Le site de vulgarisation scientifique de l’Université de Liège. ULg, Université de Liège

Glossary

Vous trouverez dans ce glossaire les définitions de termes présents dans les différents articles, classés de manière alphabétique.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
W
Waardenburg-Shah Syndrome

This syndrome combines the symptoms of Waardenburg Syndrome (a lack of pigmentation and neuro-sensorial deafness) with Hirchprung’s Disease (distal colonic aganglionosis, in other words the partial or total absence of nerve ganglions which allow the colon to work as it should). It is characterised by an ensemble of congenital malformations which affect the eyes, nose and ears: a shifting of the lacrimal puncta, an enlargement of the base of the nose, pigmentation anomalies (of the iris, for example, or the presence of white streaks in the hair) and deafness.

Waffen-SS

A word meaning ‘arm of protection squadron,’ the military branch of the Schutzstaffel or SS.

Wagnerism

`The name given to the influence exercised by the musical work of Richard Wagner (1813-1883) in France. This keen passion, which was not self-evident at the beginning but which would grow over the course of the second half of the 19th century, benefited – before being transformed into a genuine wave – from prestigious purveyors of culture: Théophile Gautier (1811-1872) and Baudelaire (1821-1867) first of all, after the representation of Tannhäuser at the Opera on May 13, 1861; subsequently Mallarmé (1842-1898), who discovered Wagnerian tragedy thanks to Villiers de l'Isle-Adam (1838-1889) in particular, was full of enthusiasm for the ‘splendid bravura’ it embodied, which had succeeded in marrying theatre, dance and music. And all in the name of the supreme art which is poetry. From 1881, Wagnerphilia won over Belgium, in particular Maeterlinck (1862-1949) whose theatre design was inspired by the Bayreuth master.

Wallace, Alfred Russel (1823-1913)

An English naturalist who, along with Charles Darwin, was the co-discoverer of the theory of evolution by natural selection.

Walter Benjamin

German philosopher (1892-1940), friend of Adorno (Frankfurt School); his work concentrated on art and literary criticism. Most of his writings were published after his suicide, which occurred just after he had fled France and entered Spain. He translated Baudelaire and Proust into German. But he is best known for having introduced the concept of auras into the intellectual arena, meaning by this the envelope that separates certain bodies from others and from all common, banal or everyday things. In this respect the plastic art creates an object with auras for Benjamin, since the object is unique and since it is the “manifestation of something distant no matter how near it is brought”. Photography, on the other hand, is reproducible, and so has no aura. This conception was explained (among others) in his book L'œuvre d'art à l'époque de sa reproductibilité technique (1936).

war

In the sense of international humanitarian law, war is divided into two categories: armed conflict (between at least two states) and non-international armed conflict which describes a confrontation between two armed groups inside the territory of the same country.

War of Austrian Succession

A long European conflict, which from 1740 to 1748 opposed Prussia, France, Bavaria, Saxony and Spain to Austria and Great Britain. It began at the death of the emperor Charles VI, who after obtaining recognition of the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 by the great Powers of the period, had designated his daughter Maria-Theresa as his successor (the acceptance of which was the point of the Sanction. But the elector Charles-Albert of Bavaria – who would be elected emperor under the name of Charles VII (1741-1745) – said that the agreements involving acceptance of the Sanction were nothing but “scraps of paper”, and laid claim to the Habsburg dominions, while Prussia under Frederick II laid claim to Silesia. The war soon was transformed into a struggle between the Houses of France and Austria, while the various armies involved in the conflict shamelessly pillaged the residents of the areas contested.

War of the Buttons

Subtitled ‘Roman de ma douzième année’ (Novel about my twelfth year), ‘War of the Buttons’ was published by Mercure de France in 1912. It tells the story of a war waged by two gangs of children in the French countryside, from two neighbouring villages, Verlans and Longeverne, where the trophies were the buttons ripped from the enemy’s clothing.

The author, Louis Pergaud was actually a primary school teacher in a small village and the book must have undoubtedly been based on the young, relatively uneducated peasants he frequented. In the novel, we find the often truculent, Rabelaisian, vengeful and nationalistic spirit that characterised French society of the time. Violent, nasty, and bordering on the perverse, Pergaud’s children are lucid: “Just imagine, when we’re grown up, we might be as stupid as they are!” These are the words the author puts in their mouths regarding their parents.

Born in 1882, he won the Prix Goncourt in 1910 for his work ‘De Goupil à Margot’. Louis Pergaud was reported missing on 8th April 1915 during an offensive on the Meuse front, in Marchéville. His body was never found.

War of the Buttons Cover

Warsaw Pact

A military alliance concluded on 14th May 1955 between most of the states of the communist bloc in Eastern Europe and the USSR. It was desired as a response to the German Republic joining NATO. The Pact’s military forces have above all played a role in repression within the communist bloc itself, notably in intervening in Hungary in 1956 when the country wanted to leave the Pact and in Czechoslovakia in 1968 during the Prague Spring when the population was demanding ‘socialism with a human face.’ This alliance was dissolved on 1st July 1991.

Wavelength

Spatial periodicity of the oscillations of an electromagnetic wave (distance between two oscillations). It is therefore also the distance travelled by a wave during an oscillation. It is expressed in metres and is inversely proportional to the frequency. The shorter the wavelength, the greater the intensity and the more energy it has: for instance, an x-ray has more energy than visible light.

Wavelets

Wavelets are a powerful mathematical tool used in the processing of signals, the detection of singularity, reduction of noise levels etc. Wavelets form a mathematical microscope capable of breaking each signal down into a group of smaller elementary signals. This is similar to the way in which a melody is the result of a composition of different notes. The complex signal is observed through different «enlargements» each of which records the signal with its own level of precision and noise. At the end of the process, the transform in wavelets enters each one- dimensional signal into a two-dimensional space, in order to know the position and enlargement. The idea is to introduce a certain redundancy to the data, in the hope of extracting new information. Today, wavelets are applied to a whole range of data in the areas of Astrophysics, Climatology, Geography, Medicine, Finance etc.

WCDMA

Wideband Code Division Multiple Access’. Interface technology used for the third generation mobile telephony.

Weald clay

clay that contains an abundance of fossils, plants and animals. Its name derives from its prevalence in the Weald, an area in South East England.  The name of this geological stage (Wealden) is seldom used now owing to the fact that it was formed from continental deposits. Preference is given to the names of stages formed in marine environments.


A German word meaning ‘the power of defence’ and designating, from 1935, the whole of Nazi Germany’s armed forces, but more particularly the land army.

Welfare-state

The welfare state describes a state that intervenes in the market economy and plays the role not only of a liberalism framework but also constitutes a vector for economic recovery in case of crisis. It then invests in the market to stimulate the economy by ripple effect. The welfare-state is characterized notably by important nationalization policies and was a hugely favored policy model in the West between the mid-1930s and the mid-1970s.

West, Kanye (1977 - )

Afro-American producer and rapper. Over the years 2000, he gave American rap a new image by tackling themes little used by his predecessors. He didn’t come from the ghettoes and had a middle class background. Fragile, world-weary, anxious, he raps about his own life as an ordinary citizen.

white matter

All the groups of axons, nerve fibers which connect the neurons with each other. Its white color is due to myelin, an insulating cover for the axons.

White matter

Part of the central nervous system composed of myelinated nerve fibres, with the exception of nerve cell bodies.

Wilson, Brian (1942- )

Born in 1942. He is the singer, guitarist, leader and composer of the group the Beach Boys.

wipe

In video, the electronic wipe allows the division of the image, and thus a juxtaposition within the same frame of several fragments of different images.

Wittelsbach

A powerful family that ruled Bavaria, from which, between the end of the 16th and the 18th centuries, there issued several Prince-Bishops of Liège. Jean-Théodore (1744-1763) was the last.

Wolf-Rayet

A Wolf-Rayet (abbreviated to WR) is a massive and hot star. It has already evolved as the combustion of the hydrogen at its core, at the root of the first period of every star’s stable and peaceful life, has already given way to the combustion of helium. It has lost a significant quantity of its mass in the form of stellar winds which have carried away its external layers, thus bringing to light the deeper layers with nuclear processed material. Hydrogen has completely disappeared from the surface of the majority of them.

 

 

 

Illustration : Nebula around Wolf-Rayet WR124 in our Galaxy (©ESO).

woofing

WWOOF (“World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms”), also called woofing, is a network of organic farms that have sprung up in England in 1971, after which it spread throughout the world. The idea is simple and very much in vogue: it allows a traveler to get free food and lodgings in exchange for all and every kind of work on the host’s farm. It is forbidden to receive money, the objective of woofing is to enrich ones human interaction, to discover and learn in an “ecological” environment.

Working population

All people aged 15 years and older who are employed or actively in search of a job (unemployed). These are employed workers or people available for employment within a population.

World Bank

Created in 1945, shortly after the second world war, the World Bank groups together five international institutions: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), The International Development Association,  (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

The headquarters of the World Bank is in Washington. It is part of the specialized institutions of the United Nations Organization (UN).

Its activity is today mostly centred on developing countries, in areas like education, agriculture, health… It grants loans at preferential rates to member countries that are in difficulty. In return it calls for political policies (called “structural adjustment policies”) aimed at, for example, reducing corruption, maintaining a balanced budget or facilitating the emergence of democracy.

The activity of the World Bank is often criticized for two different reasons. On one hand, sitting governments put off taking anti-corruption measures and organizing real elections. On the other hand, anti-globalization movements accuse the World Bank of responding more to the requirements of multinationals than local populations.  Each year, it publishes a report on a development theme in its World Development Report.

WTO

World Trade Organisation. It was officially created on 15th April, 1994 in Marrakech (Morocco). Based in Geneva, this organisation deals with rules regulating international trade and its main objective is to encourage trade openness and hence free trade.



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