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This thesis discusses the function and perception of the Venetian (or Venetan) tongue from a sociolinguistic diachronic perspective.   Venetian, spoken by over 6 million people in 7 countries, in an Italian context is referred to as an Italian dialect. Though defined as language in Brazil, by the Veneto region in Italy and by several international organizations (amongst them UN and UNESCO), the Italian State does not confirm its status.   Venetian appeared as a written language in the XII century, anticipating the earliest texts in Italian itself in the Florentine form. From the ninth century it was spread by Venetian merchants and by the Venetian Republic itself to the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, from Istria down to modern day Albania, and later on even further, to the Greek archipelagos and the ports of the Holy land. The expansion of the "Serenissima" in the Italian hinterland led to the homogenisation of the language in the area that forms the base of the modern "Veneto" spoken today.   Venetian was the spoken language in all contexts in the Republic, and was used in official acts, such as the Statuti Veneti, the Mariegole and within the diplomacy. Though the official use of written Venetian was gradually out conquered by Italian from the sixteenth century, it remained the sole spoken language in all state organs until the fall of the Republic in 1797 and was used by the diplomacy of the Ottoman Empire in its contacts with European countries.    After the annexation of Veneto to Italy in 1866, the Italian State has actively combated the use of Venetian (and even forbidden it during the fascist regime), but nevertheless, today Venetian is one the most vigorous of the Italian "dialects": at least 72% of the inhabitants in the Veneto region use the language actively and a recent study demonstrates that as many as 65% of the foreigners living in the region learn the language because of professional or social necessity.   In a diachronic perspective the Venetian tongue can hardly be considered an Italian dialect, not only because of its autonomous development from Vulgar Latin or its different grammar and morphosyntax, but also because of its function and perception: used as an official language not only by the Serenissima, but also by other states, and because of its literacy that for centuries has invented and followed autonomous traditions and created notable works in poetry, theatre, prose and science.

The XXXII Venice Biennale, held in 1964, presented an important moment in the history of American art, for it was the first time that an American painter was awarded the major prize at the prestigious international show. The fact that Robert Rauschenberg captured the most coveted award of the Biennale, the Grand Prize for painting, had major repercussions for the art scene in the United States and the international art community. For the Americans, the prize was "proof" that American art had finally come into its own, that through its struggle for recognition over the European avant-garde, it had finally reached its well-deserved place as leader of the pack. For the Europeans, especially the French, the award represented the "last frontier" of American expansionism--for it seemed that the economic and military dominance of the United States finally had been supplemented by cultural dominance. It seems pertinent to this study to examine the French response in particular, since they had traditionally dominated Biennale prizes. By analyzing the French reviews and responses to the prize, and situating these in a broader political context, I will discuss how the U.S. was perceived as the new cultural leader, despite the vehement objections to the culture of the New Frontier, which seemed to be only Coke bottles, stuffed eagles and carelessly dripped paint. Given the vehement objections engendered by the Rauschenberg victory, it seems somewhat curious that the United States would choose Rauschenberg as a representative of American culture. In order to discover how the pop imagery in the work was linked to the image : of U.S. culture promoted by the U.S. Information Agency (the government agency responsible for the show), it is necessary to analyze the cultural and intellectual debates of the early 1960s. Rejecting earlier notions that high art should remain separate from mass culture, a prominent group of intellectuals argued for a "new sensibility" in art which would embrace popular culture, thereby elevating it. This positive notion of a single, all-embracing culture corresponds to a more general optimism among many intellectuals; their rallying cry was the "end of ideology," which disdained radical critique in favor of the promise of Kennedy's "progressivism" and the welfare state. These intellectuals argued that while the system was not perfect, any major problems could be averted by simply "fine-tuning" the existing state; in the meantime, the promise of Kennedy's New Frontier required a more affirmative than critical stance. The elements shared between these discourses on culture and society at this time were of seminal importance to the critical understanding of Rauschenberg's work, particularly as it was presented at the Biennale. / Arts, Faculty of / Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of / Graduate

La tesi è uno studio sul commercio e sul collezionismo di dipinti antichi a Venezia durante la seconda e la terza dominazione austriaca (1815-1848 e 1849-1866). Si è proposta in apertura una prima analisi organica dello sviluppo delle iniziative di tutela del patrimonio artistico mobile della città. Si sono ripercorse, avvalendosi di fonti archivistiche, le difficoltose negoziazioni del Governo veneto con Vienna che portarono all’introduzione del divieto all’esportazione di opere d’arte nel 1818. Di quest’ultimo si sono esplorate le criticità di formulazione e applicazione, in particolare in merito all’incapacità istituzionale di prevenire il sempre più diffuso commercio illecito di dipinti. La possibilità di acquistare a Venezia molti dei quadri entrati in possesso del Demanio, ma anche dipinti da antiche collezioni cittadine in via di disgregazione, oltre a pitture che arrivavano dall’entroterra e dall’estero, ben si conciliava con l’alta domanda da parte di compratori esteri (collezionisti, agenti, direttori di nuovi istituti museali) che, arrivati in laguna, conclusero importanti acquisizioni. Investendo nell’affitto di sedi prestigiose e nell’acquisizione di opere di qualità, emergenti figure di antiquari misero in campo diverse strategie commerciali ed esercitarono una forte influenza sulle vicende critiche, collezionistiche e conservative delle opere da loro raccolte. Si sono ricostruite nel dettaglio le modalità di esportazione e trasporto delle opere d’arte dalla laguna in tutta Europa. Anche per quanto riguarda il collezionismo di dipinti nel periodo asburgico si presentano nella tesi primi appunti per un più ampio programma di ricerca. Le numerose informazioni reperite su singole personalità di importanti antiquari, collezionisti e intermediari finora poco indagate sono confluite in dodici schede di approfondimento che mettono a fuoco le loro biografie e le specifiche vicende collezionistiche e conservative delle opere in loro possesso. Conclude il lavoro un regesto delle richieste di esportazione dal 1829 al 1860.

Since the end of the Second World War, scholars have attempted to understand why Fascist Italy chose to adopt the racial laws in 1938. For sixteen years, Benito Mussolini rejected the existence of antisemitism in Italy, leading many to assert that the antisemitic program was a foreign import. The rise of Nazi Germany, expansion of Fascist Italy's colonial empire, and the desire to create the new fascist man are generally believed to be the main factors that pushed Italian fascism towards a racial program. Yet these factors do not fully explain the radical shift in Fascist Italy's approach to its Jewish minority. This dissertation argues that the turn towards official racism should also take into consideration the development of fascism's other long-standing minority program. Beginning in 1923, the Fascist government instituted policies to "Italianize" the Germanic and Slavic ethno-linguistic minority communities of South Tyrol (Venezia Tridentina) and the Adriatic (Venezia Giulia), known as the allogeni. To "make Italians" of the allogeni the Fascist government stripped them of their linguistic, cultural and political rights, and attempted to absorb them into the national community. However, by the end of the 1920s, Fascist officials began to question whether the assimilation of these ethno-linguistic Others was sufficient or even desirable. I argue that the failures of Italianization led to the delegitimization of assimilation - the foundation upon which Jewish inclusion had been built. The decline of assimilation was an important precursor to the rise of fascism's racial program. This dissertation posits that the borderland Italianization program and racial laws were different phases of the Fascist "redemptive struggle," aimed at redeeming the Italian people and nation through their unification in both being and spirit. The borderland Italianization programs also established some of the methods and procedures that would be adopted for the implementation of the racial laws.

This study evaluates noise and vibrations in a heavy freight locomotive cab, and provides several measures for providing more comfort to the crew. A full-scale production cab and sill structure is used to provide the results. The cab is setup in a controlled laboratory environment in a manner similar to the installation on a locomotive. Field measurements are used to emulate actual vibration input to the cab structure. A 16-channel data acquisition system is used to collect both noise and vibration data on various parts of the cab structure and inside the cab. Upon establishing the baseline for laboratory vibration measurements and correlating them with field data, a design of experiment was conducted to evaluate the vibration contribution of various parts of the cab. This showed that the cab floor and cab roof had the largest vibrations. A series of solutions including stiffening the cab floor and damping the cab roof were investigated. The results showed that although such solutions reduce localized vibrations, the overall effect on reducing cab interior noise is minimal. As a more global solution, the cab was isolated from the sill structure through six elastomeric elements mounted at the base of the cab and at the crash post. The mounts at the base were selected such that they support the static weight of the cab, provide a resonance frequency that is below the excitation range, and offer good lateral and longitudinal stability. Two tube-form elastomeric mounts were placed between the cab structure and the crash posts which attach to the front of the sill structure. The test results showed that the soft-mounted cab had significantly lower noise and vibration than the original cab. The vibration levels were reduced 10 to 100 times at certain locations and frequency ranges. The overall noise level was reduced by approximately 6 dBA. In an attempt to provide an estimate of effectiveness of the mounts with different stiffness values, a simulation model was prepared in Matlab. Although the model did not yield accurate results, it resulted in several recommendations for future research work. / Master of Science

Biennials, both historically and in the present, form a significant part of the contemporary art world. However, beyond simply acting as platforms for contemporary art, these extensive, recurring international exhibitions also facilitate complex dialogues involving a variety of agents, both cultural and political. With the inherently political nature of these exhibitions in mind, this thesis examines Canadian participation in the Venice and São Paulo biennials from 1951 to 1958. By examining what I identify as the triple purpose of the biennial - the exhibition of contemporary art, the facilitation of cultural diplomacy, and the creation and reinforcement of cultural nationalist narratives - this paper further explicates the National Gallery of Canada’s role in defining Canadian culture and the relationships between visual culture, cultural nationalism, cultural diplomacy and institutional politics in the postwar era. Drawing upon Judith Balfe’s conception of the utilization and manipulation of visual culture for nationalistic or diplomatic ends, I argue that participation in the Venice Biennale served as a means of reinforcing the presence of an NGC-defined culture of Canadian art to an international audience comprised mainly of artistic and diplomatic elite. Conversely, participation in the São Paulo Bienal served primarily as a conduit for the Department of External Affairs to project a positive image of Canadian culture to other nations and foster cordial relations between like-minded nations. I contend that a comparative analysis of Canadian participation in the two biennials highlights the complicated relationship between the NGC and the Department of External Affairs as well as the ideological adherence of both institutions towards liberalism and liberal democracy. / Thesis (Master, Art History) -- Queen's University, 2012-09-26 16:43:34.318

La tesi ricostruisce la storia dei fondi che costituivano il sistema documentario del Patriarcato di Venezia (Curia e Mensa) in epoca di antico regime sotto il duplice versante della storia archivistica da un lato e delle modalità di produzione e sedimentazione documentaria dall'altro. Per il primo aspetto sono indagati in particolare gli ordinamenti del terzo quarto del Settecento che interessarono entrambi gli archivi e che ne connotano tuttora la fisionomia; quindi, al di sotto di questa struttura, gli assetti che gli archivi avevano via via assunto a diverse altezze cronologiche, a partire dagli anni '20 del Quattrocento. Per quanto attiene la produzione documentaria sono analizzati in prospettiva diacronica la composizione delle strutture di cancelleria e i sistemi di organizzazione della documentazione prodotta.

Teilw. zugl.: Venezia, Universit̀a IUAV, Diss., 2006.