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Despite the rise of globalization and increasing multilingualism, the effect of language dominance on thought and perception in bilingual speakers has received little attention. This study examines the semantic networks of Spanish-English bilingual adults and monolingual English-speaking peers to determine whether language dominance structures the semantic space of a bilingual speaker to more closely match the semantic space of a monolingual speaker of the dominant language. It is predicted that semantic ratings produced by English-dominant bilinguals will correlate more closely to the semantic ratings of monolingual English-speaking participants than ratings produced by Spanish-dominant bilinguals. Spanish-English bilinguals (n=20) completed the Bilingual Language Profile regarding language use, attitudes, and fluency (Birdsong, Gertken, & Amengual, 2012). Spanish-English bilingual participants and monolingual English-speaking participants (n=20) then rated a series of translationally equivalent nouns (n=80) according to sound, color, morality, valence, size, and position. Using these ratings, a Euclidean distance matrix containing the ratings of English-dominant bilinguals, Spanish-dominant bilinguals, and English monolinguals was analyzed within and between groups using hierarchical cluster analysis, matrix comparisons (Mantel Tests), Spearman correlations, and qualitative k-means clustering analysis. Results suggest the possibility of dynamic interconnection between languages, with semantic connection weights determined by the dominant language (Malt et al, 2015). However, more research is needed to draw firm conclusions. / Communication Sciences

No / Amblyopia is the condition in which reduced visual function exists despite full optical correction and an absence of observable ocular pathology. Investigation of the underlying neurology of this condition began in earnest around 40 years ago with the pioneering studies conducted by Hubel and Wiesel. Their early work on the impact of monocular deprivation and strabismus initiated what is now a rapidly developing field of cortical plasticity research. Although the monocular deprivation paradigm originated by Hubel and Wiesel remains a key experimental manipulation in studies of cortical plasticity, somewhat ironically, the neurology underlying the human conditions of strabismus and amblyopia that motivated this early work remains elusive. In this review, the authors combine contemporary research on plasticity and development with data from human and animal investigations of amblyopic populations to assess what is known and to reexamine some of the key assumptions about human amblyopia.

Climate change denial has been found to correlate with sociopolitical ideology. The general aim of the present thesis was to investigate this relation, and more specifically to 1) test the unique effects of intercorrelated ideological variables on denial, and 2) investigate the psychological underpinnings of the ideology-denial relation. This approach helps estimating what component of right-wing ideology better explains climate change denial; resistance to change (indexed by left-right/liberal-conservative political orientation, right-wing authoritarianism, and system justification), or acceptance of inequality (indexed by social dominance orientation [SDO]). In Paper I, SDO outperformed the effects of right-wing authoritarianism and political left-right orientation on denial (Study 1 and 2). Further, the SDO-denial relation was stable when denial scores were experimentally lowered by a newscast that communicated supportive evidence for climate change (Study 2). Thus, the following studies focused specifically on the SDO-denial relation by testing path models that also included other ideological variables (political conservatism, system justification, and endorsement of nature dominance), as well as personality variables (dominance, empathy, openness to experience, and anxiety avoidance) and/or gender. In Paper II, SDO and endorsement of nature dominance explained unique parts of climate change denial, and both of these variables mediated the effects of system justification and (low) empathy on denial. SDO mediated also the effect of dominance. In Paper III, focusing specifically on denial of human-induced climate change, SDO either partially or fully mediated the effects of political conservatism and gender across two cultural contexts (Brazil and Sweden). Additional analyses extended these results, by building on the model presented in Paper II. These analyses showed that SDO (and in some cases also political conservatism and endorsement of nature dominance) fully mediated the effects of gender and personality variables on denial, with one exception: Predisposition to avoid experiencing anxiety predicted denial directly, as well as through a link via general conservative ideology (system justification or political conservatism). In sum, the results indicate that denial is more strongly and consistently predicted by SDO than by the other included variables. Thus, endorsement of group-based inequality/hierarchies offers an important explanation for climate change denial.

At the beginning of this thesis we discuss DEA methods, which measure efficiency of Decision Making Units by comparing weighted inputs and outputs. First we describe basic DEA models without random inputs and outputs then stochastic DEA models which are derived from the deterministic ones. We describe more approaches to stochastic DEA models, for example using scenario approach or chance constrained programming problems. Another approach for measuring efficiency employs stochastic dominance. Stochastic dominance is a relation that allows to compare two random variables. We describe the first and second order stochastic dominance. First we consider pairwise stochastic efficiency, then we discuss the first and second order stochastic dominance portfolio efficiency. We describe different tests to measure this type of efficiency. At the end of this thesis we study efficiency of US stock portfolios using real historical data and we compare results obtained when using stochastic DEA models and stochastic dominance. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

This thesis focuses on stochastic dominance in portfolio selection problems. The thesis recalls basic knowledge from the area of portfolio optimization with utility functions and first, second, $N$-th and infinite order of stochastic dominance. It sumarizes Post's, Kuosmanen's and Kopa's criteria for portfolio efficiency and necessary and sufficient conditions of stochastic dominance for discrete and continuous probability distributions. The thesis also contains formulations of optimization problems with second order stochastic dominance constraints derived for discrete and continuous probability distributions. A practical application is also a part of the thesis, where the optimization problems for monthly returns of Czech stocks are solved using optimization software GAMS.

The aim of my doctoral thesis is the detailed study of the behavioural and sociobiological principles associated with the period of lactation. Suckling data covering almost 80 foals of domestic horse (Equus caballus) was obtained within four years of observation in the National Stud in Kladruby nad Labem, Czech Republic. The data were evaluated together with the reproductive history of the mothers, their agonistic interactions and following analysis of the dominance position of subadult foals. The first study describes longer suckling (greater maternal care) in dominant mares compared to submissive ones. Dominant mares are also less disturbed during nursing, whereas they terminated the nursing of submissive mares more often. A possible competitive advantage for the offspring of dominant mares may arise from such behaviour. The second paper enlightens the reproductive strategy of mares facing double maternal investment; suckling of the foal and pregnancy at the same time. I found out, contrary to the expectations, that the pregnant mares neither suckled their foals less nor terminated more suckling compared to non-pregnant herdmates. They may try to compensate their suckling foal with the perspective of its early weaning due to ongoing pregnancy. In the third and fourth manuscript I studied, how...

Rape play is a type of consensual, ritualistic domination and submission, developed and enacted in a sado-masochistic (S/M) sex culture, which involves the appearance of force. There are two feminist theories that can be employed in a feminist analysis of rape play: dominance/radical feminism and libertarian/"sex positive" feminism. Libertarian/"sex positive" feminism holds that S/M, including rape play, is potentially compatible with feminism because the power dynamic between a dominant/"rapist" and submissive/"victim" does not draw on either practitioners' actual social identity and the power it possesses or lacks. Dominance/radical feminism argues that gender, which is socially constructed, can best be understood as a form of sexualized domination and submission, so social identity could not be dissociated from power in S/M. My reading of guidebooks and narratives about rape play suggests that the dominance/radical feminist position is more accurate in the case of rape play, though not necessarily all of S/M culture. / by Megan Halena. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Cette thèse se propose d’analyser l’évolution de la pauvreté et d’identifier les groupes socio-économiques ainsi que les dimensions qui contribuent le plus à l’évolution de la pauvreté en Tunisie en nous appuyant sur une approche monétaire et une approche multidimensionnelle. Pour cela, nous adoptons une méthodologie qui consiste à utiliser l’approche de dominance stochastique et la théorie des ensembles flous, c’est-à-dire des méthodes différentes de celles adoptées dans les études antérieures qui s’intéressent à la Tunisie. Trois principales conclusions ressortent de l’exploitation des données issues de deux enquêtes nationales sur le budget et la consommation des ménages 2005, 2010 et d’une enquête nationale sur la santé de la famille 2006. La première révèle une diminution de la pauvreté au niveau national bien que de fortes disparités persistent encore entre le milieu rural et le milieu urbain, et entre les régions du littoral et les régions de l’intérieur. La deuxième met en évidence les effets des politiques de redistribution en Tunisie qui n’ont pas permis d’accélérer le rythme de réduction de la pauvreté. La troisième suggère que la prise en compte de l’aspect multidimensionnel de la pauvreté révèle l’existence d’autres dimensions importantes en relation avec la pauvreté et qui constituent un obstacle à une vie décente pour les ménages tunisiens. / The aim of this thesis is to analyze the evolution of poverty and identify the socio-economical groups as well as the dimensions that contribute to it in Tunisia following a monetary approach and also a multi-dimensional one. For this reason, I adopt a method which consists in using the approach of stochastic dominance and the theory of fuzzy sets. That is to say, I adopt some of the different methods which have been adopted in the previous studies that were interested in Tunisia. Three main conclusions emerge from the exploitation of data based on two national surveys of the budget and the consumption of households 2005, 2010 and another national survey of the family health 2006. In fact, the first one reveals the decrease of poverty at the national level despite that there are disparities that still persist between rural and urban areas and between the coastal regions and the regions of the interior as well. The second survey puts in evidence that the effects of redistributive policies in Tunisia have not accelerated the pace of poverty reduction. As for the third survey, it suggests that taking into account the multi-dimensional aspect of poverty reveals the existence of other important dimensions in relationship with poverty that constitute an obstacle to a decent life for the Tunisian households.

We use modern approach of stochastic dominance in portfolio optimization, where we want the portfolio to dominate a benchmark. Since the distribution of returns is often just estimated from data, we look for the worst distribution that differs from empirical distribution at maximum by a predefined value. First, we define in what sense the distribution is the worst for the first and second order stochastic dominance. For the second order stochastic dominance, we use two different formulations for the worst case. We derive the robust stochastic dominance test for all the mentioned approaches and find the worst case distribution as the optimal solution of a non-linear maximization problem. Then we derive programs to maximize an objective function over the weights of the portfolio with robust stochastic dominance in constraints. We consider robustness either in returns or in probabilities for both the first and the second order stochastic dominance. To the best of our knowledge nobody was able to derive such program before. We apply all the derived optimization programs to real life data, specifically to returns of assets captured by Dow Jones Industrial Average, and we analyze the problems in detail using optimal solutions of the optimization programs with multiple setups. The portfolios calculated using...