This thesis consists of a summary and five papers, dealing with financial applications of optimal stopping, optimal control and volatility. In Paper I, we present a method to recover a time-independent piecewise constant volatility from a finite set of perpetual American put option prices. In Paper II, we study the optimal liquidation problem under the assumption that the asset price follows a geometric Brownian motion with unknown drift, which takes one of two given values. The optimal strategy is to liquidate the first time the asset price falls below a monotonically increasing, continuous time-dependent boundary. In Paper III, we investigate the optimal liquidation problem under the assumption that the asset price follows a jump-diffusion with unknown intensity, which takes one of two given values. The best liquidation strategy is to sell the asset the first time the jump process falls below or goes above a monotone time-dependent boundary. Paper IV treats the optimal dividend problem in a model allowing for positive jumps of the underlying firm value. The optimal dividend strategy is of barrier type, i.e. to pay out all surplus above a certain level as dividends, and then pay nothing as long as the firm value is below this level. Finally, in Paper V it is shown that a necessary and sufficient condition for the explosion of implied volatility near expiry in exponential Lévy models is the existence of jumps towards the strike price in the underlying process.

La franchise: une recette magique que chacun aimerait maîtriser pour s'assurer la réussite dans le monde des affaires. Or, le secret de cette recette revient à appliquer un simple postulat: réitérer, par un franchisé, la réussite du concept d'un franchiseur qui a déjà fait ses preuves. Mais, auparavant, il est essentiel que le franchiseur transmette au franchisé les éléments qui lui ont valu cette même réussite, quitte à ce que ce dernier s'engage à les mettre en oeuvre selon les prescriptions de son initiateur et sous son contrôle. Une telle mise en ouvre appelle, cependant, que les deux protagonistes empruntent une avenue basée sur la coopération, la confiance, la loyauté et la bonne foi. Néanmoins, une telle démarche n'est pas évidente en pratique en ce que les deux partenaires sont animés par des intérêts divergents, conflictuels et antimoniques. Dès lors, le rapport contractuel né du contrat de franchise se verra empreint par un déséquilibre manifeste entre les prestations réciproques des parties issu de la position économiquement dominante du franchiseur. Ce dernier, sera à même de fixer unilatéralement le contenu contractuel, de sorte à diminuer ses obligations tout en élargissant le champ de ses droits. Surgit alors tout un pan de comportements opportunistes du franchiseur se traduisant, notamment, par des abus au détriment du franchisé qui ne peut qu'acquiescer à la volonté de son partenaire. En effet, l'étude du droit civil révèle que les systèmes civilistes reposent sur une conception libérale du contrat permettant de présumer que les parties sont capables de défendre leurs intérêts. En vertu de la théorie de l'autonomie de la volonté, le contrat est présumé être conforme aux intérêts respectifs des parties. À défaut de tout vice de consentement, le contrat ne peut qu'être équilibré. Cependant, s'il se trouve que le contrat est malgré tout déséquilibré, le droit civil, à moins de circonstances exceptionnelles, n y pourra rien en pareil cas. La lésion ne vicie pas les conventions conclues entre majeurs non protégés, et la théorie de l'imprévision est rejetée par la plupart des systèmes civilistes. L'indifférence du droit civil face à ce déséquilibre se justifie essentiellement par deux impératifs: la liberté contractuelle et la sécurité juridique. Le principe de la force obligatoire du contrat s'impose aux parties autant qu'au juge et, partant, exclut toute tentative du juge de réviser un contrat déséquilibré. Toutefois, devant cette indifférence et cet immobilisme de la loi, le droit a, depuis, énormément évolué dans le sens d'apporter une protection plus accrue à la partie la plus faible au contrat. À ce titre, nous assistons aujourd'hui à une double intervention plus réaliste: l'intervention du juge et celle du législateur (particulièrement dans les contrats d'adhésion). D'abord, le juge manifeste une volonté accrue de corriger des déséquilibres contractuels choquants, notamment en présence de clauses contractuelles manifestement abusives, et ce au regard des exigences d'une justice contractuelle basée sur la bonne foi des parties et l'exigence d'agir raisonnablement. Ensuite, le législateur à travers l'élaboration de droits spéciaux ayant pour finalité la protection de la partie la plus faible, instaure des règles impératives destinées à condamner les éventuels déséquilibres contractuels. Ce souci de protection justifie l'atteinte ainsi portée au principe de la force obligatoire du contrat. Aussi, le postulat de Fouillée se voit inversé par Lacordaire qui souligne pertinemment que « entre le fort et le faible, c'est la liberté qui asservit et la loi qui libère ». En somme, la protection du franchisé appelle au glissement du rapport contractuel d'un rapport conflictuel vers un rapport de coopération et notamment par la reconnaissance du concept de solidarisme contractuel. Néanmoins, une telle démarche n'est pas sans troubler l'ordre normal de l'idée classique du contrat. D'une part, l'introduction d'obligations implicites au contrat renie en quelque sorte l'idée traditionnelle qu'on a des obligations contractuelles basée sur la commune intention des parties, et d'autre part, elle appelle à la reconsidération, par les systèmes civilistes, de la théorie de l'imprévision comme le suggère le droit uniforme et notamment le Guide d'UNIDROIT sur les accords internationaux de franchise principale, mais aussi les Principes relatifS aux contrats du commerce international. / The Franchise: a magic formula that each individual would like to possess to be able to ensure success in the business world. The secret of this formula exists in the shape of a simple postulate: for the franchisee to reiterate success of the franchised concept, which has already proven itself successful. But first, it is essential that the franchisor transmit the essential elements ofthat success to the franchisee, so that the latter may put into practice those prescribed elements as per the created by the initiators concept and control. This kind of transaction requires that both protagonists enter into their dealing in a manner that is based on cooperation, trust, loyalty and goodfaith. Nevertheless, this process is not easy to establish. In deed, both parties may have divergent interests, causing conflicts and antipathies. Thus, the contractual relationship born ofthe franchise concept, will have at its core a manifest imbalance created by the dominant financial status ofthe franchisor. The latter, is in a position to unilaterally stipulate the contractual contents, in such a manner as to diminish his own obligations while enlarging the scope of his rights. From this, a plethora of opportunistic behaviours from the franchisor translating into varied kinds of abuse to the detriment of the franchisee whom has not choice but to acquiesce to the franchisors wishes. In truth, the study of civil law reveals that the civil systems are founded on a liberal conception of the contract, presuming that both parties are capable of defending their interests. By virtue of the theory of autonomy of the will, the contract is presumed to respect each partie 's interests. Without any vice of consent, the contract can only be balanced. However, if the contract proves to be imbalanced, civil law, unless there are no exceptional circumstances, will have no effect, in such a case. Lesion don't vice conventions concluded between unprotected parties, and the imprevision theory is rejected by most civil systems. The indifference of civil law to the contractual imbalance is justified by two imperatives: contractual liberty and judicial security. The principal of the obligatory force of a contract imposes on both parties, as well as to the judge, and, in that way, excludes all attempts by judge to revise the imbalanced contract. Nonetheless, in spite of the laws indifference and opposition to change, the law has since evolved enormously in supplying more protection to the weakest party of a contract. Thus, we are now witness to a double, more realistic intervention: the intervention of the judge and the legislator (particularly in contracts of adhesions). First, the judge manifests a will to correct the more obviously imbalanced aspects of the contract, most notably with regards to the presence of abusive contractual clauses, taking into account the requirements of a contractual justice based on the goodfaith of both parties and the obligation to act in a reasonable manner. Furthermore, the legislator through the use of special rights for the purpose of protecting the weakest party within the contract, implements imperative rules to restore the balance and fairness of the contract. This worry of protection is justified by the undermine as so imposed to the obligatory force of the contract. Also, the postulate of Fouillée is here revoked by Lacordaire which underlines that between the strong and the weak, it is freedom that enslaves and the law that liberates. To summarize, the protection of the franchisee calls for the modification of the contractual obligation from one of conflict to one of cooperation and notably by the recognition of the contractual solidarity concept. Nevertheless, such a measure does not take place without disturbing the classic concept of the contract. On the one hand, the introduction of the implied terms into the contract denies the traditional idea of the contractual obligations based on the common intention of both parties, and also, it calls for the reconsideration, by the civil systems, of the theory of imprevision as is suggested by the uniform law and especially the Guide to international master franchise arrangements, but also the Unidroit Principles of international commercial contracts. / "Mémoire présenté à la Faculté des études supérieures en vue de l'obtention du grade de Maîtrise en droit (LL.M.)". Ce mémoire a été accepté à l'unanimité et classé parmi les 15% des mémoires de la discipline.

This study examines the concepts of art, politics and art institution departing from three cases of exhibition situations at Moderna Museet in Stockholm, 1998–2008. The cases are considered in relation to different aspects of the museum’s identity as an art institution. The first case, the Pontus Hultén Study Gallery (2008–), is an interactive exhibition space containing 34 mechanical screens for displaying art. It is understood here as a comment on the museum’s identity as a collecting institution. The author critically analyses a number of common oppositions in avant-garde theory regarding museum culture, such as the museum as a place for passivity rather than activity, preservation rather than initiation, and ultimately death rather than life. The second case, the exhibition series Moderna Museet Projekt (1998–2001), was marked by the ambition to integrate artworks into contexts outside the physical museum building. Here case analyses focus on the distinction that the series established between art and a presumed alternative, such as life, reality, or politics. The third and last case, the sound installation Forty-Part Motet (2001) by Janet Cardiff, was installed in an exhibition space that actualised the ideals of the so-called white cube. In the institutional critique of the 1960s and 1970s, this exhibition space was dismissed as isolated and detached from society, an idea that is critically examined. Throughout the different case studies, spectator positions and potential agency are of particular concern. This thesis concludes that the concepts of art and politics are different permeable forms of experiences, visibilities and practices, that cross and intertwine. This conclusion is informed by Jacques Rancière’s notions of aesthetics and politics. In this reading, the art institution is not a barrier separating art from politics, reality or life, but nor is it a dead or deadening space. Rather, the art institution, as a social space and concept of art, is considered as intertwined with other forms of visibilities and experiences. Thus, regarded as a frame for a certain type of visibility, the art institution is capable of establishing a difference that is both unproblematic and urgent.

The 1980s witnessed a judicial “rights revolution” in Canada characterized by the Supreme Court of Canada striking down both federal and provincial legislation which violated the rights guaranteed by the 1982 Charter of Rights. The lack of a similar judicial “rights revolution” in the wake of the 1960 Canadian Bill of Rights has largely been attributed to the structural difference between the two instruments with the latter – as a “mere” statute of the federal parliament – providing little more than a canon of construction and (unlike the Charter) not empowering the courts to engage in judicial review of legislation. Yet this view contrasts starkly with how the Bill was portrayed by the Diefenbaker government, which argued that it provided for judicial review and would “prevail” over other federal legislation. Many modern scholars have dismissed the idea that the Bill could prevail over other federal statutes as being incompatible with the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty. That is, a bill of rights could only prevail over legislation if incorporated into the British North America Act. As such, they argue that the Diefenbaker government could not have intended the Bill of Rights to operate as anything more than a canon of construction. However, such a view ignores the turbulence in constitutional thinking on parliamentary sovereignty in the 1930s through 1960s provoked by the Statute of Westminster. This era produced the doctrine of “self-embracing” sovereignty – in contrast to traditional “Dicey” sovereignty – where parliament could limit itself through “ordinary” legislation. The effective author of the Canadian Bill of Rights, Elmer Driedger, was an adherent of this doctrine as well as an advocate of a “purposive” approach to statutory interpretation. Driedger, thus, drafted the Bill based upon the doctrine of self-embracing sovereignty and believed it would enjoy a “purposive” interpretation by the courts, with the Bill designed to be as effective at guaranteeing rights as the Statute of Westminster was at liberating Canada from Imperial legislation.

L'implicite se définit comme un contenu présent dans le discours sans être formellement exprimé. Le présupposé et le sous-entendu forment les deux concepts fondamentaux de cette notion. Ils agissent comme des informations impliquées dans le discours, dont on peut saisir ou décrypter l’essence à l'aide des théories de la pragmatique et de la linguistique énonciative. Le discours proustien fait un usage remarquable de cette notion et de ses concepts. Ce travail est entièrement consacré à la recherche de l'implicite dans À la recherche du temps perdu de Marcel Proust. Le développement de cette notion, dans cette œuvre, se dessine d'une part, à travers l'interaction verbale des personnages proustiens, et d'autre part, à travers le discours du narrateur qui s'oriente vers une nouvelle tendance, celle d'un narrateur et d'un narrataire implicites. L'intérêt de cette étude consiste à catégoriser l'implicite proustien et à mettre en lumière son statut linguistique, puis la façon dont il est employé. / The implicit is defined as content present in speech without being formally expressed. Presupposition and implied content are the two fundamental elements of this concept. They act as information implied in speech whose essence the speaker can grasp or decrypt using the theories of pragmatics and enunciative linguistics. Proustian speech constitutes a remarkable example of the use of the implicit and its concepts. The present work is entirely devoted to the search for the implicit in Proust’s In Search of Lost Time. In our work, the development of this concept emerges especially in the verbal interaction between Proust's characters, also, through the speech of the narrator who opts for a new trend that of an implicit narrator and his narratee. The interest of this study consists in categorizing the Proustian implicit and clarifying its linguistic status and use.

O presente trabalho apresenta a hipótese de que Primeiras estórias (1962) é o ponto de chegada a uma expressão estética arduamente conquistada por Guimarães Rosa. Parte dessa conquista estaria alicerçada na experiência epigráfica e em personagens que, de um segundo plano, assomam à frente do palco como protagonistas. Aparentes sucedâneos dos poemas narrativos de Magma (1936) os paratextos parecem ensaios paralelos em que o escritor experimenta a narrativa enxuta pelo recorte de textos alheios, ou criados sob a égide do pseudônimo. As epígrafes não encimam todos os textos que antecedem Primeiras estórias, de modo a chamar a atenção para a correspondência entre paratexto, protagonista e tema. Narrativas que trazem protagonistas crianças, personagens paradigmáticos para a compreensão da família, iniciam a série de textos sem epígrafes. Paralelamente, epígrafes e personagens obrigam à constatação da figura do autor implicado, a qual confirma as opções estéticas do escritor, em especial, a do apreço pela forma narrativa curta. / This thesis proposes the hypothesis that Brazilian writer João Guimarães Rosa’s The Third Bank of the River and Other Stories [Primeiras estórias, 1962; English translation published in 1968] is the author’s arrival point after a strenuous path toward aesthetic expression. Such achievement may be partially explained by the support provided by the book’s epigraphic experience, and also by the use of characters who apparently have a secondary role but eventually spring to the narrative foreground as protagonists. The paratextual elements could be described as “narrative poems”, similar to the ones Rosa wrote for Magma [collected poetry, 1936], as well as “parallel essays”, in which Rosa experiments with the genre of the very short narrative, through the excision and framing of texts written by others or the creation of epigraphs signed by pseudonyms. Not all texts have epigraphs, in order to highlight the correspondence between the paratext, the protagonist and the theme. The narratives where the protagonists are children (who are considered as paradigmatic characters in that they allow us to better understand how families are configured) are placed at the beginning of the section without epigraphs. At the same time, both the epigraphs and the characters in the stories lead us to recognize the presence of an implied author, which is a confirmation of Rosa’s aesthetic choices, especially concerning his preference for the genre of the short narrative.

TITLE Compositional-stylistic Unities in David Lodge's Changing Places AUTHOR Martina Felcmanová DEPARTMENT Department of English Language and Literature SUPERVISOR PhDr. Petr Chalupský, Ph.D. ABSTRACT The main aim of this diploma thesis is to focus on the forms in which heteroglossia manifests itself in the most widely known campus novel of David Lodge, Changing Places. The Theoretical Part explains the two crucial terms of Mikhail Bakhtin's literary theory, namely heteroglossia and dialogism, and describes the impact his ideas had on the critical writings of David Lodge. Moreover, it strives to combine Bakhtin's and Lodge's typologies of novelistic discourse with the terminology of Seymour Chatman, in order to create sufficient terminological framework for the subsequent stylistic analysis. Consequently, the Practical Part attempts to explore how the separate unities of heteroglossia are represented within the structure of Changing Places, what effect they have on the implied reader and how they influence the novel as a whole.

`Organ of state' as a constitutional concept was first introduced by the 1993 Constitution, in which it was defined as including any statutory body or functionary. In their interpretation of this notion, the courts and academic writers invoked the tests developed at common law in order to determine its meaning. The commentators, on the one hand, used a variety of tests. The courts, on the other hand, subscribed to what has come to be known as the `control test'. The 1996 Constitution followed with a comprehensive definition of `organ of state'. This notion is also employed in other laws by direct reference or incorporation of the definition in section 239 with slight adjustments. Regrettably, the limited approach developed by the court in their interpretation of the notion of `organ of state' for the purposes of the 1993 Constitution has spilled over to the interpretation of the concept under the 1996 Constitution. The question is whether this is justifiable. The constitutional definition of `organ of state' makes it clear that other institutions and functionaries are organs of state on the basis of what they are and others by virtue of the functions they are engaged in. Therefore strict adherence to the control test or any other test could unjustifiably limit the application of the Constitution. / Jurisprudence / LL.M.

Submitted by Jose Teixeira Neto (zelosmegatrend@uol.com.br) on 2015-11-04T02:48:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 tese_JTN_PDF Final_para publ.pdf: 2106191 bytes, checksum: 9790c137a6b1b0bd5dd02863abc60a36 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Auxiliadora da Silva Lopes (silopes@ufba.br) on 2015-11-04T15:12:48Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 tese_JTN_PDF Final_para publ.pdf: 2106191 bytes, checksum: 9790c137a6b1b0bd5dd02863abc60a36 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-11-04T15:12:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tese_JTN_PDF Final_para publ.pdf: 2106191 bytes, checksum: 9790c137a6b1b0bd5dd02863abc60a36 (MD5) / A ação movente desta pesquisa é a conceituação de mochilas existenciais e insurgências curriculares como um etnocurrículo instituinte nas tramas existenciais, em formação na heterogênese e com mediações de diferentes campos da existência nos seus espaço/tempo de pertencimento. Num esforço de compreensão do contemporâneo definido como existência líquida, tensionei as interpelações das pedagogias culturais do tempo presente, que operam um tipo de formação para o consumismo de significados culturais e epistemologias que incluem e excluem, tentando modelar aquilo que temos sido nas contingências. Como rotas de fuga e desgoverno das totalizações da sociedade de controle, o currículo aqui forjado é articulado na produção teórica pós-crítica com a potência dos etnométodos dos atores curriculantes que interagiram neste processo de pesquisa com suas narrativas, instituindo epistemologia multicentrada em saberes experienciais e conhecimento. Fiz opção pela abordagem qualitativa e servi-me da etnopesquisa crítica, multirreferencial e implicada, produzindo, portanto, uma ciência implicada no social e nas novas racionalidades em multiplicidade de saberes. A pesquisa responde a como educadores refletem sobre mochilas existenciais e insurgências curriculares para interações com as pedagogias culturais do tempo presente como vibrações instituintes de etnocurrículo, por atribuírem políticas de sentido aos seus etnométodos como práticas de não-aderência e escape do consumismo de significados hegemônicos da existência líquida. Este estudo intencionou compreender/explicitar como tais educadores, implicados no segmento do Ensino Médio e da Educação de Jovens e Adultos, plasmam/forjam essa forma de currículo-vivo, (des)arrumando a escola nas contingências do espaço/tempo. Problematizou subjetivações produtoras de sujeitos e efeitos de verdades forjadas nos engendramentos dessas pedagogias culturais, criando possibilidades da escola tornar-se campo de profusão de etnocurrículo. Por fim, esta pesquisa configurou as mochilas existenciais e insurgências curriculares como empoderamento de práticas significativas que provocam rizoma formativo compósito, ampliando a noção de currículo/formação. / ABSTRACT The action that drives this research is the concept of the experienced knowledge amount and the curricular insurgencies as an ethnocurriculum establishing in the existencial plots in heterogeneous formation and with mediations of various fields of existence in their space/time of “belonging”. As an effort of understanding of contemporary defined as liquid existence. I tensioned cultural pedagogy interpellation of present time that causes a kind of formation to the consumerism of cultural meanings and epistemologies that include and exclude trying to shape what we have been in the contingencies. As escape routes and misrule of the aggregation of the society of control, the curriculum when forged is articulated in theoretical production pos-critique with the power of ethnomethods from those who interacted in this research process with their narratives establishing multicentered epistemology in experiential knowledge and knowledge. I made a choice on the qualitative approach and I used the critical multireferential and involved ethnoresearch producing thus a social compromised science and new social rationalities in multiplicity of “knowledges”. The survey answers how the educators reflect about the experienced knowledge amount and curricular insurgencies for interactions with the cultural pedagogies of the present time as ethnocurriculum former vibrations because they assign sense policies to their ethnomethods as practices of non – adherence and consumerism escape of hegemonic meanings of liquid existence. This study intended to understand/make clear as such educators involved with high school segment and education for youth and adults are forging this form of “live curriculum” disarranging education in contingencies of space/time. It rendered problematic subject producing subjectification and forged truth in engendering these cultural pedagogies creating possibilities of school becomes the ethnocurriculum profusion. Finally, this research has configured the experienced knowledge amount and curricular insurgencies as empowerment of significant practices that cause formative “composite” rhizome extending the notion of curriculum/formation

O presente trabalho apresenta a hipótese de que Primeiras estórias (1962) é o ponto de chegada a uma expressão estética arduamente conquistada por Guimarães Rosa. Parte dessa conquista estaria alicerçada na experiência epigráfica e em personagens que, de um segundo plano, assomam à frente do palco como protagonistas. Aparentes sucedâneos dos poemas narrativos de Magma (1936) os paratextos parecem ensaios paralelos em que o escritor experimenta a narrativa enxuta pelo recorte de textos alheios, ou criados sob a égide do pseudônimo. As epígrafes não encimam todos os textos que antecedem Primeiras estórias, de modo a chamar a atenção para a correspondência entre paratexto, protagonista e tema. Narrativas que trazem protagonistas crianças, personagens paradigmáticos para a compreensão da família, iniciam a série de textos sem epígrafes. Paralelamente, epígrafes e personagens obrigam à constatação da figura do autor implicado, a qual confirma as opções estéticas do escritor, em especial, a do apreço pela forma narrativa curta. / This thesis proposes the hypothesis that Brazilian writer João Guimarães Rosa’s The Third Bank of the River and Other Stories [Primeiras estórias, 1962; English translation published in 1968] is the author’s arrival point after a strenuous path toward aesthetic expression. Such achievement may be partially explained by the support provided by the book’s epigraphic experience, and also by the use of characters who apparently have a secondary role but eventually spring to the narrative foreground as protagonists. The paratextual elements could be described as “narrative poems”, similar to the ones Rosa wrote for Magma [collected poetry, 1936], as well as “parallel essays”, in which Rosa experiments with the genre of the very short narrative, through the excision and framing of texts written by others or the creation of epigraphs signed by pseudonyms. Not all texts have epigraphs, in order to highlight the correspondence between the paratext, the protagonist and the theme. The narratives where the protagonists are children (who are considered as paradigmatic characters in that they allow us to better understand how families are configured) are placed at the beginning of the section without epigraphs. At the same time, both the epigraphs and the characters in the stories lead us to recognize the presence of an implied author, which is a confirmation of Rosa’s aesthetic choices, especially concerning his preference for the genre of the short narrative.