scholarly journals The Politics of Vulnerability in Refugee Admissions Under the EU-Turkey Statement

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Welfens ◽  
Yasemin Bekyol
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Document Analysis ◽  
Operational Definition ◽  
Research Note ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Selection Practices

Resettlement and humanitarian admission programs claim to target ‘particularly vulnerable’, or ‘the most vulnerable’ refugees. If the limited spots of such programs are indeed foreseen for particularly vulnerable groups and individuals, as resettlement actors claim, how is vulnerability defined in policies and put into practice at the frontline? Taking European states’ recent admission programs under the EU-Turkey statement as an example, and focusing on Germany as an admission country, this research note sheds light on this question. Drawing on document analysis, and original fieldwork insights, we show that on paper and in practice vulnerability as a policy category designates some social groups as per se more vulnerable than others, rather than accounting for contingent reasons of vulnerability. In policy documents, the operational definition of vulnerability and its relation to other criteria remain largely undefined. In selection practices, additional criteria curtail a purely vulnerability-based selection, exacerbate existing or create new vulnerabilities in their own right. We conclude that, in the absence of clear definitions, resettlement and humanitarian admission programs’ declared focus on the most vulnerable remains a discretionary promise, with limited possibilities of political and legal scrutiny.

NORM FORMATION, SOCIAL CONFORMITY, AND THE CONFEDERATING FUNCTION OF HUMOR

1985 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Khoury
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Design ◽  
Analytical Model ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Quantitative Measure ◽  
Operational Definition ◽  
Social Conformity ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Basic Finding ◽  
Definition Of

The following analysis was carried out in two parts. First, a quantitative measure was developed of the strength of the tendency toward conformity within social groups exposed to ambiguous situations. And second, two experiments were conducted in an attempt to reproduce empirically the confederating function of humor hypothesized in groups facing such situations. Exactly what is the effect of the opinions of others in the joking situation on our own? The results of these experiments are clear-cut. The effects upon individuals of majority opinions of humor have been investigated By means of a simple experimental design and analytical model we have produced and observed the ways in which norm formation and social conformity are engendered in the joke setting. Despite the “cautious” operational definition of the convergence concept, the basic finding of convergence nevertheless seems fairly absolute and pertinent to the individual's day-today social relations.

scholarly journals Compositorial ‘Weight’ & ‘Luminance’

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Koenderink ◽  
Andrea van Doorn ◽  
Karl Gegenfurtner
Keyword(s):  
Dominant Role ◽  
Operational Definition ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Graphical Design ◽  
Semantic Properties ◽  
Contrast Image

Compositorial weight might be understood as an operational definition of salience. It is not a psychophysical entity, but holds a key position between psychophysics and aesthetics. Several factors ranging over raw photometric/colorimetric parameters, various kinds of psychophysical contrast, image geometry, even semantic properties are readily shown to influence weight. A down-to-earth proposition is that luminance might play a dominant role. We investigate this notion and show that luminance per se is hardly important, except in certain paradigms like the ones considered here. We find that observers indeed readily judge weight based on luminance in such paradigms, although there are strong idiosyncratic differences. Our results have some generic implications for graphical design.

scholarly journals Environmental criminal offences - victimless crimes?

Temida ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-132
Author(s):  
Ana Batricevic
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Tax Evasion ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Environmental Crime ◽  
Bodily Integrity ◽  
Traditional Definition ◽  
Entire Society ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Definition Of

Ecological criminal offences, the most serious forms of harming and threatening of environment or its integral parts, represents a global phenomenon of great social hazard. They are often connected with organized transnational criminality, criminal offences against life and bodily integrity, corruption, tax evasion and discrimination. Disputable nature of the subject these incriminations protect imposes a question: ?Who are the victims of ecological criminal offences - individuals, social groups, entire society or environment as value per se?? Perceiving ecological criminal offences as victimless crimes diminishes their importance and the circle of subjects interested to unveil, prove, prevent, suppress and impose punishments for these offences. Therefore, the author discusses the sustainability of the traditional, anthropocentrically defined term of victim in the context of biocentrism and its growing influence on criminal law, criminology and victimology. Attempting to determine whether ecological criminal offences represent victimless crimes, the author analyzes their term, characteristics and significance. Starting from the traditional definition of victim, she analyzes the term of ?victimless crimes? and its (un)sustainability in the context of environmental crime, focusing on its most frequent victims and the necessity of their protection.

scholarly journals E-learning: The key to open the Learning Doors in European Prisons

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (3Β) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonia Maria HARTOFYLAKA ◽  
Antonia ARACHOVA ◽  
Evangelia MANOUSOU
Keyword(s):  
Operational Definition ◽  
Native Languages ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Language Needs ◽  
Communication Needs ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Turkish Language ◽  
The Eu

<p>ELBEP (Eliminating Barriers in European Prisons) aims to promote intercultural dialogue and meet the communication needs of prison staff members in the EU countries, regarding many foreign prisoners they encounter in their work environment. Operational definition of “Foreign Prisoners” within the scope of ELBEP covers prisoners who are sentenced and also imprisoned detainees in the trial process. Furthermore, the project is designed to meet the criteria for the Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE) A1 level in order to develop products that can be certified and accredited in many European countries. ELBEP focuses on Russian, Polish, Spanish, Greek and Turkish language needs of the EU prison staffs, since foreign prisoners speaking these native languages compose important percentages in European prisons. Overall, the expected impact of teaching beginner’s level second languages to European prison staffs, via flexible Open and Distance Learning (ODL) environments, proposes an alternative to solve the communication problems. Concentrating on this objective, ELBEP shall promote intercultural understanding, tolerance for diversity and lead to a suitable environment where rehabilitation and adult education of prisoners are achievable.</p>

Understanding functional illiteracy from a policy, adult education, and cognition point of view: Towards a joint referent framework

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-122
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Bulajić ◽  
Miomir Despotović ◽  
Thomas Lachmann
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Operational Definition ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Functional Illiteracy ◽  
Scale Levels ◽  
Components Of Reading ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of

Abstract. The article discusses the emergence of a functional literacy construct and the rediscovery of illiteracy in industrialized countries during the second half of the 20th century. It offers a short explanation of how the construct evolved over time. In addition, it explores how functional (il)literacy is conceived differently by research discourses of cognitive and neural studies, on the one hand, and by prescriptive and normative international policy documents and adult education, on the other hand. Furthermore, it analyses how literacy skills surveys such as the Level One Study (leo.) or the PIAAC may help to bridge the gap between cognitive and more practical and educational approaches to literacy, the goal being to place the functional illiteracy (FI) construct within its existing scale levels. It also sheds more light on the way in which FI can be perceived in terms of different cognitive processes and underlying components of reading. By building on the previous work of other authors and previous definitions, the article brings together different views of FI and offers a perspective for a needed operational definition of the concept, which would be an appropriate reference point for future educational, political, and scientific utilization.

“The Unconscious” in Current Psychology

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 193-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Norman
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Psychology ◽  
Verbal Report ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Operational Definition ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
Apparent Lack ◽  
Unconscious Processing ◽  
Unconscious Processes ◽  
Intermediate States ◽  
Definition Of

A series of vignette examples taken from psychological research on motivation, emotion, decision making, and attitudes illustrates how the influence of unconscious processes is often measured in a range of different behaviors. However, the selected studies share an apparent lack of explicit operational definition of what is meant by consciousness, and there seems to be substantial disagreement about the properties of conscious versus unconscious processing: Consciousness is sometimes equated with attention, sometimes with verbal report ability, and sometimes operationalized in terms of behavioral dissociations between different performance measures. Moreover, the examples all seem to share a dichotomous view of conscious and unconscious processes as being qualitatively different. It is suggested that cognitive research on consciousness can help resolve the apparent disagreement about how to define and measure unconscious processing, as is illustrated by a selection of operational definitions and empirical findings from modern cognitive psychology. These empirical findings also point to the existence of intermediate states of conscious awareness, not easily classifiable as either purely conscious or purely unconscious. Recent hypotheses from cognitive psychology, supplemented with models from social, developmental, and clinical psychology, are then presented all of which are compatible with the view of consciousness as a graded rather than an all-or-none phenomenon. Such a view of consciousness would open up for explorations of intermediate states of awareness in addition to more purely conscious or purely unconscious states and thereby increase our understanding of the seemingly “unconscious” aspects of mental life.

Integracja w dezintegracji i dezintegracja w integracji: determinanty mechanizmów integracyjnych w Unii Europejskiej

2018 ◽  
pp. 10-37
Author(s):  
Barbara Curyło
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Modus Operandi ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Differentiated Integration ◽  
Integration Mechanisms ◽  
Strategic Issue ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Eu

In the discussion on the future of the EU, the topic of differentiated integration has become a strategic issue, with different variants beginning to appear as modus operandi of the European Union, which has become a subject of controversy among Member States. Significantly, the debate on differentiated integration began to be accompanied by reflections on disintegration. This article attempts to define disintegration on the assumption that it should be defined through the prism of integration, and that such a defining process can not be limited to concluding a one-way contrast between disintegration versus integration and vice versa. This is due to the assumption that the European Union is a dichotomous construct in which integration and disintegration mutually exclude and complement each other. This dichotomy is most evident in the definition of integration and disintegration through the prism of Europeanisation top-down and bottom-up processes that generate, reveal, visualize, stimulate integration mechanisms what allows to diagnose their determinants.

The Concept of Europeanization and Possibilities of its Application to the Analysis of Ukraine-EU Relations

2017 ◽  
pp. 149-160
Author(s):  
Natalia Popova
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Theoretical Research ◽  
Member States ◽  
External Governance ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Eu Studies ◽  
The Eu

The concept of Europeanization has become quite fashionable in EU studies in recent years. It is often used for the analysis of the relations between the EU and non-member states. The aim of the article is to examine the possibilities of its application in explaining the relationship between the EU and Ukraine. The structure of the article is as follows: firstly, the concept of Europeanization is defined considering such two disputable issues as distinguishing among concepts of Europeanization and European integration as well as Europeanization and EU-ization. Next, the evolution of the theoretical research of Europeanization and definition of this concept are analyzed. Two main mechanisms of Europeanization (conditionality and socialization) are examined. The author considers main approaches to the analysis of the "external" Europeanization emphasizing the concept of "external governance". Three groups of factors which influence the effectiveness of Europeanization are briefly analyzed. And finally, the peculiarities of application of the Europeanization concept to the Ukraine-EU relations are outlined. Keywords: EU, Ukraine, Europeanization, EU-ization, ‘external’ Europeanization, conditionality, socialization, concept of ‘external governance’

An Analysis of the Demand for Reporting on Internal Control

2000 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather M. Hermanson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Internal Control ◽  
Operational Definition ◽  
Financial Statement ◽  
Individual Investors ◽  
Internal Auditors ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
User Groups ◽  
Definition Of

The purpose of this study is to analyze the demand for reporting on internal control. Nine financial statement user groups were identified and surveyed to determine whether they agree that: (1) management reports on internal control (MRIC) are useful, (2) MRICs influence decisions, and (3) financial reporting is improved by adding MRICs. In addition, the paper examined whether responses varied based on: (1) the definition of internal control used (manipulated as broad, operational definition vs. narrow, financial-reporting definition) and (2) user group. The results indicate that financial statement users agree that internal controls are important. Respondents agreed that voluntary MRICs improved controls and provided additional information for decision making. Respondents also agreed that mandatory MRICs improved controls, but did not agree about their value for decision making. Using a broad definition of controls, respondents strongly agreed that MRICs improved controls and provided a better indicator of a company's long-term viability. Executive respondents were less likely to agree about the value of MRICs than individual investors and internal auditors.

Shape Dynamics and the Linking Theory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flavio Mercati
Keyword(s):  
Phase Space ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Line Element ◽  
Hamiltonian Formulation ◽  
Operational Definition ◽  
Extended Phase Space ◽  
Extended Phase ◽  
Problem Of Time ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Matter Fields

This chapter explains in detail the current Hamiltonian formulation of SD, and the concept of Linking Theory of which (GR) and SD are two complementary gauge-fixings. The physical degrees of freedom of SD are identified, the simple way in which it solves the problem of time and the problem of observables in quantum gravity are explained, and the solution to the problem of constructing a spacetime slab from a solution of SD (and the related definition of physical rods and clocks) is described. Furthermore, the canonical way of coupling matter to SD is introduced, together with the operational definition of four-dimensional line element as an effective background for matter fields. The chapter concludes with two ‘structural’ results obtained in the attempt of finding a construction principle for SD: the concept of ‘symmetry doubling’, related to the BRST formulation of the theory, and the idea of ‘conformogeometrodynamics regained’, that is, to derive the theory as the unique one in the extended phase space of GR that realizes the symmetry doubling idea.

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