Architecture and music share intrinsic meanings generated by a constant stream of metaphors which are forms of poetic transformations. This thesis sought to challenge the present way an architect-musician makes drawings through the exploration of multimedia possibilities at hand. The drawings are composed using Macromedia Flash MX. OPEN HOMEPAGE.EXE To download flash player, click here: <a href="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"> Download flash Player</a> / Master of Architecture

We derive formulas for the moments of the ruin time in a Lévy risk model and use these to determine the asymptotic behavior of the moments of the ruin time as the initial capital tends to infinity. In the special case of the perturbed Cramér-Lundberg model with phase-type or even exponentially distributed claims, we explicitly compute the first two moments of the ruin time. All our considerations distinguish between the profitable and the unprofitable setting.

[pt] Esta dissertação propõe um diálogo da obra do crítico e filósofo Walter Benjamin com a obra do dramaturgo e romancista Samuel Beckett. Os dois escritores do século XX, embora tenham sido contemporâneos durante alguns anos de suas vidas e se afligido por questões em comum, não chegaram a comentar nada um sobre o outro. Isso talvez se explique pelo fato de que, na busca por fugir do regime nazista, sem visto para realizar a travessia da França para a Espanha, Benjamin comete suicídio em 1940, quando Beckett ainda estava no início de sua produção literária. Do contrário, possivelmente o crítico alemão teria pensado sobre a obra do autor irlandês, tantas são as afinidades entre eles. Para torná-las visíveis, esta dissertação se divide em três capítulos. O primeiro investiga, com base na teoria de Benjamin, o declínio das narrativas tradicionais que eram passadas oralmente entre as gerações e a ascensão de outras formas de comunicação possibilitadas pela escrita, como a informação e, sobretudo, o romance no âmbito da literatura. O segundo capítulo pretende explicitar a diferença entre o silêncio involuntário, porque traumático, dos combatentes da Primeira Guerra Mundial, diagnosticado por Benjamin, e o deliberado gesto performativo de silenciar com o qual Beckett busca tornar a linguagem porosa. O terceiro capítulo propõe aproximações entre o corpo fragmentário da escrita ensaística, adotada por Benjamin, e a maneira como Beckett eleva a incompletude da ruína aos corpos de seus personagens, que enfrentam a decadência não apenas de seus membros, mas também de suas memórias e, mais radicalmente, de sua própria identidade. / [en] This dissertation proposes a dialogue between the works from the critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin and the dramatist and romancist Samuel Beckett. The two Twentieth-century writers, although have been contemporaries during some years and afflicted by common issues, didn t have the chance to comment anything one about the other. Maybe this could be explained giving the fact that, in search for flee from the Nazi regime, without a visa to cross the border from France to Spain, Benjamin commited suicide in 1940, while Beckett was still starting his literary production. Otherwise, possibly the German critic would have thought about the work of the Irish author, given so many affinities between them. To make these apparent, this thesis is divided in three chapters: The first investigates, according to Benjamin s theory, the decline of the traditional narratives passed orally between generations and the ascension of other ways of communication made possible by writing, as the press and, especially, the novel within the literature. The second chapter seeks to explain the difference between the involuntary silence, as a trauma, of the First World War combatants, diagnosed by Benjamin, and the deliberate and performative gesture of silencing with which Beckett pursue make the language porous. The third chapter proposes approximations between the fragmentary body of the essayistic writing, adopted by Benjamin, and the way Beckett elevates the incompleteness of ruin to the bodies of his characters, who face de decadence not only of their limbs, but also of their memories and, more radically, of their own identity.

As ruin theory evolves in recent years, there has been a variety of quantities pertaining to an insurer's bankruptcy at the centre of focus in the literature. Despite the fact that these quantities are distinct from each other, it was brought to our attention that many solution methods apply to nearly all ruin-related quantities. Such a peculiar similarity among their solution methods inspired us to search for a general form that reconciles those seemingly different ruin-related quantities. The stochastic approach proposed in the thesis addresses such issues and contributes to the current literature in three major directions. (1) It provides a new function that unifies many existing ruin-related quantities and that produces more new quantities of potential use in both practice and academia. (2) It applies generally to a vast majority of risk processes and permits the consideration of combined effects of investment strategies, policy modifications, etc, which were either impossible or difficult tasks using traditional approaches. (3) It gives a shortcut to the derivation of intermediate solution equations. In addition to the efficiency, the new approach also leads to a standardized procedure to cope with various situations. The thesis covers a wide range of ruin-related and financial topics while developing the unifying stochastic approach. Not only does it attempt to provide insights into the unification of quantities in ruin theory, the thesis also seeks to extend its applications in other related areas.

As ruin theory evolves in recent years, there has been a variety of quantities pertaining to an insurer's bankruptcy at the centre of focus in the literature. Despite the fact that these quantities are distinct from each other, it was brought to our attention that many solution methods apply to nearly all ruin-related quantities. Such a peculiar similarity among their solution methods inspired us to search for a general form that reconciles those seemingly different ruin-related quantities. The stochastic approach proposed in the thesis addresses such issues and contributes to the current literature in three major directions. (1) It provides a new function that unifies many existing ruin-related quantities and that produces more new quantities of potential use in both practice and academia. (2) It applies generally to a vast majority of risk processes and permits the consideration of combined effects of investment strategies, policy modifications, etc, which were either impossible or difficult tasks using traditional approaches. (3) It gives a shortcut to the derivation of intermediate solution equations. In addition to the efficiency, the new approach also leads to a standardized procedure to cope with various situations. The thesis covers a wide range of ruin-related and financial topics while developing the unifying stochastic approach. Not only does it attempt to provide insights into the unification of quantities in ruin theory, the thesis also seeks to extend its applications in other related areas.

[pt] Esta dissertação toma as obras cinematográficas de Lucrecia Martel, cineasta contemporânea argentina, para investigar a proposta estética de seu cinema, sustentada pela idéia de ruína e experiência. A partir da noção de corpo como instrumento de pensamento, experiência do sensível e da existência, realizase a imersão nestes objetos produzidos pela artista que revigora o campo da subjetividade. / [en] The present thesis examines the cinematographic work of Lucrecia Martel, Argentinean contemporary director, investigating the proposed aesthetics of her films, thoroughly grounded in the idea of ruin and experience. From the initial notions of the body as instrument of thought, and of the experience of the sensible and of existence, the thesis observes how Lucrecia Martel confers new vigor to the field of subjectivity.

No Maranhão, a partir da década de 1870, a agricultura mercantil de exportação escravista aprofundou o seu processo de decadência promovendo uma ruptura entre a racionalidade ideológica e a base sócio-política em que se fundamentavam as relações de dominação de classe. Nesse contexto, setores das classes dominantes, como estratégia ideológica, utilizaram-se do discurso baseado na idéia de uma crise com o objetivo ocultar esse processo e recompor o equilíbrio. A escravidão foi apresentada como o seu fator estrutural. A imprensa jornalística desempenhou uma ação significativa uma vez que os articulistas de periódicos, a partir de seus vínculos ideológicos com as classes sociais maranhenses, não só divulgaram bem como discutiram a respeito da escravidão no contexto da crise e apontaram as eventuais soluções para a mesma. / In Maranhão, from the 1870\'s, the commercial agriculture with slaving base started to ruin, promoting the break between the ideological rationaliy and the social and political base that were the roots of the relations based on domination. In order to recompose the balance, sectors of the dominant classes used \"the image of the crisis\" as an ideological strategy. Slavery was presented as the structural factor. In the process of construction and dissemination of the arguments that were elaborated to persuade the other social classes about the \"crisis\", the journalistic press had a significant action because, due to their ideological links with social classes from Maranhão, the news writers not only disseminated the news but also started a discussion about slavery in the context of crisis and showed some solutions for it.

No Maranhão, a partir da década de 1870, a agricultura mercantil de exportação escravista aprofundou o seu processo de decadência promovendo uma ruptura entre a racionalidade ideológica e a base sócio-política em que se fundamentavam as relações de dominação de classe. Nesse contexto, setores das classes dominantes, como estratégia ideológica, utilizaram-se do discurso baseado na idéia de uma crise com o objetivo ocultar esse processo e recompor o equilíbrio. A escravidão foi apresentada como o seu fator estrutural. A imprensa jornalística desempenhou uma ação significativa uma vez que os articulistas de periódicos, a partir de seus vínculos ideológicos com as classes sociais maranhenses, não só divulgaram bem como discutiram a respeito da escravidão no contexto da crise e apontaram as eventuais soluções para a mesma. / In Maranhão, from the 1870\'s, the commercial agriculture with slaving base started to ruin, promoting the break between the ideological rationaliy and the social and political base that were the roots of the relations based on domination. In order to recompose the balance, sectors of the dominant classes used \"the image of the crisis\" as an ideological strategy. Slavery was presented as the structural factor. In the process of construction and dissemination of the arguments that were elaborated to persuade the other social classes about the \"crisis\", the journalistic press had a significant action because, due to their ideological links with social classes from Maranhão, the news writers not only disseminated the news but also started a discussion about slavery in the context of crisis and showed some solutions for it.

Dans un Beyrouth en pleine mutation, les habitats délaissés sont des lieux en suspens, condamnés à terme par la spéculation foncière. Notre recherche se propose d’examiner les transformations subies par ces architectures hors d’usage. Basé sur le terrain (près de 750 édifices répertoriés), les archives, témoignages et histoires orales, le travail réévalue également les pratiques artistiques et les regards qu’elles ont posé sur la ville. Cette imprégnation est d’autant plus importante que son déclencheur est un projet photographique entamé par l’auteur sur ce sujet. Trois chapitres sont consacrés aux interventions guerrières. Le premier, la bataille des hôtels aborde un espace disputé, le second explore la ligne de démarcation et le troisième s’intéresse aux baraquements, prisons et lieux de torture. Le quatrième chapitre réunit habitats informels, squats et autres réappropriations. Ces fonctionnalités qui s’enchevêtrent découlent de flux migratoires consécutifs à des violences. La guerre, plutôt les guerres, restent en toile de fond. / In a rapidly changing Beirut, neglected dwellings are places in abeyance, condemned to disappear as a result of land speculation. Our research aims at examining the transformations that these obsolete architectures undergo. The study, carried on site (nearly 750 buildings have been identified), based on archives, testimonies and oral history, also re-examines artistic endeavours and the way artists have viewed the city, which is particularly important considering that its trigger has been a photographic project undertaken by the author. Three chapters are devoted to belligerent activities. The first, on the “Battle of the hotels”, addresses contested space; the second explores the demarcation line and the third examines the military barracks, prisons, and torture centres. The fourth covers informal dwellings, squatted buildings and other reappropriations. It observes the background of entangled features stemming from migration flows that were triggered by the violence of war, or rather wars.

<p>This thesis deals with a model of nonlinearly perturbed continuous-time renewal equation with nonpolynomial perturbations. The characteristics, namely the defect and moments, of the distribution function generating the renewal equation are assumed to have expansions with respect to a non-polynomial asymptotic scale: $\{\varphi_{\nn} (\varepsilon) =\varepsilon^{\nn \cdot \w}, \nn \in \mathbf{N}_0^k\}$  as $\varepsilon \to 0$, where $\mathbf{N}_0$ is the set of non-negative integers, $\mathbf{N}_0^k \equiv \mathbf{N}_0 \times \cdots \times \mathbf{N}_0, 1\leq k <\infty$ with the product being taken $k$ times and $\w$ is a $k$ dimensional parameter vector that satisfies certain properties. For the one-dimensional case, i.e., $k=1$, this model reduces to the model of nonlinearly perturbed renewal equation with polynomial perturbations which is well studied in the literature.  The goal of the present study is to obtain the exponential asymptotics for the solution to the perturbed renewal equation in the form of exponential asymptotic expansions and present possible applications.</p><p>The thesis is based on three papers which study successively the model stated above. Paper A investigates the two-dimensional case, i.e. where $k=2$. The corresponding asymptotic exponential expansion for the solution to the perturbed renewal equation is given. The asymptotic results are applied to an example of the perturbed risk process, which leads to diffusion approximation type asymptotics for the ruin probability.  Numerical experimental studies on this example of perturbed risk process are conducted in paper B, where Monte Carlo simulation are used to study the accuracy and properties of the asymptotic formulas. Paper C presents the asymptotic results for the more general case where the dimension $k$ satisfies $1\leq k <\infty$, which are applied to the asymptotic analysis of the ruin probability in an example of perturbed risk processes with this general type of non-polynomial perturbations.  All the proofs of the theorems stated in paper C are collected in its supplement: paper D.</p>