Personages from my past and present have spoken to me in a familiar language that demanded a translation of their own ‘essence’ into visual form. Using the methods exampled by Cézanne and Matisse, I have sought to create portraits that are revelations of both the sitters and myself. The totality of an individual’s being is ineffable. Thus, the task of the portrait artist is limited to an evocation. ‘Essence’, attributes that identify a unique entity provide the necessary links to this act of re-creation. While some subjects depict strangers, the majority have developed from physiological and psychological investigations of individuals I have known. Drawing delivers form to a portrait. While the likeness of a sitter initially resides in the eye and the mind of the artist, conversion of this mental image into a visible representation requires the physical engagement of the artist and her medium.

This study attempts to demonstrate that Upton Sinclair's The Jungle was modeled upon Emile Zola's Germinal. A comparative analysis of their novels is the method by which the latter statement is substantiated. A close reading of these works unveils their overlappings in terms of characterization, theme and narrative. Following the introduction, the second chapter focuses on both authors' character constructions with the purpose of tracing the modeling process. The third chapter is a discussion of their similar thematic issues. The penultimate chapter deals with the identical formats of the writers' plots. Authorial differences are also considered in this work, but overall the main finding simply corroborates the validity of the aforementioned thesis. Its significance lies in the extent to which it sheds light on the close relationship between American and European literatures.

This research paper examines existing mentoring services at a regional southeastern university with major emphasis on mentoring services mainly available to underrepresented populations at the institution. The investigation aims to define the importance of and the need for such programs and the impact the absence of said programs might have on the university population with emphasis on the underrepresented. For the purpose of this research, mentoring is considered in terms of employment preparation and transition into the corporate world. Mentoring services awareness and employment preparedness from the student perspectives are surveyed.

Compliant bistable mechanisms are mechanisms that have two stable equilibrium positions within their range of motion. Their bistability is mainly due to the elasticity of their members. This thesis introduces a new type of bistable micromechanisms, the Bistable, Spherical, Compliant, four-bar Micromechanism (BSCM). Theory to predict bistable positions and configurations is also developed. Bistabilty was demonstrated through testing done on micro-prototypes. Compared to the mathematical model of the BSCM, Finite element models of the BSCM indicated important qualitative differences in the mechanism's stability behavior and its input-angle-input torque relation. The BSCM has many valuable features, such as: Two stable positions that require power only when moving from one stable position to the other, accurate and repeatable out-of-plane motion with resistance to small perturbations. The BSCM may be useful in several applications such as active Braille systems and Digital Light Processing (DLP) chips.

In the critique of Ludwig Feuerbach's identification of the nature of man and of the nature of God, it is seen that his ideas stem from some aspects of Hegelian philosophy. Feuerbach's thought revolves around his conception of man. He believed, after much study, that he perceived in Hegelian philosophy a portrait of man that was veiled by Hegel's mystical concept of Absolute Mind. If, Feuerbach thought, one could strip away the idealistic tendencies of Hegelianism, then one would be left with a true picture of man. He reversed Hegelian thought and re - postulated man in his "Towards a Critique of Hegelian Philosophy." He concluded that man was a being that possessed the qualities of Reason, Will, and Affection. Although Feuerbach believed that Hegelianism was a serious cause of man's alienation from himself and other men, he felt even more strongly that Christianity was the most prominent cause of this alienation. Therefore, he proceeded to criticize Christianity. In 1842 he published his greatest work, The Essence of Christianity. In that work Feuerbach attempted to illustrate the essence of the Christian religion. He sought to save those parts of religion that he considered to be true. These parts were the human qualities --Reason, Will, and Affection --which men had predicated to God. He also tried to demonstrate that if man considered the predicates of God and of man as become entangled in contradiction. separated, he would Feuerbach concluded that God was a man-made projection of the human species. Feuerbach made his claims because he misunderstood the nature of man. If one seriously studies twentieth century man, one is forced to deny Feuerbach his presuppositions. Once Feuerbach's view of man is shown to be false, his conception of the existence of God and of man as the same being is also validated.

The primary interest in this work is to examine Maritain's solution to this problem in philosophy, and to examine it as it applies to the various kinds of knowledge. Thus, this position will be examined in connection with knowledge in general, or in connection with what might be called common sense knowledge. We will also examine the kinds of knowledge which are proper to the various sciences,2 both speculative and practical. Furthermore, throughout the consideration in this work of Maritain's solution, as it applies to the various kinds of knowledge to be considered, the fundamental involvement of being will be followed.

We are currently living in an artificial, increasingly complex created system of discourse heavily base on socially constructed systems of language and digital technologies. How we use these technologies to advance the human condition in terms of our very existence makes us inherently cyborg in nature. With the increase in digital technologies in every aspect of day –to-day existence from your morning coffee to higher education, we have become increasingly dependent on our cyborg identities. This thesis, then, serves as a project that looks to understand how we have come to this point and to what extent our newly found cyborg identities can serve as the catalyst for progress particularly in education and the further production and transmission of human knowledge.

The purpose of this study is to account for regional disintegration in Central America and the Río de la Plata following Independence. It is a comparison of the two regions that once existed as the Kingdom of Guatemala and the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. After independence these regions became nine separate states: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica in Central America; Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina in the Río de la Plata. The methodology used is the study of the late colonial period, the aftermath of the breakup of centralization, and the rise of the political strongman. Through this research I establish that the roots of nationalism never existed in the two regions. The research demonstrates that the states of Central America and the Río de la Plata exhibited signs of regionalism from their beginnings as colonial administrative centers to the formation of their political boundaries in the middle of the nineteenth century.

This study holds that recurring political crises prior to Colombian elections broadly shape electoral strategies. Through reviewing the history of Colombia, political crises emerge as a salient characteristic that precedes most elections and affects electoral strategies. To measure the impact of political crisis on electoral strategies, two Colombian presidential campaigns were analyzed: that of César Gaviria in 1990 and of Ernesto Samper in 1994. The examination of descriptive data, from both case studies and interviews with key political consultants, were used to identify how political crises have resulted in the modifications of the campaigns. The findings showed that the electoral strategies for the two cases were adapted or modified due to the extreme conditions resulting from crises, such as the assassination of three presidential candidates before the 1990 election. The study concludes that crises led to the modification of electoral strategies in three specific areas: preparation of the campaigns, organization of the strategies, and in campaign themes and advertising images.

The purpose of this study was to compare the political, economic and social problematic of Mexico in the early 1900s and the 1990s, using political caricatures as primary sources of information. To fully understand the Porfiriato regime during the early 1900s, images from the Mexican newspapers El Diablito Rojo, El Hijo del Ahuizote and El Paladin were selected and analyzed, while Carlos Salinas’ government of the early 1990s was studied through the caricatures found in La Jornada. The political caricatures demonstrated that similar conflicts existed during the early 1900s and the 1990s, such as the abuse of an authoritarian government, corrupt elections, an evident polarization between a small elite and the masses, the exploitation of the agricultural sectors, and a strive for the modernization of the country.