correspondence of other officials and members of the Canadian-Netherlands Immigration Council (CNIC). Documents and records of the CNIC and other institutions associated with the Reformed Church are also included

    Software verification, model validation and hydrogeologic modelling aspects in nuclear waste disposal system simulations : a paradigm shift

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    This work (1) reviews the current concept ad~ internationally on the disposal of highlevel nuclear wastes; (2) discusses some of the major challenges facing this disposal technology; (3) presents an evaluation of the Canadian performance assessment work as a case study; and (4) introduces a new paradigm within which to site an underground. disposal facility that offers many significant advantages over the existing concept.Chapter 1 explains the setup of the work and forms the "General Introduction" to the subject material.Chapter 2 describes the current internationally-accepted concept of underground disposal in stable, terrestrial, geologic media using a multi-barrier system of engineered (man-made) and natural barriers to prevent or retard the movement of radionuclides from depth to man's environment at the surface. Various aspects of the research and development work being conducted internationally to demonstrate the efficacy of this technology are described with emphasis paid to the Canadian Nuclear Fuel Waste Management Program (CNFWMP).Chapter 3 examines some of the technical challenges of the current disposal concept including (a) the present focus on the lithologic aspects of the geologic/geotechnic research; (b) the unsatisfactory situation in attempts at "validating" models used in computer simulations to forecast very long-term future conditions; and (c) the unsatisfactory state of software quality assurance in such computer simulations. The collection of papers in this chapter points out these problems and presents some of the software engineering tools and techniques used for software verification and quality assurance. Paper 3.4 introduces a comprehensive and systematic approach with which a rigorous process of validating models can be applied.Chapter 4 presents a review of some aspects of the Canadian performance assessment code, its models, as a case study to illustrate the application of principles, and tools and techniques described in Chapter 3. As such, various widely-recognized ANSI/IEEE software engineering standards were used to carry out the evaluation. This review is the first m-depth evaluation done externally and will likely serve, m part, as a basis for the ultimate judgement as to the quality and credibility of the Canadian performance assessment work.Chapter 5 introduces a completely new approach, called the Regional Recharge Concept (RRC), to the siting of underground waste repositories. The emphasis of this new concept is on achieving understanding of regional groundwater flow patterns so as to exploit such knowledge to locate a repository in an area where escaping contaminants will be carried by the groundwater into "stagnant zones" or on a flow trajectory long enough to render decaying radionuclides harmless if and when they do ever surface. The theoretic basis of the RRC is developed in this chapter and the many advantages of the concept are shown through a modelling exercise. Because of the "passive safety" philosophy inherent in this new concept, as well as the move away from the current international focus on lithologic studies (where experience has shown the great difficulties in characterizing fractures and predicting their future behaviour), the RRC being advocated in this work represents a true paradigm shift from the current concept of nuclear waste disposal.Chapter 6 summarizes the results from previous chapters in the form of conclusions relevant to future work in this area
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