The convex pay-off structure of executive stock options (ESO) incentivizes CEOs to increase their firm stock-return volatility, thereby increasing their wealth in option portfolio. In this paper, I address two research questions. I first test if this managerial incentive induces executives to take on more risky projects in R&D that increases stock- return volatility, hence, boosting their personal wealth. I derive vega to measure managerial incentive, and vega is a dollar change in ESO for a 0.01 change in stock- return volatility. I find that there is a positive and statistically significant relationship between vega and R&D investment, which suggests that managers whose wealth is closely tied to stock options are more incentivized to invest in risky R&D projects to increase their wealth and stock-return volatility. This result is statistically significant and robust after adjusting for inflation and controlling for firm and industry-fixed effects. With this finding, I proceed to test if managerial risk-taking incentive for R&D investments translate to future earnings. Lev and Sougiannis (1996) establish that future earnings is a function of both tangible and intangible assets, and R&D increases with firm’s subsequent earnings. Since R&D spending changes with managerial incentive, I test if the interactive variable of vega and R&D has a positive effect on firm’s future earnings. I find that managerial incentive for undertaking R&D investments has a positive and statistically significant association with future earnings under industry-fixed effects specifications. When controlling for firm-fixed effects, the result yielded similar results to that of industry-fixed effects, but with less statistical significance. Lastly, for robustness check, I run the regression with a balanced panel data of tenured-CEOs, who stay with the firm for five years. I find that the result is positive and statistically significant for industry-fixed effects. However, for firm-fixed effects, I only find statistical significance at year t+k (k=3). This suggests that the realization of R&D investment to future earnings is not prevalent throughout all years when R&D decisions are made by incentivized, long-standing CEOs.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 173-180).

In this thesis, the concept of virtual reality has been elaborated in the context of games, industrial design and manufacturing. The main purpose of this master’s thesis is to create a virtual environment for games that are near to the reality and according to the human nature through aspects like better interface, simulation, lights, shadow effects and their types. The importance of these aspects regarding realistic virtual environment is complemented through the comparison between two environments i.e. desktop and CAVE on a flight simulation program.

Der Steckbrief informiert über die ˈVegaˈ (brauner Auenboden). Die ˈVegaˈ zählt zur Bodenklasse ˈBöden der Oberregionalen Flusslandschaftenˈ. Sie stellt eine typische Bodenform in Sachsen dar. Die ˈVegaˈ ist ein Boden, der sich aus holozänen fluviatilen Sedimenten in Tälern von Flüssen und Bächen entwickelt hat, die periodisch bis episodisch überflutet werden bzw. wurden und in der Regel stark schwankendes Grundwasser besitzen, das mit dem Flusswasserspiegel in Verbindung steht. Sie ist der typische Boden der ˈBodenregion der Flusslandschaftenˈ, kommt aber auch in allen anderen Bodenregionen Sachsens vor. Der Steckbrief richtet sich an alle Interessierte, die sich über die Entstehung. Redaktionsschluss: 01.03.2017

The aim of the thesis is to provide the mission requirements for the VEGA Transportation System(VTS), the equivalent of Phase 0 of a space project. The decrease in sizes and masses of the satellites opened the opportunity for the light capability VEGA launchers to contribute and reshape the European space value chain. VTS is envisaged to be an extension of the services offered by the VEGA launcher family, by providing solutions and services of space transportation and orbital exploitation. The elaboration of this thesis followed closely a methodology for defining complex space missions discussed by authors in “Methodology for requirements definition of complex space missions and system” and “Reusable space tug concept and mission”, which emphasizes the need of both, the Functional Analysis and Concept of Operation as fundamental activities to assess and derive the mission requirements. The results section reports a thorough description of the results obtained in the quest of identifying and characterizing new missions requirements for VTS. Specifically, missions for Releasing payload(s) to its/their final position and missions for Providing charter for In-Orbit Verification / In-Orbit Experimentation / In-Orbit Demonstration were exemplified. The mission requirements are summarized at the end of the section. A parallel between the findings and the current space trends is drawn in the Discussion, with details about the target market and how VTS could reshape it. A short discussion on how the entire portfolio of missions are amalgamated, in such a way that as few systems as possible can handle these missions is also provided. Lastly, a comparison between the work performed within the AVIO project and a sounding rocket project is given, providing thoughts about the lessons learned from both of them. Eventually, the conclusions are drawn based on the missions presented throughout thethesis and explains how the entire portfolio of missions will be further analyzed and more requirements will be deployed for the refinement of the entire VTS. / Syftet med denna rapport är att formulera uppdragskraven, motsvarande fas noll i ett rymdprojekt, för VEGA Transportation System (VTS). Minskningen i storlek och massa hos satelliter har öppnat upp för att VEGA, som är byggd för små nyttolaster, kan bidra till och utöka den europeiska uppskjutningskapaciteten och tjänsterna för olika rymdtransporter. Denna studien följer till stora delar metoderna som presenteras i “Methodology for requirements definition of complex space missions and system” samt “Reusable space tug concept and mission”. I dessa publikationer understryks behovet av både funktionell analys samt operationskonceptet som fundamentala aktiviteter för att bedöma och formulera uppdragskraven. Resultatavsnittet går igenom de framtagna uppdragkraven med de ovan nämnda metoderna. I diskussionsavsnittet analyseras nuvarande trender inom rymdsektorn och hur VTS kan vara med och forma utvecklingen samt den tänkta marknaden för systemet. Det diskuteras hur flera rymduppdrag kan slås ihop så att så få system som möligt kan hantera dessa uppdrag. Slutligen görs en jämförelse mellan arbetet inom AVIO-projektet med ett REXUS-sondraketprojekt, med tankar och lärdomar från båda projekten. Slutsatser dras utifrån portföljen av uppdrag som tagits fram för VTS i studien. VTS kommer framöver att fortsätta analyseras samt motiveras med flera argument för dess förbättring.

The essay studies the performance and staging of memory in the Comentarios Reales de los Incas by Garcilaso de la Vega el Inca, from a post-colonial perspective. Its analyze Garcilaso´s construction of history based on his individual and collective historical experiences with the goal to establish his authority and erudition and legitimate the Inca Empire as a magnificent civilization comparable to the highest European cultures of Antiquity and Modern times. / El ensayo estudia la performamcia y escenificación de la memoria en los Comentarios Reales de los Incas de Garcilaso de la Vega el Inca, desde una perspectiva postcolonial. Se analiza la construcción de la historia por parte de Garcilaso a partir de sus experiencias históricas individuales y colectivas con el objetivo de establecer su autoridad y erudición y así legitimar el Imperio Inca como una grandiosa civilización, comparable a las más grandes culturas europeas de la Antigüedad y de la Modernidad. / Der Beitrag untersucht die Performierung und Inszenierung von Erinnerung in den Comentarios Reales de los Incas von Garcilaso el Inca aus einer postkolonialen Perspektive. Er widmet sich Gar-cilasos Geschichtskonstruktion, die auf seinen individuellen und kollektiven historischen Erfahrungen beruht und darauf abzielt, seine Autorität und Gelehrsamkeit zu begründen, um so mit das Inkareich als eine großartige Zivilisation zu legitimieren, die mit den höchsten europäischen Kulturen der Antike und der Neuzeit vergleichbar wäre.

La tesi si propone di analizzare il personaggio del morisco nel teatro spagnolo dei Secoli d’Oro. Scopo dello studio è dimostrare che la figura affiora come riflesso dell’immagine stereotipizzata del cristiano nuevo de moro, costruita dai membri della comunità cristiano-vieja. Il primo capitolo è incentrato sull’esposizione delle circostanze storiche che hanno contribuito a determinare, tra i secoli XVI e XVII, la cuestión morisca, identificandone i punti primari a livello socio-politico, geografico ed economico. Allo stesso modo, si intende presentare il protagonista della ricerca, l’individuo ispano-musulmano, contestualizzandolo da un punto di vista religioso, culturale e sociale. Il secondo capitolo comprende lo studio della rappresentazione deformata del soggetto morisco. L’analisi dei meccanismi di stereotipizzazione, messi in atto dalla classe dominante, evidenzia l’effettività di un progetto di discriminazione e marginalizzazione nei confronti degli appartenenti alla minoranza. Al fine di verificare se gli stessi processi si consolidino anche nel discorso letterario dell’epoca, il terzo capitolo della ricerca intende rintracciare la figura all’interno del teatro spagnolo rinascimentale e barocco ed esaminarne l’evoluzione. Nell’ambito del teatro della seconda metà del secolo XVI, l’analisi si sofferma sulle modalità di raffigurazione del personaggio nella produzione di tre significativi autori dell’epoca, Diego Sánchez de Badajoz, Juan Timoneda e Lope de Rueda. In un secondo momento, l’attenzione si focalizza sull’osservazione del ruolo che ricopre la figura all’interno di un corpus di nove commedie di Lope de Vega, esaminando nello specifico quattro aspetti del procedimento comico di cui sembra essersi servito il Fénix per ribadire la categorizzazione sociale anche a livello letterario. / The dissertation focuses on the analysis of the character of the morisco in the Spanish Golden Age theatre. The aim of the study is to demonstrate that the figure emerges as a reflection of the stereotyped cristiano nuevo de moro image constructed by the members of the cristiano viejo community. The first chapter concentrates on the description of the historical circumstances that have contributed to determine, between the 16th and 17th centuries, the cuestión morisca, identifying its main aspects from a socio-political, geographical and economic points of view. Meanwhile, the protagonist of our research, the Hispano-Muslim individual, is also examined from a religious, cultural and social perspectives. The second chapter provides the study of the deformed representation of the morisco subject. The analysis of the social stereotyping mechanisms reveals the efficiency of a discriminating scheme arranged by the ruling class towards the historical morisco figure. In order to verify whether the same processes are also enclosed in the literary discourse of the time, the third chapter aims to detect the figure in the Spanish Renaissance and Baroque theatre and to examine its evolution. Firstly, the analysis focuses on how the character is represented in the production of three main authors of the second half of the 16th century, Diego Sánchez de Badajoz, Juan Timoneda and Lope de Rueda. Afterwards, the attention concentrates on the observation of the role that covers the figure of the morisco in a corpus of nine plays written by Lope de Vega, especially on four aspects of the comic procedure which seem to have served to the author to reaffirm the social categorization also on the literary level.

Thesis (M.A.) -- Central Connecticut State University, 2009. / Thesis advisor: Antonio García-Lozada. "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Spanish Language and Hispanic Cultures." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 191-201). Abstract available via the World Wide Web.

To date, the Latin American essay remains little studied, certainly compared to other literary genres such as the novel, poetry and theater. This thesis examines prevailing theorists' conceptions of the essay and its historical development in Latin America. Employing the notions of cultural identity and difference, which have long been central to Latin American critical thought, this study distances the development of the essay in Latin America from Spanish colonial writings of the sixteenth century. In its place, this study proposes an innovative classification scheme that incorporates cultural codes as its main criteria in order to provide a more equitable treatment of essays from areas that have traditionally been marginalized in standard chronologically based classification schemes. Some of the paradigms used in this study to defend the integrity and specificity of the Latin American essay and culture are Inca Garcilaso de la Vega's affirmation of the values of the continent's indigenous pre-columbian heritage, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento's discursive reinvention of South America, and Jose Marti's notion of hibridez—a cultural and racial complex mixture rooted in the region's history—as an affirmation of a continental Latin American cultural identity. This thesis demonstrates that since Latin American essays diverge thematically from colonialist discourse, studies of the origins of the Latin American essay do not have to perpetuate the colonialist legacy.

En el presente trabajo de investigación se sostendrá lo siguiente: Torres Naharro es un escritor de piezas teatrales y Torres Naharro es un hombre de teatro. No se trata aquí de una redundancia, pues: «Si el teatro es teatro, lo es solamente cuando se realiza como ceremonia en el momento de la representación. Los textos que conservamos no son más que literatura dramática que guarda en su interior una virtualidad de representación, una posibilidad de llegar a ser teatro». (Hermenegildo, 1990, 10). Sin embargo, si no conocemos, o intentamos suponer, aquello que puede haber sido la representación, difícilmente lograremos abarcar el significado profundo que estos textos implícitamente arrastran consigo. Optamos, por lo tanto, por el término contigüidades y éstas en Naharro son muchas: lo culto y lo popular comparten espacios contiguos, la representación misma se realiza en una contigüidad espacial, la intertextualidad medieval y renacentista contiguamente se expresan en la escritura dramática. El teatro es un ejemplo perfecto de unión entre distintas formas de producción cultural ya que utiliza conjuntamente varias formas de comunicación. Como tal se convierte en un objeto de estudio privilegiado del hecho dramatúrgico a comienzos del s. XVI.