Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 58 pages / Thesis (M.A.)--University of South Florida, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: In this thesis I examine three models of justification for the epistemic authority of the principle of contradiction. Aristotle has deemed the principle "that the same attribute cannot at the same time belong and not belong to the same subject and in the same respect" the most certain and most prior of all principles, both in the order of nature and in the order of knowledge, and as such it is indemonstrable. The principle of contradiction is involved in any act of rational discourse, and to deny it would be to reduce ourselves to a vegetative state, being incapable of uttering anything with meaning. The way we reach the principle of contradiction is by intuitive grasping (epagoge) from the experience of the particulars, by recognizing the universals in the particulars encountered, and it is different from simple induction, which, in Mill's view, is the process through which we construct a general statement on the basis of a limited sample of observed particulars. / ABSTRACT: Hence, the principle of contradiction, being a mere generalization from experience, through induction, loses its certainty and necessity. Even though it has a high degree of confirmation from experience, it is in principle possible to come across a counter-example which would refute it. Mill's account opens the path to the modern view of the principle of contradiction. In Principia Mathematica, Russell and Whitehead contend that the principle of contradiction is still a tautology, always true, but it is derived from other propositions, set forth as axioms. Its formulation, " (p & p)" is quite different from Aristotle's, and this is why we are faced with the bizarre situation of being able to derive the law of contradiction in a formal system which could not have been built without the very principle of which the law is an expression of. / ABSTRACT: This is perhaps because the principle of contradiction, as a principle, has a much larger range of application and is consequently more fundamental than what we call today the law of contradiction, with its formal function. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

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The thesis examines the novels of Anglo-American author Russell Hoban (1923-) and Japanese author Murakami Haruki [Chinese characters] (1949-) as Menippean satires. The Introduction defines the Menippean satire and considers possible sources for this genre as found in the works of Hoban and Murakami. Parts I and II examine several novels by Hoban and by Murakami respectively, demonstrating how their works conform to the conventions of the Menippean satire. In examining Murakami's fiction, Part II also considers possible antecedents in Japanese literature for tropes and topoi that appear Menippean in the light of Western genre theory; there is a special emphasis on Murakami's most recent work, [Chinese characters] Nejimakidori kuronikuru (1994-6, The Wind-up Bird Chronicles). The Conclusion examines why these two authors write Menippean satires. No claim is made that either author has chosen this genre in deliberate imitation of classical or Renaissance models. Rather, from the standpoint of cultural history, the thesis argues that the Menippean satire—or at least a form of postmodernist novel with notable affinities to the Menippean satire—has re-emerged as a genre for our times. Drawing on examples from the fiction of Murakami and Hoban, the conclusion demonstrates that central features of this genre—fantasy, crudity, philosophical dialogues, inserted genres, invented languages, and the descent into hell—are particularly appropriate for the fictional treatment of life in a postmodern world. Moreover, these features are serviceable not only in a Western context. Murakami Haruki, despite his Japanese cultural background and his avowed intention to write about Japan, relies on many of the same generic strategies as does Russell Hoban.

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The aim of this dissertation is to address the topic of distinguishing very low mass stars from brown dwarfs through observational means. To that end, we seek to better characterize both populations and establish mechanisms that facilitate establishing an individual object's membership in either the very low mass star or the brown dwarf populations. The dissertation is composed of three separate observational studies. In the first study we report on our analysis of HST/NICMOS snapshot high resolution images of 255 stars in 201 systems within ~10 parsecs of the Sun. We establish magnitude and separation limits for which companions can be ruled out for each star in the sample, and then perform a comprehensive sensitivity and completeness analysis for the subsample of 138 M dwarfs in 126 systems. We calculate a multiplicity fraction of $0.0-0.0+3.5% for L companions to M dwarfs in the separation range of 5 to 70 AU, and $2.3-0.7+5.0% for L and T companions to M dwarfs in the separation range of 10 to 70 AU. Considering these results and results from several other studies, we argue that the so-called "brown dwarf desert" extends to binary systems with low mass primaries and is largely independent of primary mass, mass ratio, and separation. In the second study we construct a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram for the stellar/substellar boundary based on a sample of 63 objects ranging in spectral type from M6V to L4. We report new VRI photometry for 63 objects and new trigonometric parallaxes for 37 objects. We employ a novel SED fitting algorithm to determine effective temperatures, bolometric luminosities, and radii. We find evidence for the local minimum in the radius-temperature and radius-luminosity trends that may indicate the end of the stellar main sequence and the start of the brown dwarf sequence at $Teff ~2075K, log(L/Lsun) ~ -3.9, and (R/Rsun) ~ 0.086. The third study is a pilot study for future work and part of a long term search for astrometric binaries that have the potential to yield dynamical masses. We report the discovery of five new multiple systems and discuss their potential for determining dynamical masses: LHS 2071AB, GJ 1215 ABC, LTT 7434 AB, LHS 501 AC, and LHS 3738 AB.

How do retail service industry employees perform appearance and identity to generate capital? This thesis is data collected through interviews with 5 female retail employees, analyzed in conjunction with relevant readings about performance at work through appearance and identity (Chapter 1 Erving Goffman), the involvement of the self at work for financial gain of the self and the employer (Chapter 2 Arlie Russell Hochschild) and the sale of self for the accumulation of forms of capital (Chapter 3 Pierre Bourdieu, Henri Lefebvre, and other theorists concerned with consumer culture). The thesis begins at the level of the individual, expands to the realm of the retail environment and its associated relationships, and finally moves to examining the circulation of forms of capital. I assert that the research participants, as embodied employees of lifestyle brands, provide a form of capital for their employers. The employees performances positively reinforce the retailers brands and images, and thereby reproduce consumer culture by inciting desire.

L'objectiu principal del nostre estudi ha estat, en primer lloc, fer una "història de la lògica" que abastés el període que va aproximadament des de mitjans del segle XIX, època en què Boole i De Morgan renoven la lògica tradicional, fins als anys vint del segle passat, quan la lògica de primer ordre es consolida com el llenguatge lògic "par excellence" i la concepció model-teorètica s'obre camí de forma inexorable. Segonament, el nostre objectiu ha estat fer un estudi comparatiu de les contribucions del corrent algèbric i logicista a la gènesi i desenvolupament de la lògica contemporània, particularment de la lògica de primer ordre i de la concepció model-teorètica predominant avui en dia. Al nostre parer, el naixement i desenvolupament de la lògica contemporània ha anat de bracet amb les recerques sobre els fonaments de les matemàtiques dutes a terme en el període estudiat, per la qual cosa el nostre objectiu ha estat finalment fer-nos ressó de l'estret lligam entre els problemes relatius a la fonamentació de les matemàtiques i les recerques lògiques pròpiament dites. D'acord amb tot l'anterior, hem dividit la nostra memòria en tres parts. Les dues primeres parts les hem dedicades respectivament a l'estudi del desenvolupament de la tradició algèbrica i logicista i estan dividides en diferents capítols, dedicat cada un d'ells als autors més representatius d'aquestes dos corrents: Boole, Peirce i Schröder, d'una banda, i Dedekind, Frege i Russell de l'altra. Finalment, la tercera part l'hem dedicada als desenvolupaments més importants que seguiren la publicació de l'obra de Whitehead i Russell Principia Mathematica (1910-1913) i que més influència tingueren, des del nostre punt de vista, en el desenvolupament posterior de la lògica, a saber, les recerques de Hilbert i la seva escola sobre l'aplicació del mètode axiomàtic a les diferents branques de les matemàtiques i, en particular, a la lògica, i les recerques model-teorètiques de Löwenheim i Skolem sobre el fragment de primer ordre de la lògica de relatius. Aquestes recerques tingueren efectivament una influència cabdal en la gènesi i desenvolupament de la lògica de primer ordre i la concepció model-teorètica predominant avui en dia, per la qual cosa el seu estudi presenta un indubtable interès històric i dóna, a més, una bona mesura de les contribucions de les tradicions algèbrica i logicista a la lògica contemporània i, en particular, de les limitacions que presenten en aquest sentit ambdues tradicions. Entre les contribucions més destacades del nostre estudi per tal de determinar quines han estat les aportacions dels diferents autors estudiats a la gènesi i desenvolupament de la lògica contemporània i la moderna concepció semàntica de la mateixa cal destacar, entre d'altres, l'estudi realitzat sobre l'evolució de la lògica de relatius i la lògica quantificacional -de primer i segon ordre- en l'obra de Peirce, l'estudi sobre les definicions dels principals conceptes semàntics -interpretació, conseqüència lògica, independència, etc.- en l'obra de Schröder, l'estudi sobre la gènesi i evolució del logicisme fregeà a partir de la seva tesi de doctorat (1873) i la seva Habilitationschrift (1874), una interpretació de la teoria ramificada de tipus de Russell que no és l'habitual en la historiografia clàssica (Copi, Quine, Kneale i Kneale et alia), l'estudi de la connexió de la problemàtica tractada en els escrits de Löwenheim i Skolem amb el programa de recerca iniciat per Peirce i Schröder i, finalment, l'estudi de l'evolució en el si de l'escola de Hilbert d'algunes de les idees bàsiques de la lògica contemporània i la moderna concepció model-teorètica de la mateixa a partir de l'estudi de les lliçons (inèdites) impartides per Hilbert a Göttingen els cursos de 1905 i 1917-18. / As its title indicates, this work intends to make a historical itinerary by some of the main developments that took place in the field of logic and the foundations of the mathematics between the second half of the 19th century and the first fourth of the 20th century approximately. Moreover, it pretends also to make a comparative study of the development of the algebraic and logicist traditions in this period that allows to gauge the contributions of each one of them to the genesis and development of contemporary logic and the modern model-theoretic conception of it. With this aim, the most highlighted contributions of our work are, among others, the study carried out about the evolution and relationship of the logic of relatives and quantificational logic -of first and second order- in Peirce's work, the research into the definitions of the main semantic concepts -interpretation, logical consequence, independence, etc- in Schröder's work, the study of the genesis and evolution of fregean logicism from his doctorate thesis (1873) and his "Habilitationschrift" (1874), an interpretation of Russell's theory of types which it is unusual in the classical historiography, the research into the connection of the problems treated in Löwenheim and Skolem writings with the program of research pioneered by Peirce and Schröder and, finally, the study of the evolution in the bosom of Hilbert's school of some of the main ideas of contemporary logic and metalogic from the study of the lessons (unedited) imparted by Hilbert in Göttingen in the courses of 1905 and 1917-18.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on January 29, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis(M.S.)--Auburn University, 2007. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2008. / Title from PDF title page (viewed May 27, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 42-44)