Toni Morrison, in Playing in the Dark, observes the pervasive silence that surrounds race in nineteenth-century canonical literature. Observing the ways in which the “Africanist” African-American presence pervades this literature, Morrison has called for an investigation of the ways in which whiteness operates in American canonical literature. This thesis takes up that challenge. In the first section, from Chapters One through Three, I explore how whiteness operates through the representation of the African-American figure in the works of three eminent nineteenth-century American writers, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Walt Whitman, and Mark Twain. The texts studied in this regard are: Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Leaves of Grass, and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This section is not concerned with whether these texts constitute racist literature but with the ways in which the study of race, particularly whiteness, reveals the contradictions and insecurities that attend (white American) identity. As such, Morrison’s own fiction, written in response to white historical representations of African-Americans also deserves attention. The second section of this thesis focuses on Morrison’s attempt to produce an authentically “black” literature. Here I look at two of Morrison’s least studied but arguably most contentious novels particularly because of what they reveal of Morrison’s complex position on race. In Chapter Four I focus on Tar Baby and argue that this novel reveals Morrison’s somewhat essentialist position on blackness and racial, cultural, and gendered identity, particularly as this pertains to responsibilities she places on the black woman as culture-bearer. In Chapter Five I argue that Paradise, while taking a particularly challenging position on blackness, reveals Morrison’s evolving position on race, particularly her concern with the destructive nature of internalized racism. This thesis concludes that while racial identities have very real material consequences, whiteness and blackness are ideological and social constructs which, because of their constructedness, are fallible and perpetually under revision.

Ontologies are foundational to, and upper ontologies provide semantic integration across, the Semantic Web. Multilingualism has been shown to be a key challenge to the development of the Semantic Web, and is a particular challenge to the universality requirement of upper ontologies. Universality implies a qualitative mapping from lexical ontologies, like WordNet, to an upper ontology, such as SUMO. Are a given natural language family's core concepts currently included in an existing, accepted upper ontology? Does SUMO preserve an ontological non-bias with respect to the multilingual challenge, particularly in the context of the African languages? The approach to developing WordNets mapped to shared core concepts in the non-Indo-European language families has highlighted these challenges and this is examined in a unique new context: the Southern African languages. This is achieved through a new mapping from African language core concepts to SUMO. It is shown that SUMO has no signi ficant natural language ontology bias. / Computing / M. Sc. (Computer Science)

Agência Nacional do Petróleo / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / O tema a respeito do financiamento da exploração e produção de petróleo, gás natural e outros hidrocarbonetos fluidos nas áreas do Pré-Sal tem sido motivo de debate entre estudiosos e profissionais da área. No novo regime de exploração e produção previsto na Lei n 12.351/2010, a Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) será a operadora de todos os blocos contratados, ou seja, responsável pela condução e execução, direta ou indireta, de todas as atividades de exploração, avaliação, desenvolvimento, produção e desativação das instalações de exploração e produção. Tal incumbência legal, por si só, denota o volume de investimentos que a Petrobras deverá realizar nos próximos anos, seja com recursos próprios ou de terceiros, para exploração dessas novas áreas descobertas. Ademais, as sociedades contratadas para empreender as operações exploratórias também necessitarão de recursos, uma vez que, junto com a Petrobras, assumirão os custos e os investimentos referentes às atividades de exploração, avaliação, desenvolvimento, fabricação e desativação das instalações de exploração e produção decorrentes dos contratos de partilha. As debêntures conversíveis em ações apresentam-se como uma alternativa viável para a captação de recursos financeiros, além de proporcionarem vantagens, se comparadas com outras formas de financiamento, como empréstimos junto a instituições financeiras e aumento de capital, uma vez que é a companhia emissora responsável por decidir, por exemplo, a data e prazo de vencimento das debêntures e a forma de remuneração dos subscritores de tais títulos. O novo regime legal das debêntures, instituído pela Lei n 12.431/2011, também veio a facilitar o uso desse instrumento para financiar as atividades de produção e exploração de petróleo, gás natural e outros hidrocarbonetos fluidos nas áreas do Pré-Sal. A Petrobras, mesmo enquanto sociedade de economia mista, poderá emitir debêntures conversíveis em ações, observadas algumas regras para a manutenção do seu controle pela União. / The financing of oil, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons exploration and production in the Pre Sal areas has currently been a debated matter among scholars and professionals. Under the new exploration and production regime set forth in Law No. 12.351/2010, Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) will act as an operator of all contracted blocks, thus, it shall be responsible for the direct or indirect management and performance of all of the activities related to the exploration, evaluation, development, production and deactivation of the exploration and production facilities. This legal arrangement by itself denotes the volume of investments that Petrobras is expected to achieve, through the use of its own resources, in the coming years. Moreover, the companies contracted to perform the exploration activities will also be in need of a large amount of resources, since they, alongside with Petrobras, will bear the costs and expenses arising out of the exploration, evaluation, development, production and deactivation of the exploration and production facilities in connection with the sharing contracts. Convertible debentures present themselves as a feasible alternative to obtain the required financial resources in the securities exchange market, as well as are also more advantageous than other capitalization mechanisms, such as traditional bank loans or capital underwriting share subscriptions, since the issuing company is responsible for deciding, e.g., the debenture maturity date and the way that its underwriters will be remunerated. The new legal regime of the debentures, established by Law No. 12.431/2011, was also created to simplify the use of this instrument in order to finance the production and the exploration of oil, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons in the Pre Sal areas. Despite being a government-controlled company, Petrobras will be able to issue convertible debentures, provided that it complies with the rules related to its control by the government.

Agência Nacional do Petróleo / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / O tema a respeito do financiamento da exploração e produção de petróleo, gás natural e outros hidrocarbonetos fluidos nas áreas do Pré-Sal tem sido motivo de debate entre estudiosos e profissionais da área. No novo regime de exploração e produção previsto na Lei n 12.351/2010, a Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) será a operadora de todos os blocos contratados, ou seja, responsável pela condução e execução, direta ou indireta, de todas as atividades de exploração, avaliação, desenvolvimento, produção e desativação das instalações de exploração e produção. Tal incumbência legal, por si só, denota o volume de investimentos que a Petrobras deverá realizar nos próximos anos, seja com recursos próprios ou de terceiros, para exploração dessas novas áreas descobertas. Ademais, as sociedades contratadas para empreender as operações exploratórias também necessitarão de recursos, uma vez que, junto com a Petrobras, assumirão os custos e os investimentos referentes às atividades de exploração, avaliação, desenvolvimento, fabricação e desativação das instalações de exploração e produção decorrentes dos contratos de partilha. As debêntures conversíveis em ações apresentam-se como uma alternativa viável para a captação de recursos financeiros, além de proporcionarem vantagens, se comparadas com outras formas de financiamento, como empréstimos junto a instituições financeiras e aumento de capital, uma vez que é a companhia emissora responsável por decidir, por exemplo, a data e prazo de vencimento das debêntures e a forma de remuneração dos subscritores de tais títulos. O novo regime legal das debêntures, instituído pela Lei n 12.431/2011, também veio a facilitar o uso desse instrumento para financiar as atividades de produção e exploração de petróleo, gás natural e outros hidrocarbonetos fluidos nas áreas do Pré-Sal. A Petrobras, mesmo enquanto sociedade de economia mista, poderá emitir debêntures conversíveis em ações, observadas algumas regras para a manutenção do seu controle pela União. / The financing of oil, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons exploration and production in the Pre Sal areas has currently been a debated matter among scholars and professionals. Under the new exploration and production regime set forth in Law No. 12.351/2010, Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) will act as an operator of all contracted blocks, thus, it shall be responsible for the direct or indirect management and performance of all of the activities related to the exploration, evaluation, development, production and deactivation of the exploration and production facilities. This legal arrangement by itself denotes the volume of investments that Petrobras is expected to achieve, through the use of its own resources, in the coming years. Moreover, the companies contracted to perform the exploration activities will also be in need of a large amount of resources, since they, alongside with Petrobras, will bear the costs and expenses arising out of the exploration, evaluation, development, production and deactivation of the exploration and production facilities in connection with the sharing contracts. Convertible debentures present themselves as a feasible alternative to obtain the required financial resources in the securities exchange market, as well as are also more advantageous than other capitalization mechanisms, such as traditional bank loans or capital underwriting share subscriptions, since the issuing company is responsible for deciding, e.g., the debenture maturity date and the way that its underwriters will be remunerated. The new legal regime of the debentures, established by Law No. 12.431/2011, was also created to simplify the use of this instrument in order to finance the production and the exploration of oil, natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons in the Pre Sal areas. Despite being a government-controlled company, Petrobras will be able to issue convertible debentures, provided that it complies with the rules related to its control by the government.

The reason, why I had chosen for my diploma work topic The Relationship between seller and customer, is this time, when powerful competition press upon the firms to improve quality of their products or services, the top management is aiming at the quality of communication with customers, too. They are aware of that good or bad relationship with customer may determine if the firm will be successful or not. For it is necessary to train and motivate employee who communicate with customer, but first-rate direction by management too and to created positive firm cultural which will motivate the employees to longtime and high-quality work and affect at customers, too. In my diploma work I had aimed at factors which motivate customers but employees and management too. The employees and top management, they are links of firm which have influence to work and results of enterprise. In the first part of my work I had aimed at these factors general. I had analysed them and my result is that this factors really influence the relationship between seller and customer. In the second part of my work I had analysed these factors in elected enterprises. For synthesis and comparison of results of firms I had chosen the form of many-criterion rate.

Purpose: In Sweden, a municipal plan monopoly is used to regulate what, how and where you can or cannot build. How the plans, in the shape of comprehensive and detailed development plans, are formed is in turn regulated by the Planning and Building Act (PBL). Throughout history, Swedish building regulations have gone through many more or less extensive changes with the overall goal to improve our built environment and simplify or streamline the planning and building processes. From this comes the term small deviation, which in PBL is used to allow building permits that deviate from the detailed development plan, provided that the deviation is small. There is, however, no explanation in the law as to what this might mean in practice, and so there are large differences in terms of interpretation and application. The goal of this study is to analyse how the term small deviation according to PBL, chapter 9 § 31b is interpreted and applicated in building permit trials. Method: The methods used in this study are interviews (with building permit officers) and document analysis (of building permit decisions from quarter two, 2016, and court cases from the Land and Environment Court of Appeal). Findings: How deviations are interpreted does indeed vastly differ, and while the municipalities do work in a similar manner to determine whether a deviation could be considered small, there are significant differences. Only in the matter of built area on a property, the three studied municipalities all have different practices in what size of violation may be considered small, and the building permit officers in one of these municipalities still deviate from this. In eight out of 13 court cases, the Land and Environment Court of Appeal judged differently from the previous authorities. Only in one did all authorities agree. Implications: The findings implicate the following: There are remarkable differences in how small deviation is assessed. De biggest differences are between the local building permit officers and the Land and Environment Court of Appeal. The factors that affect the assessment on a municipal level the most are experience, precedent cases and discussion with colleagues. Limitations: A wider study containing more information from several municipalities and an analysis of the material accessible to the municipalities for guidance to assess deviations would provide a clearer answer as to what affects the interpretation. Keywords: PBL, Planning and Building Act, building permits, law interpretation, interpretation, deviation, small deviation, deviation from detailed development plan, sensemaking, the Land and Environment Court of Appeal / Syfte: I Sverige används ett kommunalt planmonopol som regleras av Plan- och bygglagen (PBL) 2010:900. Planerna i form av översikts- och detaljplaner reglerar vad, hur och var man får eller inte får bygga. Genom åren har PBL många gånger genomgått mer eller mindre omfattande förändringar med det övergripande syftet att förbättra svensk byggd miljö och förenkla eller effektivisera plan- och byggprocessen, därför har begreppet liten avvikelse tillkommit i PBL. I författningen framgår att det trots avvikelser från planbestämmelser är möjligt att bevilja bygglov, förutsatt att avvikelsen är liten. Det saknas dock förklaringar i PBL kring vad detta kan innebära, och stora skillnader i bedömningen kring vad som kan anses vara en liten avvikelse finns. Målet med arbetet är att analysera hur begreppet liten avvikelse enligt PBL, kap 9 § 31b tolkas och appliceras vid bygglovshandläggning. Metod: De metoder som använts i undersökningen är intervjuer (med bygglovshandläggare) och dokumentanalys (av bygglovsbeslut kvartal två, 2016, och rättsfall i Mark- och miljööverdomstolen från 2016). Resultat: Resultatet visar att det finns stora skillnader i hur liten avvikelse tolkas och appliceras, både mellan olika instanser och på kommunal nivå. Medan kommunerna använder dylika metoder för att avgöra om en avvikelse kan anses vara liten, finns det även avsevärda skillnader i bedömningen. Bara när det gäller byggrätt har kommunerna i undersökningen riktvärden det är stor skillnad på. I åtta av 13 fall bedömde Mark- och miljööverdomstolen olika från samtliga tidigare instanser, och bara i ett fall var samtliga överens om graden av avvikelse. Konsekvenser: De slutsatser som kan dras från resultatet är att: Det finns anmärkningsvärda skillnader i hur liten avvikelse bedöms. De största skillnaderna är mellan den lokala nämnden och Mark- och miljööverdomstolen. Det som främst påverkar bedömningen på kommunal nivå är erfarenhet, prejudicerande rättsfall och diskussion med kollegor. Begränsningar: En bredare undersökning med fler kommuner och bygglovsbeslut från en längre tidsperiod i kombination med en analys av det material som finns för att hjälpa bygglovshandläggare bedöma avvikelser hade kunnat ge ett tydligare svar på vad som påverkar tolkningen. Det hade också gett ett tydligare svar på hur skillnaderna huvudsakligen ser ut, vilket i sin tur gjort det möjligt att ta fram förslag till lösningar. Nyckelord: PBL, Plan- och bygglagen, bygglov, lagtolkning, tolkning, avvikelse, liten avvikelse, avvikelse från detaljplan, meningsskapande, MÖD, Mark- och miljööverdomstolen

Le présent travail propose une étude sur l’étendue de la protection spéciale de la marque renommée. Dans le cadre de l’examen du régime actuel, il convient d’analyser la notion fondamentale de marque renommée, ainsi que celle de marque notoirement connue. Ensuite, sont examinées les conditions de l’atteinte à la marque renommée communes à toutes les formes d’atteinte : premièrement les conditions positives, et notamment celle de l’existence d’un lien dans l’esprit du public entre la marque renommée invoquée et le signe litigieux, deuxièmement, les conditions négatives, et en particulier l’exception du juste motif. L’étude présente les différentes formes d’atteinte à la marque renommées reconnues en l’état actuel du droit : la dilution, l’avilissement et le profit indûment tiré du caractère distinctif ou de la renommée de la marque. Selon la thèse défendue dans le travail, toutes ces formes d’atteinte à la marque renommée ont des finalités distinctes et sont indépendantes les unes des autres, en permettant de sanctionner différentes hypothèses d’usages de marques renommées par des tiers. Par ailleurs, l’étude situe le régime spécial par rapport au droit commun, d’une part, au droit commun des marques, en distinguant la protection élargie de l’hypothèse du risque de confusion, et, d’autre part, au droit commun de la responsabilité civile qui sanctionne le parasitisme susceptible de compléter la protection conférée aux titulaires sur le terrain de la protection de la marque renommée. Enfin, le travail présente une analyse de la problématique de la réparation des atteintes à la marque renommée en fonction de la forme d’atteinte établie par le titulaire. / The work offers a study on the scope of the special protection of the trade mark with a reputation. In the context of the assessment of the current regime, it is necessary to analyse the fundamental concept of the trade mark with a reputation, as well as the concept of the well known trade mark. Then, the conditions for infringement of the trade mark with a reputation common to all forms of infringement are examined: firstly, the positive conditions, in particular the existence of a link established in the public mind between the mark invoked and the sign in dispute, secondly, the negative conditions, in particular the exception of due cause. The study presents the various forms of infringement of trade marks with a reputation: dilution by blurring, dilution by tarnishment and unfair advantage taken of the distinctive character or the repute of the trade mark. According to the thesis of the work, all those forms of infringement have distinct purposes and are independent of each other, allowing to sanction various uses of trade marks with a reputation by third parties. In addition, the study places the special regime in relation to ordinary law, on the one hand, to the ordinary law of trade marks, by distinguishing between the extended protection and the likelihood of confusion, and, on the other hand, to the ordinary law of civil liability which sanctions the free-riding likely to complete the protection conferred on the right holders by the special regime. Finally, the work presents an analysis of the problem of repairing infringements of the trade marks with a reputation according to the form of infringement established by the right holder. / Rozprawa stanowi studium zakresu szczególnej ochrony renomowanego znaku towarowego. Pracazawiera pogłębioną analizę ewolucji ochrony znaku poza granicami specjalizacji. W ramach ocenyaktualnie obowiązującego reżimu wprowadzonego przez ustawodawcę unijnego w dyrektywieo znakach towarowych oraz w rozporządzeniu o znaku towarowym Unii Europejskiej wypadadokonać analizy fundamentalnego pojęcia znaku renomowanego, jak i pojęcia znaku powszechnieznanego. Następnie analizie poddano przesłanki naruszenia prawa do znaku renomowanegowspólne dla wszystkich postaci naruszenia: w pierwszej kolejności przesłanki pozytywne,w szczególności przesłankę powstania w świadomości odbiorców związku pomiędzy znakiemrenomowanym i spornym oznaczeniem, w drugiej kolejności, przesłanki negatywne, w szczególnościwyjątek uzasadnionej przyczyny używania znaku. Rozprawa przedstawia poszczególne postacinaruszenia prawa do znaku renomowanego uznane w obecnym stanie prawnym: szkodę dlaodróżniającego charakteru (rozwodnienie), szkodę dla renomy (degradację) oraz nienależnąkorzyść czerpaną z odróżniającego charakteru lub renomy znaku. Zgodnie z tezą bronioną w pracy,wszystkie postaci naruszenia prawa do znaku renomowanego służą odrębnym celom i są niezależnewobec siebie, pozwalając sankcjonować różne przypadki używania znaków renomowanych przezosoby trzecie. Ponadto reżim szczególnej ochrony jest w rozprawie sytuowany na tle ogólnychprzepisów prawa, z jednej strony, ogólnego prawa znaków towarowych, poprzez odróżnienierozszerzonej ochrony od hipotezy ryzyka konfuzji, z drugiej strony, przepisów ogólnychprzewidujących sankcje wobec działań charakteryzujących pasożytnictwo, które uzupełniająochronę przyznaną uprawnionym na gruncie prawa do znaku renomowanego. W pracy poddanorównież analizie problematykę odpowiedzialności majątkowej za naruszenie prawa do znakurenomowanego, biorąc pod uwagę postać naruszenia wykazaną przez uprawnionego.

Le droit de la propriété industrielle peut apparaître comme un droit assez récent dans le pay-sage juridique français, mais ce présupposé n’est qu’un leurre. Sa présence est attestée dès le commencement des pratiques artistiques et artisanales pendant l’Antiquité. La prise de conscience de son existence et de son utilité au sein de la société a toutefois été exacerbée au XVIIIe siècle, notamment lors de la révolution française de 1789, moment de sa construc-tion et de sa reconnaissance juridiques.Le droit de la propriété industrielle, à partir des événements révolutionnaires devient en effet l’enjeu d’une élaboration aussi bien intellectuelle que juridique. De nombreux débats de la part des créateurs et inventeurs font rage auprès des institutions politiques afin que ce droit soit reconnu et normalisé. L’aboutissement de ces combats intellectuels, grâce aux multiples ré-flexions de la doctrine et de la jurisprudence transforme le droit de la propriété industriel en un droit normatif s’inscrivant dans l’ordonnancement juridique.Au-delà de cette organisation législative, le droit de la propriété industrielle est également le sujet de nombreuses interrogations quant aux circonstances politiques et économiques qui ont permis son éclosion. Le droit de la propriété industrielle se module selon l’ensemble des lois, des jurisprudences, de la doctrine, de la politique et de l’économie qui tente de lui donner des structures juridiques stables. Il s’affirme comme un droit protéiforme, dont la portée na-tionale relative aux inventeurs et aux créateurs dans la reconnaissance de leur droit, prend une dimension internationale, aspirant à organiser et harmoniser les relations économiques des Nations. / : The right of the industrial property seems like a recent right in the French legal landscape, but this assumption is wrong. Its presence was confirmed as of the beginning of the artistic and artisanal practices during the Antiquity. The awakening of its existence and its utility wi-thin the company however was intensified at the XVIIIth century, in particular at the time of the French revolution of 1789, during the moment of its legal construction and its recognition.The right of the industrial property, starting from the revolutionary events became the chal-lenge of an intellectual development as well as a legal development. Many debates on behalf of the creators and inventors show rage regarding the political institutions, so that this right is acknowledged and standardized. The result of these intellectual combats, thanks to the mul-tiple reflections of the doctrines and jurisprudence transforms the patent right into a normative right falling under legal scheduling.Next to this legislative organization, the right of the industrial property is also the subject of many interrogations as for the political and economic circumstances, which allowed it's blos-soming. The right of the industrial property modulated according to the whole set of laws; ju-risprudences; the doctrines; politics and economics, tries to give him stable legal structures. He affirms himself as a protean right, whose national range relating to the inventors and the creators in the recognition of their right, takes an international dimension, trying to organize and harmonize the economic relations of the Nations.

Season Songs is a song cycle for mezzo-soprano (or tenor) and medium sized orchestra (a perfoming version for voice and piano is appended). There are four songs and an orchestral prelude. The poems are by various authors and provide the programmatic elements of the cycle in that each poem is set in a different season of the year and time of day: winter/morning, spring/afternoon, summer/evening, and autumn/night respectively. The title of the prelude sets it just before dawn. The music of the prelude and the last song is closely related both motivically and tonally, thus reinforcing the cyclical nature of the work. The accompanying commentary seeks to explain the compositional processes and aesthetic principles which guided the creation of Season Songs. The music explores nonfunctional tonality, in that means other than traditional tonic-dominant (i.e., V-I) relationships are sought by which to create a sense of forward propelled harmonic motion. This sense of harmonic "trajectory", in conjunction with appropriate rhythmic proportions, is held to be one of the most important factors contributing toward the sense of departure and return, tension and resolution in the music. The main means used toward this end is a four-note source cell which governs much of the harmonic and motivic activity in the work, from the most local level of leading motives of individual songs to the broadest level of key relationships among songs. The harmonic manifestation of the source cell promotes root movement by major thirds and minor seconds on the local as well as broad levels. Sonorities associated with traditional tonality, such as open fifths in the bass and major or minor triads, are common, although the contexts in which they are heard are usually non-traditional. The metric pulse is usually distinctly articulated and readily intelligible, although changes in metre are frequent in most of the songs. The text setting aspires to a directness of expression. The words will be intelligible in performance and the music reflects and magnifies the emotional content of the the text. While there are several levels on which the music can be appreciated, over-obscurity is avoided, as a rule, especially in the composition of the musical surface. / Arts, Faculty of / Music, School of / Graduate

The Thesis shows theoretical approaches of brand management and compares it with best practices used in international and czech companies. There is a picture of brand management impact of brand management into consumption behaviour of university students in Czech republic documented by own desk research.