From the perspective that it is one and the same picture that is changing, this essay includes semiotic analyses of Lynn Curlee´s painting Smoking angels, made in 1979, the photograph from 1928 wich inspired the artist, as well as Black Sabbath´s album cover Heaven and Hell, that was first released in 1980. Although the forms of the pictures are different the motif is quite the same, yet, what the pictures convey is different. The analysis will be based mainly by the use of two theories: Hans Belting opines that a picture can not exist on its own, that "the what" of an image is steered by "the how" in wich it transmits its message. The medium that is used and the physical form are the messengers but the picture happens where it is manifested. Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz´s theory implies that to understand what a picture means we need to study the context and culture that is prevailing where the picture is shown. How the picture is received in its different forms and what the factors are that play a part in this, is the main focus in this essay.

Les travaux traditionnels sur le crime organisé indiquent que le statut d’un individu déterminerait son succès individuel. Des recherches alternatives sur les réseaux des organisations criminelles et de la réussite criminelle indiquent que le rang est moins important que la croyance générale et que les mesures de positionnement stratégique de réseau sont plus susceptibles de déterminer le succès criminel. Ce mémoire étudie les variations des gains criminels au sein de l’organisation de distribution illicite de stupéfiants des Hells Angels. Son objectif est de distinguer, à l’aide de données de comptabilité autorévélées, les éléments influençant ces différences dans le succès criminel en fonction du positionnement plus stratégique ou vulnérable d’un individu au sein de son réseau. Les résultats révèlent des moyennes de volume d’argent transigé beaucoup plus élevées que ce qui est généralement recensé. La distribution de ces capitaux est largement inégale. La disparité des chances liées à l’association criminelle se retrouve aussi dans la polarisation entre les individus fortement privilégiés et les autres qui ont une capacité de positionnement médiocre. Le croisement entre les positions et l’inégalité des gains présente que le positionnement de l’individu dans son réseau est un meilleur prédicteur de réussite criminelle que toute autre variable contextuelle ou de rang. Enfin et surtout, en contradiction avec la littérature, le fait d’atteindre de haut rang hiérarchique nuirait au succès criminel, les résultats montrant que cet état réduit l’accès au crédit, réduit les quantités de drogue par transaction et augmente le prix de la drogue à l’unité. / Traditional work on organized crime indicates that one’s status determines his individual success. Alternative research on criminal organization’s networks and criminal success however, reveal that the rank is less important than generally believed and that the measures of strategic positioning in a network are more likely to influence criminal achievement. This thesis examines income fluctuations within the Hells Angels Nomads, an illegal drug distribution organization in Québec. The purpose of this study is to distinguish the factors contributing to these differences in criminal success according to an offender’s strategic or vulnerable positioning within its network, using self-report account data. The results show that the average amount of money traded is much higher than what is usually identified in the literature and its distribution is largely uneven. The disparity of opportunity related to criminal association is also reflected in the polarization between highly privileged individuals and other individuals who have a poor positioning capacity. The interaction between position and earning inequalities demonstrates that the positioning of an individual in its network is a better predictor of success than rank or any other criminal context variable. Most importantly, and in opposition with the literature, achieving high rank would be detrimental to one’s criminal success. Results demonstrate that this state reduces access to credit, reduces the amount of drug per transaction and increases the price of drugs per unit.

Ce mémoire entend présenter les formes de connaissance de soi développées par Thomas d’Aquin: la reditio incompleta, la réfraction sur les phantasmes, la conscience préréflexive, la réflexion par réfluence, l’analyse abstraite, le jugement critique et la reditio completa. L’âme humaine ne pouvant se connaître directement, elle a accès à son essence par le biais de tous ses actes ou actes de conscience. Notre analyse se concentre sur la connaissance habituelle, habitus de toutes les connaissances, qui est la racine de l’image trinitaire en l’homme et garantit la vérité des intellections humaines. Pour ce faire, nous avons procédé à la traduction des questions 87 à 89 de la Somme théologique, dans lesquelles Thomas présente la connaissance humaine des substances séparées et le statut de l’âme séparée, montrant en quoi l’esprit de l’homme partage un certain commun avec les autres esprits de son univers. / The purpose of this thesis is to present the different theories of self-knowledge developed by Thomas Aquinas: namely reditio incompleta, refraction of the soul on its own phantasms, preconscious reflection, reflection by reflux, abstract analysis, critical judgment and reditio completa. Although the human soul cannot have knowledge of itself directly, it can however approach its essence with its own acts or acts of consciousness. The analysis is based on the cognitio habitualis, habitus of all knowledge, that is the root of the trinitarian image in humankind and that guarantees the truth of human intellection. This involved translating questions 87 to 89 of the Summa Theologiae, in which Aquinas considers humanity’s understanding of immaterial substances and the separate soul’s knowledge. This demonstrates how the human soul shares common ground with other substances of the universe.

The research and creative portions of this thesis develop from the various responses individuals experience in the wake of a loss. The research into the evolution of faith in author Jack Kerouac's 'Duluoz Legend' and the central storyline of the novel 'Mayor of Hollywood' spring from the same well: the crossroads between death and faith. The research piece concerns itself with Kerouac's exploration of the spiritual interior in the wake of the death of his protagonist's older brother, developing a personal faith that blends Buddhism and Catholicism unfettered by formal religious practice, mirroring instead an older path of Catholic mysticism. Mayor of Hollywood explores the opposite side of the religious coin: the protagonist, Lucy Cassidy, has little compelling interest in her own spiritual existence but must address the practicalities of her partner's formal practice of Catholicism, including dietary restrictions, regular worship, moral strictures, and the religious formalization of the guilt process. At the same time, Lucy and Mark must resolve several deaths that have occurred, substituting the secular path of crime detection for the more spiritual quest to reunite with God. Linked by the shared topic of death, the two halves of the thesis address faith as a whole, exploring the interior and exterior spiritual life.

Les travaux traditionnels sur le crime organisé indiquent que le statut d’un individu déterminerait son succès individuel. Des recherches alternatives sur les réseaux des organisations criminelles et de la réussite criminelle indiquent que le rang est moins important que la croyance générale et que les mesures de positionnement stratégique de réseau sont plus susceptibles de déterminer le succès criminel. Ce mémoire étudie les variations des gains criminels au sein de l’organisation de distribution illicite de stupéfiants des Hells Angels. Son objectif est de distinguer, à l’aide de données de comptabilité autorévélées, les éléments influençant ces différences dans le succès criminel en fonction du positionnement plus stratégique ou vulnérable d’un individu au sein de son réseau. Les résultats révèlent des moyennes de volume d’argent transigé beaucoup plus élevées que ce qui est généralement recensé. La distribution de ces capitaux est largement inégale. La disparité des chances liées à l’association criminelle se retrouve aussi dans la polarisation entre les individus fortement privilégiés et les autres qui ont une capacité de positionnement médiocre. Le croisement entre les positions et l’inégalité des gains présente que le positionnement de l’individu dans son réseau est un meilleur prédicteur de réussite criminelle que toute autre variable contextuelle ou de rang. Enfin et surtout, en contradiction avec la littérature, le fait d’atteindre de haut rang hiérarchique nuirait au succès criminel, les résultats montrant que cet état réduit l’accès au crédit, réduit les quantités de drogue par transaction et augmente le prix de la drogue à l’unité. / Traditional work on organized crime indicates that one’s status determines his individual success. Alternative research on criminal organization’s networks and criminal success however, reveal that the rank is less important than generally believed and that the measures of strategic positioning in a network are more likely to influence criminal achievement. This thesis examines income fluctuations within the Hells Angels Nomads, an illegal drug distribution organization in Québec. The purpose of this study is to distinguish the factors contributing to these differences in criminal success according to an offender’s strategic or vulnerable positioning within its network, using self-report account data. The results show that the average amount of money traded is much higher than what is usually identified in the literature and its distribution is largely uneven. The disparity of opportunity related to criminal association is also reflected in the polarization between highly privileged individuals and other individuals who have a poor positioning capacity. The interaction between position and earning inequalities demonstrates that the positioning of an individual in its network is a better predictor of success than rank or any other criminal context variable. Most importantly, and in opposition with the literature, achieving high rank would be detrimental to one’s criminal success. Results demonstrate that this state reduces access to credit, reduces the amount of drug per transaction and increases the price of drugs per unit.

Ce mémoire entend présenter les formes de connaissance de soi développées par Thomas d’Aquin: la reditio incompleta, la réfraction sur les phantasmes, la conscience préréflexive, la réflexion par réfluence, l’analyse abstraite, le jugement critique et la reditio completa. L’âme humaine ne pouvant se connaître directement, elle a accès à son essence par le biais de tous ses actes ou actes de conscience. Notre analyse se concentre sur la connaissance habituelle, habitus de toutes les connaissances, qui est la racine de l’image trinitaire en l’homme et garantit la vérité des intellections humaines. Pour ce faire, nous avons procédé à la traduction des questions 87 à 89 de la Somme théologique, dans lesquelles Thomas présente la connaissance humaine des substances séparées et le statut de l’âme séparée, montrant en quoi l’esprit de l’homme partage un certain commun avec les autres esprits de son univers. / The purpose of this thesis is to present the different theories of self-knowledge developed by Thomas Aquinas: namely reditio incompleta, refraction of the soul on its own phantasms, preconscious reflection, reflection by reflux, abstract analysis, critical judgment and reditio completa. Although the human soul cannot have knowledge of itself directly, it can however approach its essence with its own acts or acts of consciousness. The analysis is based on the cognitio habitualis, habitus of all knowledge, that is the root of the trinitarian image in humankind and that guarantees the truth of human intellection. This involved translating questions 87 to 89 of the Summa Theologiae, in which Aquinas considers humanity’s understanding of immaterial substances and the separate soul’s knowledge. This demonstrates how the human soul shares common ground with other substances of the universe.

Nous étudions les capacités de divers dispositifs d’appui aux créations d’entreprise à fort potentiel de développement à répondre aux besoins de capital social des créateurs. Ces besoins sont nombreux et évolutifs. Ils varient sensiblement selon les caractéristiques sociales des entrepreneurs.Nous testons l’hypothèse selon laquelle les dispositifs qui sont, d’après Richez- Battesti (2005), « encastrés », ont une capacité supérieure à celle des dispositifs qui ne le sont pas à apporter à ces créateurs d’entreprises les contacts et ressources diversifiés qui leur sont nécessaires.Notre étude infirme cette hypothèse : l’encastrement des dispositifs n’est pas déterminant. En effet, le facteur essentiel est la personnalité de l’entrepreneur. L’environnement « propose, l’entrepreneur dispose ». Cependant, nous mettons en évidence le fait que certaines caractéristiques de ces dispositifs jouent un rôle significatif pour cet accès au capital social.Ce résultat permet de conclure à la possibilité de traiter, par des politiques publiques spécifiques, par certains types d’outils et certains apprentissages de l’entrepreneur, les difficultés et inégalités d’accès au capital social. / We study the ability of the various devices supporting new companies to satisfy entrepreneurs’ needs regarding social capital. These needs are critical and evolving, and vary significantly depending on the social characteristics of the entrepreneur. We test the hypothesis that the support organizations that Richez- Battesti (2005) call “embedded” have a higher capacity than non-embedded ones do.Our study does not confirm this hypothesis: the embedding of support mechanisms is not determinative. Instead, the crucial factor is the entrepreneur’s personality. The environment proposes, whereas the entrepreneur chooses.However, we demonstrate that some features of these devices are critical. The results allow for us to conclude that certain public policies, devices and learning processes related to entrepreneurs can have an impact on both the constitution of social capital and the inequalities in social capital.

It is not uncommon to read claims of music’s ability to affect our sense of time and its rate of passage. Indeed, such effects are often considered among the most distinctive and prized aspects of musical aesthetics. Yet when it comes to the similarly abstract notion of space and its manipulation by musical structures, theorists are generally silent. My dissertation addresses this gap in the literature and shows how music’s spatial effects arise through an affective engagement with musical works. In this study, I examine an eclectic selection of compositions to determine how the spaces we inhabit are transformed by the music we hear within them. Drawing on Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s theory of embodied perception, as well as research on acoustics, sound studies, and media theory, I deploy an affective model of spatial perception—a model that links the sense of space with the moment-to-moment needs and desires of the perceiver— to explain how these musical modulations of space occur. My claim is that the manner in which the music solicits our engagement affects how we respond, which in turn affects what we perceive. I begin by discussing the development of recording technology and how fixed media works deemed “spatial music” reinforce a particular conception of space as an empty container in which sound sources are arrayed in specific locations relative to a fixed listening position. After showing how innovative studio techniques have been used to unsettle this conventional spatial configuration, I then discuss examples of Renaissance vocal music, instrumental chamber music, and 20th century electronic music in order to develop a richer understanding of the range of spatial interactions that musical textures and timbres can provide. In my final chapter, I draw upon these varieties of affective engagement to construct a hermeneutic analysis of the spatial experience afforded by Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint, thereby modeling a phenomenological method for grounding interpretation in embodied, rather than strictly discursive, practices. By soliciting movement through the call for bodily action, music allows us an opportunity to fit together one world of possibilities with another, thereby providing an occasion for grasping new meanings presented through the work. The spatial aspect of music, therefore, does not consist in merely recognizing an environmental setting populated by individual sound sources. Through the embodied practices of music perception and the malleability of space they reveal, we are afforded an opportunity to reshape our understanding of the world around us.

The monumental sculpture, especially the pulpits, of the father and son duo, Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, have often been compared to ancient Roman and early Christian sarcophagi. Giovanni produced a pulpit with two accompanying lecterns for the Pisa Cathedral, which is just a few steps away from the Camposanto, a “holy field”, or cemetery, built around sacred soil from Golgotha which serves to house a huge collection of sarcophagi. Iconography, composition, relief style, and even the materiality of Giovanni’s Pisa pulpit is in part governed by, and connected to, these sarcophagi. This influence is especially highlighted by the Epistles lectern, which depicts a half-length Christ as the Man of Sorrows encircled about and raised aloft by two angels. This unusual depiction of the Man of Sorrows seems to be appropriating a long tradition of the imago clipeata, or visual apotheosis. Giovanni borrows this classical imagery and updates it to reflect contemporary Christianity. The presence of the classical clipeata on the lectern underlines the two natures of Christ, which is a main characteristic of the iconography of the Man of Sorrows. The lectern’s clipeata and the reference to sarcophagi establishes a connection to ritual, but in this case Christian ritual, namely the sermon and the Eucharist. The imagery embodies an affective focus on the love and humanity of Christ as the crux of salvation, a characteristic of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century preaching. The drapery and textile, which act as the frame of the clipeata on the lectern, allude to the tramezzo, or choir screen, and liturgical cloths found at the high altar—both are liturgical accessories that aid the viewer during the consecration of the Eucharist. Giovanni Pisano adopts this antique imagery and recontextualizes it in an early-fourteenth century Christian setting as it becomes a creative commentary on the liturgy, devotion, and significance of place at the cathedral of Pisa.

The monumental sculpture, especially the pulpits, of the father and son duo, Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, have often been compared to ancient Roman and early Christian sarcophagi. Giovanni produced a pulpit with two accompanying lecterns for the Pisa Cathedral, which is just a few steps away from the Camposanto, a "holy field", or cemetery, built around sacred soil from Golgotha which serves to house a huge collection of sarcophagi. Iconography, composition, relief style, and even the materiality of Giovanni's Pisa pulpit is in part governed by, and connected to, these sarcophagi. This influence is especially highlighted by the Epistles lectern, which depicts a half-length Christ as the Man of Sorrows encircled about and raised aloft by two angels. This unusual depiction of the Man of Sorrows seems to be appropriating a long tradition of the imago clipeata, or visual apotheosis. Giovanni borrows this classical imagery and updates it to reflect contemporary Christianity. The presence of the classical clipeata on the lectern underlines the two natures of Christ, which is a main characteristic of the iconography of the Man of Sorrows. The lectern's clipeata and the reference to sarcophagi establishes a connection to ritual, but in this case Christian ritual, namely the sermon and the Eucharist. The imagery embodies an affective focus on the love and humanity of Christ as the crux of salvation, a characteristic of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century preaching. The drapery and textile, which act as the frame of the clipeata on the lectern, allude to the tramezzo, or choir screen, and liturgical cloths found at the high altar--both are liturgical accessories that aid the viewer during the consecration of the Eucharist. Giovanni Pisano adopts this antique imagery and recontextualizes it in an early-fourteenth century Christian setting as it becomes a creative commentary on the liturgy, devotion, and significance of place at the cathedral of Pisa.