11 research outputs found
Représentations littéraires du sacré dans le roman maghrébin de langue française
No full textThis interdisciplinary study explores how Driss Chraïbi’s L’Homme du Livre (1995), Assia Djebar’s Loin de Médine (1991), and Anissa Boumediène’s La fin d’un monde (1991) present accounts of particular historical moments in early Islam. This study explores the role of the imagination as well as freedom of invention when reconstructing historical events. It engages the novels through a study of the interplay between the literary text and the sources and traditions that impact and shape the text narrative. Gaining direct access to the original sources in Arabic serves to analyze how religious and early historical materials are considered in and reflected by the fictional texts. Because the sources tend to differ in both content and approach, this study examines their preoccupations in order to determine the criteria of selection applied by each novelist.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vitaby Hanan Elsaye
Equity in educational expenditures : can government subsidies help?
No full textWhen there are externalities across households, governments can improve economic outcomes by equitably subsidizing education. But this chain of causality works only if (1) allocated resources reach the final recipients, and (2) equity in public subsidies translates directly into equity in total educational expenditures, including private spending at the household level. Using a unique data set fromZambia, the author shows that whether these conditions are met depends on the specific schemes used to allocate resources as well as the exact form of the subsidies. First, subsidies allocated through clear guidelines and legislated rules reached the final recipients, but those allocated at the discretion of province and educational offices did not. Second, even those components of subsidies that were progressive (in that the share of total subsidies for the poor was greater than the share for the non-poor) had no effect on inequality in total educational expenditures due to the crowding-out of household spending.Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Teaching and Learning,Decentralization,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Teaching and Learning,Economic Adjustment and Lending,Health Economics&Finance,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies
Child labor : cause, consequence, and cure, with remarks on International Labor Standards
No full textAt least 120 million of the world's children aged 5 to 14 worked full-time in 1995, most of them under hazardous, unhygienic conditions, for more than 10 hours a day. This is an old problem worldwide but particularly so in Third World countries in recent decades. What has changed, with globalization, is our awareness of these child laborers. (The International Labor Organization distinguishes between"child work,"which could include light household chores and could have some learning value, and"child labor,"a pejorative phrase.) By bringing together the main theoretical ideas, the author hopes to encourage both more theoretical research and empirical work with a better theoretical foundation. Among other things, the author observes that: a) The problem is most serious in Africa, where the child-labor participation rate is 26.2 percent. The rate is 12.8 percent in Asia. But since 1950, the trend is a decline in that participation rate worldwide. For most Latin American countries, the decline is notable but less marked than in Asia. In large parts of Africa, including Ethiopia, the problem has been extremely persistent, but even there the trend is downward. b) Child labor has not always been considered evil, and there is no consensus on why it began to decline. In some (not all) countries legislative acts declared it illegal, in some there were rules about compulsory education, and increasing prosperity generally made families less likely to experience poverty if their children weren't working. c) Mandating compulsory education is regarded as more effective than outlawing child labor, because attendance at school is easier to monitor, but some experts believe economic progress is the answer to the problem. The justification for many interventions is that the state is more concerned about the well-being of children than parents are; the author believes such an assumption to be wrong when child labor occurs as a mass phenomenon rather than as isolated abuse. The author argues that, in some economies, the market for labor may exhibit multiple equilibria, with one equilibrium having low adult wage and a high incidence of child labor and another equilibrium exhibiting high adult wage and no child labor. The model is used to provide a framework for analyzing the role of international labor standards.Labor Standards,Children and Youth,Street Children,Labor Policies,Environmental Economics&Policies,Street Children,Children and Youth,Youth and Governance,Labor Standards,Educational Policy and Planning
Ethylene production by the potato tuber
No full textDecember 1971.Covers not scanned.Includes bibliographical references.Russet Burbank tubers were stored at 32°F and 45°F and continuously ventilated with atmospheres of 2% O2, air, 80% O2, 4% CO2, 12% CO2, and intermittently ventilated with air. Ethylene production by the tubers was traced throughout a seven month storage period. Tubers stored in atmospheres of 2% O2, air, 4% CO2, and intermittent air at 32°F and 45°F evolved ethylene at a rate no greater than 0.008 ul kg-1 hr-1 throughout the storage period. In all cases where sprouting occurred, the rate of ethylene production increased. Tubers stored in 80% O2 and 12% CO2 succumbed to physiological breakdown and produced ethylene at rates much greater than the rates for tubers stored in the non-toxic atmospheres (2% O2, air, 4% CO2, and intermittent air). The peak rate of ethylene production observed was 0. 300 ul kg-1 hr-1 for tubers stored in 80% O2 at 45°F. In general, the higher temperature produced the higher rates of ethylene production. The only exception to this rule were those tubers stored in 12% CO2. Tubers inoculated with Alternaria solani and Fusarium roseum var. sambudnum were investigated for the ethylene-producing ability. Uninoculated tubers and tubers inoculated with Alternaria solani evolved ethylene at approximately the same rate. Tubers inoculated with Fusarium roseum, however, demonstrated greatly stimulated ethylene production, often as high as 0.100 ul kg-1 hr-1. Cultures of Fusarium roseum grown on PDA failed to produce ethylene
The politics of fashion: perceptions of power in female clothing and ornamentation as reflected in the sixteenth-century Chinese novel Jin Ping Mei
No full textThis thesis examines issues of female power and influence in sixteenth-century China focusing on how women and their roles were perceived in the changing social environment of the mid-late Ming dynasty. Using aspects of a New Historicist approach, information from contemporary literary and historical sources are analysed alongside each other. With its emphasis on the lives of women and preoccupation with the description of material objects, the late Ming novel Jin Ping Mei forms an important element in the thesis. China in the sixteenth century saw expanding urbanisation, the emergence of a new wealthy merchant class, increasing visibility of women and a questioning of traditional morality. Fashion consciousness, as one of the most conspicuous aspects of the new material culture, is a possible indicator of these trends. Traditional Western theories contend that fashion began in the particular context of Renaissance Europe. However, this study argues that a similar fashion awareness existed in China too, and was manifested in a competitive striving for social status, in this case specifically among women. In contrast to previous studies which downplayed the impact women had on defining traditional Chinese culture, this thesis demonstrates how women and their sartorial choices began to redefine the boundaries of material culture, influencing literati discourse which, in turn, re- influenced female behaviour
An other tongue: language and identity in translingual writing
No full textPhDAbandoning one‟s mother tongue for another language is one of the most profound aspects of exile experience, often fraught with feelings of loss and alienation. Yet the linguistic switch can also be viewed as an advantage: the adopted language becomes a refuge, affording the writer creative distance and perspective. This thesis examines the effects of this switch as reflected in the works of two translingual Jewish authors, Stefan Heym (1913-2001) and Jakov Lind (1927-2007). Both were forced into exile after their lives in Germany and Austria were shattered by the rise of Nazism, and both chose English as a medium of artistic expression at certain periods of their lives.
Reading these authors‟ works within their post-war historical context, the thesis argues that translingualism is associated with a psychic split as the self is divided between its languages. This schism manifests itself differently in the writing of each of these authors, according to their distinct perceptions of their identity and place in the world: in Lind‟s work, it is experienced as a schizophrenic existence, and in Heym‟s – as an advantageous doubling of perspective.
The first chapter focuses on autobiographical writing in a foreign language, exploring how self and language are bound together in Lind‟s English-language autobiographies. The second chapter draws on Bakhtin‟s notion of dialogism as it considers the relationship between narration, ideology and propaganda in Heym‟s war novel The Crusaders. The third chapter examines Lind‟s and Heym‟s representations of the writer in their fiction, and how their translingualism defines their perception of their own identity and role as writers. The final chapter shows how the two authors reinterpret the figure of the Wandering Jew to construct different visions of a humanistic Jewish identity that correspond to their own diasporic existence
Land and land conflict in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process:1990-1999
No full textThis thesis examines the importance of the debates and struggle over land in the Oslo Accord and immediately post-Oslo. It does this by first situating the conflict
over land in the historical context of the spread of Zionism from the 1880s, culminating in the establishment of the State of Israel in Palestine in 1948. It then reviews and contrasts the policies on land and settlement of the Israeli Labour and Likud parties. The focus of the thesis is an assessment of Israeli settlement policy on the West Bank and Gaza-Strip after the Oslo Agreement of 1993. It examines the sequences of Israeli-Palestinian agreements that have divided Palestinian land into different categories and argues that these categories and the problems they have created have ignored the historical importance of land in the conflict between Israel
and Palestine.
The thesis argues that the classification of land is intended to further subjugate Palestine to the political and economic dominance of Israel, and that the
formulation for discussing land issues undermines the possibility for the establishment of a strong and economically independent Palestinian state. The thesis submits that the persistence of Israeli settlement policy and the manner of Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank has not encouraged the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to conduct a comprehensive land survey and registration
procedure. Moreover. Israeli strategy in the post-Oslo period has been to promote the cantonisation of Palestine to ensure that any future Palestinian state will remain
economically weak and politically disjointed
Testing the effectiveness of advertising strategies for established brands : an empirical investigation into and a technique for measuring the response of established brands' sales to changes in advertising weight and copy using continuous panel records
No full textManaging the advertising function for established brands
requires an understanding of the nature of the advertising-sales
relationship. Historically, both experimental and non-experimental
approaches have been used to investigate this relationship, but the
impressive amount of literature in this area seems to have identified
only a number of broad generalizations. In part, this is due to the
inadequacies of the different methodologies and data sources that have
been used, which make difficult a comparison of the reported studies
for the purpose of establishing guidelines for strategic advertising
management. Continuous panel-based experimental research seems to
offer greater potential for providing further insights into the nature
of the advertising-sales relationship.
The research first investigates the appropriateness and
sensitivity of a number of models in identifying and quantifying the
effect of changes in advertising strategy on sales, using The Test
Marketing Group's (TMG) consumer diary and scanner panel data. It is
shown that the ability to identify an advertising effect, referred to
as the system's sensitivity, is significantly influenced by a number
of factors, and that it can be predicted from the number of purchase
transactions of the test brand.
By using one specific model, thirty-five advertising strategy
tests are analyzed at the aggregate, panel level, in order to estimate
the probability of causing an advertising effect on all panelists, and
to identify factors that influence the effect. Application of this
methodology represents the first consistent analysis of a collection
of historical data with the objective of developing a knowledge base
regarding advertising strategy making and testing. It is found the
probability of causing an advertising effect does not differ between
copy and weight tests, but that a change in copy carries a significant
risk of causing a negative effect. Increases in weight are
particularly effective in causing a positive effect for small share
brands. among the tests that are analyzed there is a 37.1% probability
of observing an advertising effect at the panel level, which is lower
than the probability observed in the literature.
Subsequent analysis of the same tests examines the effect of a
change in advertising strategy at the disaggregate level, that is, on
certain segments of panelists. The results of this analysis show that
significant advertising effects are observed more often, thereby
increasing the probability of observing an advertising effect to 60%.
Thus, by applying one methodology consistently across a set of
panel-based advertising strategy tests, it is possible to identify a
number of empirical norms that can aid managers in determining
effective advertising strategies for their established brands. This so
far has been difficult to derive from reported advertising studies. It
is also suggested that further insights into the advertising-sales
relationship can be obtained by increasing TMG's ability to specify
advertising exposure. An experimental data collection system developed
and tested on the basis of this further research is presented and
evaluated
History and prophecy in the Qumran Pesharim: an examination of the key figures and groups in the Dead Sea Scrolls by way of their prophetic designations.
No full textThe thesis examines the Qumran pesharim and seeks to test the claim that these texts are solely 'historically' based. Instead, it finds that the interpretations are driven by prophetic concerns, founded on and guided by the biblical concept of 'pesher' as dream-interpretation. The study concentrates on the various sobriquets in the pesharim, and is loosely divided into two main parts. Part one examines those designations of groups, including the Kittim, Ephraim and Manasseh, and the Seekers of Smooth Things. Part two, meanwhile, focuses on the interrelationship between the Teacher of Righteousness, the Wicked Priest, and the Man of Falsehood. One of the dominating themes of the thesis is the stress laid on the relationship between the Teacher and the Man of Falsehood, while the thesis also proposes that 'Ephraim' and 'Seekers of Smooth Things' are an offshoot of the Man of Falsehood's original followers. This allows the opposition to this group in 4QpNahum to be properly understood, and suggests a lurk between the Qumran group and the proto-Pharisaic movement. In concluding, the study condemns the suggestion that the 'masking' by sobriquets intentionally conceals these subjects' identity. Rather, such masking links the intended target with prophetic expectations. In short, the thesis finds that although the two are often distinguished in modem scholarship, the correct interpretation of any aspect of the 'historical' pesharim inevitably relies on the understanding of the prophetic term 'pesher' - and vice versa. The thesis does not tackle the issue of the dating of these texts. Rather, it assumes the consensus view that the pesharim were composed during the first century BCE. Occasionally, it will be evident that a text requires a composition before or after a particular date or event, or even that it must postdate another Qumran text, but in general the question has not been an overriding concern
Riches, Poverty, and the Faithful: Perspectives on Wealth in the Second Temple Period and the Apocalypse of John
No full textThe present study considers the degree to which John’s portrayal of the faithful Christian community in the Apocalypse is informed by Jewish apocalyptic traditions related to wealth in the Second Temple period. Previous studies have attributed the author’s radical stance against wealth and economic participation to an ad hoc response against the idolatry and social injustices of the Roman Empire and imperial cults. This thesis argues that there is reasonable evidence to suggest that the author may have already been predisposed to reject affluence as a feature of the present age for the ideal faithful community based on received tradition.
The study begins by delineating the problem in a critical review of how scholars have attempted to deal with this language through either the social world of Roman Asia Minor or the author’s use of the biblical prophets. This discussion demonstrates the need to take a tradition-historical approach that includes an examination of Jewish apocalyptic traditions preserved among the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as other Jewish literature not found at Qumran that demonstrate a decided concern over wealth. These Second Temple texts are then examined collectively against the language of wealth and poverty in selected passages of the Apocalypse. The evidence reveals an emphasis on the part of John on the irreversible, eschatological consequences of ethical behaviour directly related to wealth based on a certain cosmological and theological understanding, an emphasis that has close analogies in some Second Temple literature.
The study concludes that traditions preserved in the Epistle of Enoch and later Enochic texts have played a formative role in shaping the author’s theological perspective concerning material blessing for the faithful in the present age and the world through which he legitimised the radical stance he imposed on his readers/hearers
