Some account of a paper call'd the Telltale, begun in colledge Sept 1721

The small leather-bound volume holds two sections, a manuscript student periodical, and written tête-bêche, an exchange on smallpox inoculation followed by notes on the rules and activities of a Harvard College student club. The volume begins with thirteen numbered manuscript issues, written in one hand, of the Tell-Tale running from September 9, 1721 to November 1, 1721. Prefaced, "This paper was entitl'd the Telltale or Criticisms on the Conversation & Beheavour of Scholars to promote right reasoning & good manner," the work is modeled after literary periodicals of the time, including the "Spectator," and is considered the oldest student publication at Harvard. The periodical appears to have circulated in manuscript form. The content varies in format and includes letters between Telltale and correspondents, short essays, and advertisements. Topics discussed include conversation, detraction, and flattery. While not specifically about Harvard it does provide some information about the College including evidence of various student activities and organizations at Harvard in the 1720s. The entry explaining the rules of the Telltale Club is heavily faded and nearly illegible. The Telltale records multiple dreams, which are populated by various characters, such as “beautiful” Kate, two “learned Physicians” debating inoculation, “four Fellows” “pushing and shoving one another,” and a “person of a very Dark & swarthy complexion in a Slovenly Dress with 7 patches & 5 sparks on his Face.”

Commonplace book of Clement Weeks

Commonplace book containing a transcription of the "The Book of Harvard," a satirical account of the Butter Rebellion of 1766 followed with supplementary text of "The Arguments in Defence of the Proceedings of the Scholars" and "The Confession that was made after all was done." The above occupies pp. 1-14; pp. 15-18 missing. Pages 19-23 hold excerpts from Edward Young's Conjectures on Original Composition. Pages 24-62 hold excerpts from Saint Augustine's Heresies. Finally pages 62-64 hold an excerpt of Druidical maxims from the introduction of the first volume of Paul Rapin de Thoyras' The History of England (1724).

Narratives to be recited at the commemorative assembly (majlis) held on the 10th and 20th days after the martyrdom anniversary of Imām Ḥusain : manuscript, 1890?

Title provided by cataloger.

Still the “pivot”: Russia’s self-conception and view of the euro crisis as perceived in public opinion and the Rossiiskaya Gazeta, 2011-12. EU Centre in Singapore Working Paper No. 8, August 2012

In his influential and disputed 1904 lecture, “The Geographical Pivot of History,” Halford Mackinder argued that the Russian heartland was the fulcrum of many historical and geostrategic currents across Eurasian space. While the thesis has been thought surpassed by recent technological advances in transportation, it serves as a useful heuristic device to open certain thematic lines of analysis apparent in the presentation of the ongoing “EUrocrisis” by the country’s newspaper of record, the Rossiiskaya Gazeta.

Access to environmental information in an Open European Society - Directive 2003/4. Research Paper in Law 5/2003

[From the Introduction]. Information gives knowledge and knowledge gives power. Though in all EC Member States, the task to protect the environment is given to the administration, it is obvious that the administration is not the owner of the environment. The environment is everybody's. It is for this reason that administrative decisions which affect the environment must be transparent, open and must strike a balance between the general interest to preserve, protect and improve the quality of the environment on the one hand, the satisfying of specific private or public interests on the other hand. In order to allow at least a certain control of whether the administration strikes the right balance between the need to protect the environment and other legitimate or less legitimate needs, it appears normal and self-evident that information on the environment which is in the hands of public authorities, be also made available to the public and to citizens.

Record of undergraduates’ activities in virtual learning environments

Virtual learning environments (VLEs) have witnessed a high evolution, namely regarding their potentialities, the tools and the activities they provide. VLEs enable us to access large quantities of data resulting from both students and teachers’ activities developed in those environments. Monitoring undergraduates’ activities in VLEs is important as it allows us to showcase, in a structured way, a number of indicators which may be taken into account to understand the learning process more deeply and to propose improvements in the teaching and learning strategies as well as in the institution’s virtual environment. Although VLEs provide several data sectorial statistics, they do not provide knowledge regarding the institution’s evolution. Therefore, we consider the analysis of the activity logs in VLEs over a period of five years to be paramount. This paper focuses on the analysis of the activities developed by students in a virtual learning environment, from a sample of undergraduate students, approximately 7000 per year, over a period of five academic years, namely from 2009/2010 to 2013/2014. The main aims of this research work are to assess the evolution of activity logs in the virtual learning environment of a Portuguese public higher education institution, in order to fill possible gaps and to hold out the prospect of new forms of use of the environment. The results obtained from the data analysis show that overall, the number of accesses to the virtual learning environment increased over the five years under study. The most used tools were Resources, Messages and Assignments. The most frequent activities developed with these tools were respectively consulting information, sending messages and submitting assignments. The frequency of accesses to the virtual learning environment was characterized according to the number of accesses in the activity log. The data distribution was divided into five frequency categories named very low, low, moderate, high and very high, determined by the percentiles 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100, respectively. The study of activity logs of virtual learning environments is important not only because they provide real knowledge of the use that undergraduates make of these environments, but also because of the possibilities they create regarding the identification of a need for new pedagogical approaches or a reinforcement of previously consolidated approaches.

The Arab Spring: where was the EU, and what is its future in the region? Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series Vol. 13 No. 4, February 2013

From the Introduction. In 2010 the martyring of Mohamed Bouazizi began a ripple of civil uprisings across the Middle East, and would lead to a wave of revolutions that the media would dub the Arab Spring. From North Africa to the Gulf Region, these civil uprisings made major headlines but found little intervention on behalf of world superpowers such as the United States or the European Union. Acting as more of an observer than as an active participant in these revolutions, it would seem that the European Union played a small role in preventing civil unrest, or in aiding in the policing of these oppressive governments. By example of the passive position held by Europe during these revolutions, the EU appears to be ill equipped to handle security issues such as the massive revolutionary chain witnessed across the Mediterranean. Now, however, they have a new opportunity to be involved in a post- Arab Spring Mediterranean. This paper seeks to address some reasons behind the Arab Spring, describe the institutional framework previously and currently in place, as well as to analyze the progress of Europe’s relationship with the Mediterranean by analyzing the EU’s past and current role in the Mediterranean. It will also look at critiques of the EU’s role in the Arab Spring, as well as the opportunities to be taken in the Mediterranean region.

The emblematic statement of the Nobel Peace Prize. Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series Vol. 13 No. 1, January 2013

From the Introduction. On October 12th the Nobel Committee announced that the annual Nobel Peace Prize would be awarded to the European Union for, “promoting peace, democracy and human rights over six decades”.1 This was a bit of good news for the EU who had produced nothing but bad press with the Euro Crisis, the bailouts of struggling countries like Greece, and protests in the southern member states of Spain, Portugal, and Italy. At such a momentous occasion the EU’s next challenge was to figure out who would be the rightful head of the EU to accept the award. The EU has made their decision by opting to send its top three officials Jose Manuel Barroso the President of the European Commission, Herman Van Rompuy the President of the European Council, and Martin Schulz the President of the European Parliament2 as a sign that the EU is not headed by one person but instead is an supranational economic and political bloc that seeks to unify the European continent. Their symbolic acceptance of the award is in response to what Geir Lundestad, the Secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, called, “an accumulated record.”3 This record has ushered the EU into the international spotlight as a beacon for countries in the EU’s periphery to want to join the bloc.

Spain: foreign relations and policy. Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series Special Issue 2, August 2012

From the Introduction. The subject of the position of Spain in the world (through history, recent times, and today) has been described by scholars and casual observers by a combination of qualifiers. It is considered paradoxical, unique and influential, riddled with isolation and ambition, resulting in frustration and success. In any event, Spain’s record in modern times has to be considered as below its potential in historical terms, geographical position, culture and world presence through migration and the results of the empire. In any way, Spain deserves to be included among one of about twenty five countries that, for one reason or another, play a role in the overall current global panorama. 1

Can the eurozone survive? Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series Vol. 12, No. 4, May 2012

From the Introduction. As financial and economic turmoil continues to rock the Eurozone nations and even threatens to undermine the political stability in the region, it may be helpful to recall the circumstances that helped bring about the formation of the European Union and the common currency of the Eurozone. While issues of trade, finance, and economics were at the heart of many of the agreements upon which the European Union was founded, there were larger issues about a shared future for Europeans that went beyond fiscal concerns. As the economic conditions in Europe and the rest of the world appear to have brought the Eurozone to the brink of collapse, the question at hand is whether the strength of the euro and the economies of the Eurozone nations will be able to withstand the forces that threaten not just the economic ties among the nations of the Eurozone and the EU, but that also strain the historical, cultural, and political foundations on which those economic ties were forged.

EEAS 2.0. A legal commentary on Council Decision 2010/427/EU establishing the organisation and functioning of the European External Action Service. EIPA Working Paper, 2013

From the Preface. Pursuant to Article 13(3) of Council Decision 2010/427/EU of 26 July 2010 establishing the organisation and functioning of the European External Action Service, the High Representative is held to provide a review of the organisation and functioning of the EEAS by mid-­‐2013. This review will cover, inter alia, the implementation of Article 6(6), (8) and (11), so as to ensure an adequate geographical and gender balance and a meaningful presence of nationals from all member states in the EEAS. If necessary, the review will be accompanied by appropriate proposals for the revision of the 2010 Council Decision (e.g., suggestions for additional specific measures to correct possible imbalances of staffing). In that case, the Council will, in accordance with Article 27(3) TEU, revise the Decision in light of the review by the beginning of 2014. This short and user-­‐friendly legal commentary on the 2010 Council Decision is the first of its kind and is intended to inform those involved in the review process and to serve as a reference document for practitioners and analysts dealing with the EEAS. This commentary is not an elaborate doctrinal piece, but rather a textual and contextual analysis of each article, that takes account of i) other relevant legal provisions (primary, secondary, international), ii) the process leading to the adoption of the 2010 Council Decision (i.e. travauxpréparatoires), iii) the preamble of the Council Decision, and iv) insofar as it is possible at this stage, early implementation. Wherever relevant, cross-­‐references to other provisions of the EEAS Council Decision have been made so as to tie in the different commentaries and ensure overall consistency.

The Single Supervisory Mechanism: A Sound First Step in Europe’s Banking Union? Egmont European Affairs Paper, March 2013

The financial and economic crisis has hit Europe in its core. While the crisis may not have originated in the European Union, it has laid bare structural weaknesses in the EU’s policy framework. Both public finances and the banking sector have been heavily affected. For a long time, the EU failed to take into account sufficiently the perverse link that existed between the two. Negative evolutions in one field of the crisis often dragged along the other in its downward spiral. In June 2012, in the early hours of a yet another EU Summit, the leaders of the eurozone finally decided to address the link between the banking and sovereign debt crises. Faced with soaring public borrowing costs in Spain and Italy, they decided to allow for the direct European recapitalisation of banks when the Member State itself would no longer be in a position to do so. In exchange, supervision of the banking sector would be lifted to the European level by means of a Single Supervisory Mechanism. The Single Supervisory Mechanism, or SSM in the EU jargon, is a first step in the broader revision of policies towards banks in Europe. The eventual goal is the creation of a Banking Union, which is to carry out effective surveillance and – if needed – crisis management of the banking sector. The SSM is to rely on national supervisors and the ECB, with the ECB having final authority on the matter. The involvement of the latter made it clear that the SSM would be centred on the eurozone – while it is to remain open to other Member States willing to join. Due to the ongoing problems and the link between the creation of the SSM and the recapitalisation of banks, the SSM became one of the key legislative priorities of the EU. In December 2012, Member States reached an agreement on the design of the SSM. After discussions with the European Parliament (which were still ongoing at the time of writing), the process towards making the SSM operational can be initiated. The goal is to have the SSM fully up and running in the first half of 2014. The decisions that were taken in June 2012 are likely to have had a bigger impact than the eurozone’s Heads of State and Government could have realised at the time for two important reasons. On the one hand, creating the SSM necessitates a full Banking Union and therefore shared risk. On the other hand, the decisions improved the ECB’s perception of the willingness of governments to take far-reaching measures. This undoubtedly played a significant role in the creation of the Outright Monetary Transactions programme by the ECB, which has led to a substantial easing of the crisis in the short-term. 1 These short-term gains should now be matched with a stable long-term framework for bank supervision and crisis management. The agreement on the SSM should be the first step in the direction of this goal. This paper provides an analysis of the SSM and its role in the creation of a Banking Union. The paper starts with a reminder of why the EU decided to put in place the SSM (§1) and the state of play of the ongoing negotiations on the SSM (§2). Subsequently, the supervisory responsibilities of the SSM are detailed, including its scope and the division of labour between the national supervisors and the ECB (§3). The internal functioning of the SSM (§4) and its relation to the other supervisors are discussed afterwards (§5). As mentioned earlier, the SSM is part of a wider move towards a Banking Union. Therefore, this paper sheds light on the other building blocks of this ambitious project (§6). The transition towards the Banking Union is important and will prove to be a bumpy ride. Before formulating a number of conclusions, this Working Paper therefore provides an overview of the planned road ahead (§7).

The distribution of debt across euro area countries : The role of individual characteristics, institutions and credit conditions. National Bank of Belgium Working Paper No. 252, December 2013

The aim of this paper is twofold. First, we present an up-to-date assessment of the differences across euro area countries in the distributions of various measures of debt conditional on household characteristics. We consider three different outcomes: the probability of holding debt, the amount of debt held and, in the case of secured debt, the interest rate paid on the main mortgage. Second, we examine the role of legal and economic institutions in accounting for these differences. We use data from the first wave of a new survey of household finances, the Household Finance and Consumption Survey, to achieve these aims. We find that the patterns of secured and unsecured debt outcomes vary markedly across countries. Among all the institutions considered, the length of asset repossession periods best accounts for the features of the distribution of secured debt. In countries with longer repossession periods, the fraction of people who borrow is smaller, the youngest group of households borrow lower amounts (conditional on borrowing), and the mortgage interest rates paid by low-income households are higher. Regulatory loan-to-value ratios, the taxation of mortgages and the prevalence of interest-only or fixed-rate mortgages deliver less robust results.

The future of human rights protection in the new Libya: prospects and challenges. Jean Monnet Occasional Paper No. 6/2014

There is no doubt that demand for the respect of human rights was one of the factors behind the Arab Spring and Libya is no exception. Four decades of absolute dictatorship headed by Muammar Gaddafi had been further tainted with gross violations of human rights of Libyan citizens and restrictions on their basic freedoms. Before the revolution, Libya was a country where no political parties were allowed. Freedom of expression and the press were extremely restricted. Reports about the country’s human rights violations published by a number of international organizations documented large scale human rights abuses at the hands of the Gaddafi regime. The 17 February 2011 revolution in Libya led to a turning point in the country’s history. The regime of Muammar Gaddafi which had dominated the country since 1969 eventually collapsed, leading to the beginning of the painful task of reconciliation and state building. Nonetheless it is estimated that more than 7000 prisoners are held captive by various militias and armed groups without due process. This in addition to thousands of internally displaced persons. State building involves the consolidation of a democratic state based on a democratic constitution. In 2011, a constitutional declaration was adopted to replace the one that had been in effect since 1969. This was intended as a stop-gap solution to allow the new political forces unleashed in the country time to write a new democratic constitution. To help consolidate the democratic state, three elements are required: that human rights be placed at its core; that these rights are truly implemented and applied; and lastly that the independence of the judiciary is safeguarded. For all this to happen it is also essential to strengthen education on human rights by encouraging non-governmental organizations to take a stronger role in promoting human rights. Libyan citizens can only avail themselves of these rights and strengthen their implementation if they know what they are and how they can benefit from their implementation

Migration and War Memory in a European Perspective A Case-Study on Displaced Persons in Belgium. Natolin Research Paper 05/2011

In the aftermath of World War II, about 20,000 people who had experienced displacement entered Belgium.1 Among those there were about 350 soldiers serving in the Polish armed forces in the West, and about 4,000 ostarbeiterinnen - young female Soviet citizens who were deported to Nazi Germany to do forced labour. All the soldiers and Soviet women married Belgian citizens, and most settled in the home town or city of their spouses. This paper focuses on the war memories of these migrants in post-war life, memories that were arguably shaped not only by the characteristics of their war experiences themselves, but also by the changing positions which they held within their home and host societies. Following the migrants from their moment of settlement until today, the article highlights the changing dynamics of their war memories over time, starting during the Cold War era and ending up in present day Europe. As such, the study finds itself on the crossroads of memory and migration studies, two academic disciplines that only recently started to dialogue with each other.2 Before analysing the arrival, settlement and war memories of the Displaced Persons at study, I give an interpretation of academic literature on memory of World War II from the perspective of migration studies.