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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University.

Although he did not write copious novels, endless essays, or long poems, Jorge Luis Borges is considered one of today's best modem writers. His works have never been more than ten pages long. The purpose of this dissertation is to demonstrate that the willing use of concise expression in Borges's writings is inscribed in a poetic worldview of great implications. This view is based on the synthesis of philosophical, literary, and cultural issues that Borges interprets, discusses, refutes, and re-elaborates with a new conjectural approach. This dissertation is based on a methodological review of all his current scholarly work and on a thorough examination of the four volumes of his Complete Works, edited by Emece, in 2002. His pantheistic vision, the epiphanic moments, and his love/hate relationship with language, conform an aesthetic of resounding silence that enlightens the hidden aspects of his brief masterpieces. Even though Borgesian studies flood the library he once imagined, they have been presented in an isolated manner. This dissertation establishes a link among the various aforementioned aspects as studied by Borges scholars, and demonstrates the powerful influence of Borges's illuminating and precise vision. Paradoxically, the poetry of brevity in Borges's works is filled with allusions to the things that Borges silences, because, from a panoramic pantheism, his words almost reach an epiphanic enlightenment that flashes between preterit and future nothingness. By replacing extension with intensity, and mastering the art of omission, Borges's laborious work reaches power and concentration that only the very greatest talents can achieve. His delicate verbal conciseness provides his readers with a virtually infinite freedom of imagination because it exposes them to the chaotic world of mythical probabilities, where an instant encompasses etemity.

The purpose of this research was to examine a classic text - DuBose Heyward's Porgy (1925) - associated with Southern Literature in relation to its connections to the Gullah culture and language. Close critical scrutiny was made of the 1925 text, two early manuscripts, manuscript fragments, revisions, research notes, and other personal papers from Heyward's estate. Access to these papers helped establish his influences and motivations in writing Porgy. Employing both linguistic and literary analyses, the findings establish the verisimilitude of Heyward's representation of the Gullah language, rhetorical patterns, culture, beliefs, and practices, linking Porgy to a Gullah literary tradition. Examination of Heyward's life and times reveals why Porgy sits squarely within the early 20th Century literary genre, African American Literary Realism and thematically anticipates the Harlem Renaissance period. Breaking the mold of the "old South" minstrel-syle depictions of black life, Heyward portrayed the Gullah people with integrity and respect.

The 1993 Colombian health reform act, known as Law 100, is an on-going process aimed at implementing substantive changes to universalize coverage and correcting well-documented deficiencies in the health sector. The purpose of this study is to assess to what extent the reform has achieved its goals in terms of four indicators: equity, efficiency, quality, and sustainability by means of implementing Pan American Health Organization's Methodology for Monitoring and Evaluation of Health Sector Reform in Latin America and the Caribbean. This appraisal is a measure of the four indicators in two cross-sections of the population both before and after the reform. Data have been collected from primary and secondary sources including regulatory and steering agencies in Colombia. One of the main achievements of Colombian reform is the establishment of a subsidized system to cover the poorest segment of the population. The system's coverage in social security in health increased from 23% to 57% in the period 1993-1997. The public health insurance agency -the ISS- continues being the largest single insurer due in iv part to unfair competition strategies implemented by the ISS which in turn have increased the cost of health services in that agency. Finances of public hospitals still depend on national budget allocations made by the Ministry of Health. The productivity of human resources is low at all levels of the health system although hospitals have increased their funding from provision of healthcare services. Several studies have documented problems of evasion and underreport of contributions that in the case of self-employees reach 92.6 percent, which threatens the sustainability of the system. In spite of having the highest freedom of choice in Latin America, the Colombian health system evidences low levels of technical quality and client satisfaction. Despite the increases in coverage and efficiency, assessment of quality and sustainability requires future research depending on the maturation of the system, and the concomitant development of data.

This thesis investigates the Medicean ability to present divergent messages to different audiences through the manipulation of art and architecture of the Palazzo Medici. I examine several works of art commissioned and authored by the Medici. First, Donatello’s bronze David, located in the Medici Courtyard, is interpreted through the traditional Christian perspective as seen by the vicini, making the Medici appear pious, reverent, and religiously devout. This work is also interpreted from the amici point of view using ancient and contemporary authors to trace the development of ideas amongst the circle of Classically educated friends of the Medici. Second, Donatello’s bronze Judith and Holofernes, located in the adjacent Medici Garden, is examined in the same way to highlight the divergent message of humility juxtaposed with pride. This exercise shows the Medici had the ability to use one piece of art to set the stage for several different messages. Each type of visitor would view the same piece of art and come away with a different message specifically tailored to them, which allowed the family to increase support for their political faction and maintain their status as de facto rulers of Florence. The Medici family’s success is undisputed amongst scholars, but Cosimo’s use of the Augustan model and his use of the palace as propaganda is a subject that has been left scarcely examined. Much research has been conducted on the exterior due to what is extant, but how those in the Medici faction viewed it is non-existent. This work builds upon F.W. Kent’s position that Renaissance palace were built with several groups in mind. Through this examination of the Medici’s use of polyvalent messaging, a new understanding of the Medici emerges, which shows they were masters of propaganda and can explain why the Palazzo Medici became the model for palaces through Florence, the Italian Peninsula, and eventually greater Europe.

Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

M.Com. (Transport Economics) / The responsibility for organising the road transport industry in interest groups is that of the private sector. The central government is the only institution in the Republic of South Africa that can control and regulate the road transport industry. It is, however, the joint responsibility of the government and the private sector to ensure that an economically sound and efficient road transport industry is operated in South Africa ...

This study seeks to account for the ungrammaticality of nominal ellipsis with definite articles, pre-nominal possessives, and quantifier todos ('all') and elucidate the role post-nominal adjectives and possessives, prepositional phrases headed by de ('of), and clauses headed by que ('that') play in facilitating ellipsis in otherwise ungrammatical environments. The theoretical approach combines syntax and semantics and intertwines notions of semantic identity, accent placement, entailment, and feature theory as proposed in Merchant (2001) and Schwarzchild (1999). The main claim is that licensing and identification of Spanish nominal ellipsis is three-fold and requires semantic identity between the antecedent and the ellipsis, a two-way entailment of the phrases containing the antecedent and the ellipsis site, and a feature-checking operation. The findings show that definite articles, pre-nominal possessives, and quantifier todos breach (some of) these requirements, while elements such as post-nominal adjectives reverse the effects of some of these violations, facilitating ellipsis.

The social scripts that are deeply involved in cultural production by AfroCuban identified artists in Miami, during the late nineties to the present, participate in a climate that is informed by and feeds from the so-called Latin Explosion of this time period. More specifically, varying historical, socioeconomic, and geopolitical trajectories have placed Africa and African-based religion and cultural production (via music and theatre) at the center of Cuban national identity. The purpose of this study is to facilitate a discussion of the experiences of AfroCuban performance artists and the climate for production, given the aforementioned dynamics, in mass media. These experiences are directed by a study of transnational structures for cultural production (including the more recent memory-shadow of hip-hop culture in Cuba) and discourse that engages theories of modernity, authenticity, and resistance. Through the interventions of artists, producers, and distributors via their art and business, the text identifies and resists the pervasive oppression of stereotype, dehumanization (Othering), and essentialism.