Can a right, as an abstract yet powerful symbol of a legitimate claim, influence individual political behavior independent of the underlying entitlement the right represents? Or are rights merely rhetorical proxies for distributional struggles? This dissertation examines whether the formal recognition of a right–in particular, a formal property right to land–can empower political engagement. I construct a theoretical framework for how legal property rights influence political behavior around two central claims. First, I argue that legal rights have an impact that goes beyond expectations of economic value or tenure security. Legal rights are powerful symbols that also legitimize claim-making and empower rights-bearers to engage in politics. In this sense, legal rights not only provide the rights-bearer with a material entitlement (i.e. an increase in economic value or material endowment), but also a political entitlement in the form of a greater legitimacy in demands for protection and benefits from the state. This increased sense of legitimacy, in turn, can spill over to influence political behavior more generally by incentivizing political participation and claim-making. I refer to this mechanism as the "symbolic effect" of rights. My second claim is that this empowering, symbolic effect is strongest where property protections are weakest and underlying rights most vulnerable. Specifically, this occurs when the state is either unable to provide adequate guarantees or unwilling to enforce rights as a matter of course. Under such conditions, rights help define just claim-making and legitimate grievances, thus incentivizing greater political engagement. I construct my theory and provide an initial test of derived hypotheses by relying on experiences with rural titling programs benefiting small-holder peasant farmers in Peru and Colombia. Land titling differs from traditional land reform policies, in that it attempts merely to formalize the existing tenure regime, and hence does not otherwise impact the distribution of landholding. This provides a unique moment to examine the effect of a change in legal rights that is distinct from changes in underlying assets or benefits. In essence, we can focus specifically on what impact the "right" itself has, while keeping the actual distribution of property relatively constant. In addition to recognizing important rights to land for thousands of peasant farmers, these programs also provided a significant moment of interaction with central state authorities. As a result, titling provides not only a new material connection to the state–in the form of a full, legal title---but also a symbolic connection through the rights and privileges promised in those documents. I draw on three sources of data to provide empirical support for my theory. First, I provide a historical summary of access to rural land and legal property rights in Peru and Colombia over the 20th and early 21st Centuries, highlighting the importance of legal property rights for shaping rural conflict and claim-making by peasants. The second source of data is from a series of semi-structured interviews with peasant, smallholding farmers in rural areas of Peru and Colombia. Through these interviews, I attempt to understand the meaning peasants place on legal titles, experiences with land titling, and local practices for regulating private land and participating in rural village politics. Third, I use original, panel data of titling through the now-defunct Colombian Institute of Rural Development (INCODER, Instituto Colombiano de Desarrollo Rural) from 2000-2015, and in Peru through the first two waves of massive land titling in the Rural Land Titling and Registration Project (Proyecto de Titulación y Registro de Tierras Rurales, PTRT) from 1996-2007. I find evidence that changes in legal rights are associated with increases in voter turnout, use of courts, and willingness to engage in politics, but only in areas with weak state institutions. Conversely, in areas with strong state institutions where titling likely increases tenure security, formalized property rights either produce no change or are associated with a reduction in engagement. These findings support my theory that legal rights exert a "symbolic effect" on behavior, which can lead to counter-intuitive results as formal rights promote engagement most where rights are otherwise weak or ineffectively protected. This evidence highlights the non-material effects of legal rights–an impact that is often overlooked by most political economy scholars who typically understand property rights as synonymous with property tenure (i.e. the expectation of extracting value from property). Instead, I focus on the "right" itself as a moral claim to protection and special consideration by the state. This shift in perspective can broaden our understanding of property rights by explaining how legal rights can influence behavior and convey meaning even when they do not otherwise change material benefits.

Esta dissertação pretende abordar o artigo Idéia de uma história universal de um ponto de vista cosmopolita a partir de sua inserção no interior do sistema da filosofia kantiana. Tentaremos mostrar que a Idéia de uma história universal pode ser interpretada à luz do sistema da filosofia crítica. No \"Apêndice à dialética transcendental\" da Crítica da razão pura, o princípio racional da unidade sistemática dos conhecimentos do entendimento abre a perspectiva de ordenação da natureza de acordo com leis teleológicas. Segundo entendemos, é de acordo com esta representação teleológica da natureza que a Idéia de uma história universal de um ponto de vista cosmopolita é redigida. Adotando como fio condutor o direito cosmopolita, Kant expõe o conjunto das ações humanas como um progresso contínuo da humanidade em direção à realização de todas as suas disposições naturais racionais, como se a espécie seguisse a um propósito da natureza. / This dissertation intends to examine the article Idea for an universal history with a cosmopolitan purpose considering its insertion into Kant´s philosophical system. The claim is to show that this article can be interpreted according to the system of critical philosophy In the Transcendental Dialectic of Pure Reason´s Appendix, the rational principle of systematic unity of cognitions of the understanding allows the organization of nature by teleological laws. We think that the Idea for an universal history with a cosmopolitan purpose was written according to this teleological representation of nature. Adopting cosmopolitan right as a guide principle, Kant establishes the human actions as a continuous progress of humanity towards the realization of all rational natural dispositions, as if the species followed a principle of nature.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:22:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2004Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:27:09Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 pachecofilho_ac_me_araca.pdf: 268936 bytes, checksum: 2a7496bdfcf061a4036d33ab8dc04d6b (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A saúde é um bem indispensável à vida do ser humano. A Constituição, como estrutura organizadora do Estado, possui uma seção destinada somente a ela; uma conquista para nossa sociedade. O objetivo do trabalho é avaliar o conhecimento dos usuários de uma Unidade Básica de Saúde em relação à saúde e o seu direito. A pesquisa qualitativa foi a eleita por cuidar com preciosismo das falas transcritas obtidas através de entrevistas. Há um grau de desconhecimento elevado, o que faz com que a sociedade seja desorganizada no quesito direito á saúde. È premente a necessidade de instruir a população no tocante a seus direitos para que ela não sofra por não resistir a sua dignidade perdida. Esse é um dos pilares para que haja a evolução da sociedade de maneira justa: conhecendo seus direitos. / The health is indispensable to the life's human. The Constitution, as an organized structure of the State, has a destined section only for itself; a conquest to our society. The aim of this research is evaluate the users' knowledge of Health Basic Center in relation of right to health. The qualitative research was chosen for take care with preciosity of transcript talks that were obtained of the interview. It is visible that exists a high level of nonacquaintance, so that, the society has been disorganized in the question of right to health. It is notable the necessity of teaching the population in relation of the rights, for don't have suffering for don't resist the lost dignity. This is one of the bases for has the evolution's society of impartial manner: know the rights.

With the advancement of information technology and declining hardware price, organizations and companies are able to collect large amount of personal data. Individual health records, product preferences and membership information are all converted into digital format. The ability to store and retrieve large amount of electronic records benefits many parties. Useful knowledge often hides in a large pool of raw data. In many customer-centric applications, customers want to find some "best" services according to their needs. However, since different customers may have different preferences to find "best" services, different services are suggested accordingly to different customers. In this thesis, we study models for different customer needs. Besides, customers also want to protect their individual privacy in many applications. In this thesis, we also study how individual privacy can be protected. / Wong, Chi Wing. / "June 2008." / Adviser: Ada Wai-Chee Fu. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-03, Section: B, page: 1770. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 133-137). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

This study focuses on the Muslim Turkish minority in Greece and the development of its educational rights. It starts with the 1923 Lausanne Treaty that established the minorityhood of the Muslim ummah for the former Ottoman territory and explores various aspects of Minority education between then and the end of the 2000s. While doing so, it treats these rights as individual rights with a collective aspect; some of the individual rights of minorities can only be enjoyed together with others. Also, it draws a direct correlation between the Minority's education and its rights. That is, in the case that the education level of the Minority was high, there was less discrimination against members of the Minority, since they had the linguistic skills, educational background and self-confidence to fight against violations of their rights by the host country, Greece. Also, it emphasizes the involvement of external actors in the development of Minority education in Western Thrace. Concerning the development of Minority education, this study argues that minorities' rights are not only ‘given' by host states but also ‘claimed' by members of minorities through various struggles at the local, national and international level. Also, as well as the Minority and the Greek state, various external agents, such as Turkey and the European Union, are also involved in the struggle between the Minority and the Greek state over the former's education. The impact of these agents on the survival of the Minority's educational rights was immense, particularly from the 1980s onwards. It was primarily the inclusion of these external actors that pushed Greece to change its discriminatory policy against the Minority in 1991. This study demonstrates that a number of the individual rights emanating from the Minority's Greek citizenship have only been recognized since 1991. Nonetheless, I conclude that in spite of some improvements, the Minority's difficulties in the realm of rights with collective aspects, such as education of Minority students in a bilingual environment, persist.

Perhaps the most notable political phenomenon of the past decade has been the rise of global populism. Different political systems around the world have experienced the rise of anti-establishment politics, often accompanied by calls for protectionist economic policies, and exclusionary practices. Scholars struggle to define this phenomenon as it takes on different forms in different places. This research examines why some places experience a surge of radical right populism in the margins of the political system, and a populist turn at the center of the political system. In such places, the rhetoric and agenda of right wing radical movements penetrate the mainstream and ultimately transform political institutions. The dissertation explores the dynamics of the relationship between the radical right and mainstream political actors. I address several key questions. What makes some countries more susceptible to transformative populism? Why do mainstream actors in some countries condone or adopt the agenda and rhetoric of radical groups? Which rhetoric frames are more effective than others for radical groups? I argue that the behavior of central political actors is constrained by acceptable narratives in society. When radical groups compose a narrative that presents them as the true representatives of the nation, it makes it more difficult for states to take direct action against them. This is true even when radical groups employ violent rhetoric and action, disrupt public order, and undermine social cohesion and solidarity. To do so, they appropriate national symbols and myths and reframe them in a manner that places the group as the true successors of national forefathers, and their radical actions and ideologies as expressions of the national will. In an environment of deeply disputed national identity, the claim over national history and symbols can delegitimize and undermine political actors with a rivaling view of the nation. To understand the nature of the relationship between radical groups and the political center, and the disruptive political outcomes of populism we are witnessing in certain places today, I argue we need to view the populist struggle as a struggle over the nation itself between political centers and peripheries. To that end I define the nation as the effort to create a solidarity group through shared ethnicity, history, culture, language, territory, or civic identity. To evaluate the theory, I conduct cross case comparison in Central Eastern Europe, and within case process tracing in three different cases: present day radical populists in Hungary, 1970-1980s Jewish religious settlers in the West Bank, and the Ku Klux Klan in 1920s United States. The purpose of the comparison is to explore different ways societies addressed uneven and contradictory national identity in the 1989 transition from communism, and the consequences for the rise of disruptive radical populism. The individual cases serve to evaluate possible mechanisms leading to radical right capture of mainstream politics. The uneven spread of contradictory national identity is explored in depth in Chapter Two. Through the cases of four Central European states I show that the process of transition presented different options for countries to either reproduce long standing center-periphery cleavages, or address them. Chapter Three delves into the Hungarian case and evaluates explanations for the shift of the mainstream toward radical populism, and the leniency of politicians toward extremist violence. Continuing to explore rhetorical mechanisms of radical actors, Chapter Four examines the language of Jewish settlers in the 1970s and 1980s through the analysis of unique primary resources. The case of the 1920s Ku Klux Klan explored in Chapter Five demonstrates that though initially successful, the group was ultimately unsuccessful outside the Deep South. Chapter Six discusses the research findings and their implications. I find that center-periphery cleavages that do not overlap with ethnicity have their own set of outcomes. While nationalist emergence in ethnically divided center-periphery societies is turned outside – toward the other ethno-national group, the national fervor in ethnically homogenous but center-periphery divided societies is turned inwards – from the periphery toward the center. This is manifested in the rise of anti-establishment anti-elitist discourse that presents the elite establishment as foreign, and legitimizes an overturn of liberal institutions. Another key finding is that where mainstream political actors did not address center-periphery cleavages, the rhetorical space was open for the radical right to use an extreme version of them to justify exclusionary and violent actions.

Orientador: Aparecido Antonio Camacho / Resumo: A cardiomiopatia arritmogênica do ventrículo direito (CAVD) é uma doença de origem genética, muito prevalente em cães da raça Boxer. Histologicamente ocorre atrofia dos cardiomiócitos do ventrículo direito (VD) e consequente infiltração fibroadiposa, levando ao aparecimento de arritmias ventriculares. Mesmo sendo as alterações miocárdicas microscópicas em sua maioria, estudos recentes têm identificado disfunção contrátil do ventrículo direito, mesmo em estágios iniciais da doença em humanos, tanto por técnicas convencionais de ecocardiografia quanto por técnicas mais avançadas, como no caso do speckle tracking. Por isso, o objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar se há disfunção miocárdica de VD detectável pela ecocardiografia convencional e pela técnica de speckle tracking bidimensional em cães da raça Boxer portadores da CAVD. Para tanto, utilizou-se cães da raça Boxer com idade superior a quatro anos, distribuídos em dois grupos de acordo com o resultado da avaliação Holter (GC: < 50 EVs/24h, n=11 e GD: > 100 EVs/24h, n=11). Os animais foram submetidos a ecocardiografia e avaliou-se diâmetro e comprimento interno do VD em sístole e diástole, encurtamento fracional da área do VD (FAC), excursão sistólica do plano anular da tricúspide (TAPSE), velocidade miocárdica sistólica do ânulo lateral da tricúspide derivada do Doppler tecidual (S’) e deformação (strain) e taxa de deformação (strain rate) longitudinal global da parede livre do VD, derivados da análise por speckle tracking. As... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is a genetic disease with a high prevalence in Boxer dogs. Histologically, right ventricle (RV) cardiomyocytes’ atrophy occurs, and thus fibrofatty infiltration, triggering ventricular arrhythmias. Although the myocardial changes are mostly microscopic, recent studies in human beings have identified right ventricular systolic dysfunction even in the early stages of ARVC, both by conventional echocardiographic techniques and advanced methods, such as speckle tracking. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate if RV myocardial dysfunction is present in Boxers affected by ARVC, evaluated by conventional echocardiography and bidimensional speckle tracking technique. For this purpose, Boxers older than four years were recruited, and based on 24-hour Holter recording were divided in groups: GC:< 50 VPC/24h (n=11), or GD: > 100 VPC/24h (n=11). The following echocardiographic parameters were analyzed: RV internal dimension during systole and diastole; RV fractional area change (FAC); tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE); myocardial systolic velocity of lateral tricuspid annulus (S’), and global longitudinal strain and strain rate. Groups were compared by Student’ t-test or Mann-Whitney test according distribution, and correlation between conventional and speckle tracking echocardiographic variables, as well as number and severity of the ventricular arrhythmias were accomplished by the Pearson test, assumin... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Magister Legum - LLM / The global state of the environment is deteriorating daily because of challenges posed by environmental degradation, including climate change. In recognition of the mounting global environmental crisis and its detrimental impact on the enjoyment of human rights, there is a growing call for the recognition of what is generally referred to as a human right to a clean environment, otherwise referred to in this study as an international environmental right. Proponents of an international environmental right hold a firm view that such a right will prevent or mitigate actions that are responsible for environmental degradation and thus contribute to environmental protection. This study seeks to determine the nature of the relationship between the environment and human rights and whether the proposal for the recognition of an international environmental right to address global environmental concerns that pose a threat to the enjoyment of human rights has merit. In determining the viability of recognising an international environmental right, a number of theories underpinning the recognition of new international human rights, the status of the right in existing international human rights agreements, political willingness and support of states, the notion of global constitutionalism, customary international law sources such as soft law instruments, international declarations etc., are considered.

A crítica de Marx à política, embora esparsa em seus escritos, possui um caráter bem definido e coerente, que se mantém ao longo de toda a sua obra desde a Questão Judaica (1843) até a Crítica de Gotha (1875). Essa pesquisa tem como objetivo apresentar, em seu conjunto, os principais aspectos dessa crítica. Começamos com a análise de seu princípio fundamental, a identificação da sociedade civil como base real do Estado, e a determinação do vínculo orgânico existente entre o Estado e a propriedade privada. Em seguida, passamos à crítica do Estado moderno, a partir de suas duas formas extremas: a forma bonapartista, que explicita a natureza do Estado como máquina de escravização do trabalho pelo capital, e a forma democrática, denunciada em seus limites intrínsecos e identificada como grau máximo de liberdade sob a dominação do capital. Seguimos com a crítica do direito, que atinge tanto o seu conteúdo quanto a sua forma, incluindo os direitos humanos. Passamos então à crítica da superstição política, isto é, às ilusões políticas teóricas e práticas, que abarcam desde as robinsonadas contratualistas às ilusões dos estadistas e revolucionários, com destaque para a crítica do viés democrático. Por fim, após explicitar a incompatibilidade radical entre política e liberdade humana e diferenciar a revolução meramente política da revolução social radical, chegamos à afirmação de uma nova qualidade de liberdade, para além da política, isto é, à abolição positiva da política, entendida como reabsorção das forças sociais usurpadas pelo Estado. / Marxs critique of politics, though spread throughout his writings, has a well-defined and coherent character that remains constant in all his work, from On the Jewish Question (1843) to Critique of the Gotha Programme (1875). This research aims to present the leading aspects of that critique as a whole. We start from the analysis of its main principles, namely the identification of civil society as the real base of State, and the organic connection between State and private property. Then we focus on the critique of modern State in both its extreme forms: the Bonapartist form, that accounts for the nature of the State as a slavering machine of labour by capital; and the democratic form, unveiled in its inherent limits and identified as the highest level of liberty under domination of capital. After that we turn to the critique of Right, which aims both its content and its form, including human rights. Then we approach the critique of political superstition, i.e., both theoretical and practical political illusions, that comprises a wide range of notions, from the contractualist robinsonades to the statesmens and revolutionaries illusions, with special emphasis on the critique of the democratic bias. At last, after clarifying the irreconcilability between politics and human liberty, and distinguishing between merely political revolution and radical social revolution, we get to the claim of a new quality of liberty, beyond politics, which means the positive suppression of politics, understood as reabsorption of social forces usurped by the State.

Stroke is the leading cause of serious, long-term disability and nearly half of older stroke survivors experience moderate to severe disability. A common impairment following stroke is impaired discourse production. Functional outcome studies have proposed that the recovery of discourse abilities is critical to achieving a good quality of life. Communication impairments often persist into the chronic stages of recovery and can cause individuals to withdraw from social situations. Discourse production deficits may not be apparent in basic communication interactions, but become more obvious during complex conversations following non-aphasic brain injury (NABI) or right hemisphere stroke (RHD). The purpose of this three-part dissertation was to examine discourse production deficits following NABI and the current practices of speech-language pathologists in the assessment and treatment of discourse deficits. The first study examined the macrolinguistic processes of discourse, which included local coherence, global coherence and cohesion, following NABI. Ten individuals with NABI and 10 heathy controls, closely matched for age, gender, and education, provided a narrative recount of an event. Discourse samples were analyzed for local coherence, global coherence, and cohesion. Results indicated that individuals with NABI demonstrated impaired global coherence compared to healthy controls with relatively intact local coherence and cohesion. Although global coherence deficits were identified in the discourse of individuals with NABI, empirical evidence suggests that speech-language pathologists do not routinely assess or treat discourse production deficits. The second study explored the current practices of speech-language pathologists in the assessment and treatment of individuals with NABI with a specific focus on discourse production deficits using a phenomenological approach. Nine speech-language pathologists participated in semi-structured 1:1 interviews. Results indicated that speech-language pathologists do not routinely assess and treat discourse production deficits due to competing internal values and external or environmental demands. However, speech-language pathologists reported that discourse deficits are present following NABI and are characterized by impaired topic maintenance or global coherence. Participants reported that they were routinely assessing and treating the underlying cognitive process of attention in hopes that it would generalize to improved topic maintenance or global coherence. However, little is known about the relationship between selective attention and global coherence. The third study examined the maintenance of global coherence across discourse tasks and explored the relationship between selective attention and global coherence. Eleven participants with non-aphasic brain injury secondary to right hemisphere stroke participated in the study. Participants provided discourse samples in response to five discourse tasks in a single-task and dual-task condition. Additionally, participants completed the Stroop test to examine selective attention abilities. Results indicated that mean global coherence scores differed across discourse tasks, and that mean global coherence scores for stories was significantly higher than for simple recount and single picture description tasks. To examine the relationship between selective attention and global coherence, mean global coherence scores in the single-task and dual-task condition were compared. Mean global coherence scores were lower in the dual-task condition for all five discourse tasks. Mean global coherence scores for the complex recount task were significantly lower in the dual-task condition. This suggests that the maintenance of global coherence is influenced by attention abilities. There was no significant correlation between performance on the Stroop task and the maintenance of global coherence for any of the five discourse tasks.