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This work focuses on measuring the quality of stochastic dominance approx- imation. A measure of non-dominance is developed to quantify the error caused by assuming that a stochastic dominance relationship holds even when it does not. It is computed exactly for uniform, normal, and exponential distribution, and a numerical study is performed to estimate its values for log-normal and gamma distribution. Portfolio optimization problems involving stochastic dom- inance constraints are also presented. They are applied to real-life data using monthly returns of twelve assets captured by the German stock index DAX. The end of this work focuses on the computation of the measure of non-dominance for the optimal portfolio with respect to the second-order stochastic dominance. 1

Over the last few decades there has been a growing trend in scholarship which has focused upon conceptualisations of gender in the representations of characters in medieval narrative literature. Thus far, depictions of women have received a disproportionate amount of attention to the side-lining of the man, although recently the man has slowly been reinstated. However, questions as to the nature of masculinity and what behaviours constituted an appropriate expression of a man's manliness in the sagas have remained. In this dissertation, I first set out to identify a foundation masculinity from which other representations of masculinity can be said to derive. Two behavioural principles are defined (the ability to provide and the ability to protect) before being explored primarily in the representations of kings and martial champions in a selection of medieval Norse and Irish sagas. Discussion of kings focuses upon the literary depictions of Conchobor mac Nessa and Óláfr Haraldsson, while for the martial champions, representations of Cú Chulainn, Caílte mac Rónáin and characters within four Norse sagas (Njáls saga, Fóstbroeðra saga, Bósa saga ok Herrauðs and Ọrvar-Odds saga) are examined. Given that wider gender studies highlights that a number of variables affect depictions of gender in the medieval sagas, a comparative approach allows scope for an exploration into the impact of geographical location on expressions of masculinity. However, the main research question of this dissertation centres upon an inquiry into the role that status plays in depictions of manliness in characters from the saga. While making a judgement upon the degree of influence of this particular factor, other variables affecting the formation of gender – such as textual purpose and genre – are also discussed.

Article 82 is traditionally analysed as a tool to integrate and liberalise the European Single Market and to protect competition from distortion. As such there is no comprehensive discussion of the tensions that lie at the centre of the objective of protecting competition in the current rethinking of Article 82. With regard to exclusionary abuses, DG Competition has articulated that the main objective of Article 82 is the protection of competition in the market as a means of enhancing consumer welfare and of ensuring an efficient allocation of resources. This statement may conflict with some of the case law protecting the economic freedom of the market players derived from ordoliberalism. The latter is a well respected German legal tradition that holds both that government needs to be restrained from abuse of power, and that the free market has its limits. Economic rights deserve protection and vigilance is needed to ensure economic power is not misused or abused, not only in the interests of consumer welfare, but also in the interests of the economic liberty of the individual. This thesis considers the tension between the goals of protecting economic freedom and the promotion of consumer welfare in the application of Article 82. Presupposing that economic freedom and consumer welfare are in opposition to one another, such tension is only set to intensify and must be given appropriate weight in considering the extent to which DG Competition can or should try to move to a consumer welfare standard. Changing the interpretation of protection of competition from economic freedom to consumer welfare within Article 82 can undermine a fundamental right if economic freedom is considered a fundamental right in the Community legal order. However, consumer welfare can also be seen as an opportunity, if properly debated or agreed to by the ECJ, to adopt a more economics-based approach to Article 82.

This research studies two modelling techniques that help seek optimal strategies in financial risk management. Both are based on the stochastic programming methodology. The first technique is concerned with market risk management in portfolio selection problems; the second technique contributes to operational risk management by optimally allocating workforce from a managerial perspective. The first model involves multiperiod decisions (portfolio rebalancing) for an asset and liability management problem and deals with the usual uncertainty of investment returns and future liabilities. Therefore it is well-suited to a stochastic programming approach. A stochastic dominance concept is applied to control the risk of underfunding. A small numerical example and a backtest are provided to demonstrate advantages of this new model which includes stochastic dominance constraints over the basic model. Adding stochastic dominance constraints comes with a price: it complicates the structure of the underlying stochastic program. Indeed, new constraints create a link between variables associated with different scenarios of the same time stage. This destroys the usual tree-structure of the constraint matrix in the stochastic program and prevents the application of standard stochastic programming approaches such as (nested) Benders decomposition and progressive hedging. A structure-exploiting interior point method is applied to this problem. Computational results on medium scale problems with sizes reaching about one million variables demonstrate the efficiency of the specialised solution technique. The second model deals with operational risk from human origin. Unlike market risk that can be handled in a financial manner (e.g. insurances, savings, derivatives), the treatment of operational risks calls for a “managerial approach”. Consequently, we propose a new way of dealing with operational risk, which relies on the well known Aggregate Planning Model. To illustrate this idea, we have adapted this model to the case of a back office of a bank specialising in the trading of derivative products. Our contribution corresponds to several improvements applied to stochastic programming modelling. First, the basic model is transformed into a multistage stochastic program in order to take into account the randomness associated with the volume of transaction demand and with the capacity of work provided by qualified and non-qualified employees over the planning horizon. Second, as advocated by Basel II, we calculate the probability distribution based on a Bayesian Network to circumvent the difficulty of obtaining data which characterises uncertainty in operations. Third, we go a step further by relaxing the traditional assumption in stochastic programming that imposes a strict independence between the decision variables and the random elements. Comparative results show that in general these improved stochastic programming models tend to allocate more human expertise in order to hedge operational risks. The dual solutions of the stochastic programs are exploited to detect periods and nodes that are at risk in terms of expertise availability.

Differences in cerebral lateralization of verbal and nonverbal stimuli between left- and right-handed good readers and left- and right-handed reading-disabled children were examined. The study utilized the dichotic listening paradigm and examined the effects of directed attention on the processing of consonant-vowel (CV) and tonal stimuli by the four groups. The sixty subjects included fifteen right-handed good readers (eleven females and four males, mean age 10-3), fifteen left-handed good readers (eight females and seven males, mean age 10-5), fifteen right-handed reading-disabled children (six females and nine males, mean age 10-5), and fifteen left-handed reading-disabled children (four females and eleven males, mean age 10-8). All left-handed subjects had sinistral relatives. A three-factorial analysis of variance resulted in a significant left ear advantage (LEA) for tonal stimuli across all directed attention conditions for all groups. When presented with CV stimuli, the right-handed good readers produced a significant right ear advantage (REA) across all attentional conditions. The left-handed good readers and left-handed reading-disabled children were left ear (LE) dominant in the free recall and directed left conditions but produced a shift toward the right ear (RE) during the directed right condition. Right-handed reading-disabled children demonstrated a REA during free recall and directed right but were able to direct attention to the LE in the directed left condition. The study provided initial findings on the auditory processing of simple tonal stimuli among anomalous groups of children and documented the strong LEA found in previous studies of adult subjects. Verbal processing results for right-handed good readers and reading-disabled children confirmed previous findings with these populations. Reversed verbal processing (right hemisphere) was documented in both left-handed groups in two of the experimental conditions. The results provide additional support for the structural theory of lateralization and suggest reversed or bilaterialized processing abilities for language in strongly left-handed good reader children. Components of the attentional bias model are necessary to explain the effects of directed attention on the auditory perceptual asymmetry found in the reading-disabled groups.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

As human populations increase and city borders grow, many animals have to modify their foraging behaviours to exploit evolutionarily novel urban food sources that could aid their survival. Neophobia, the fear of novelty, can lead to missed opportunities in these cases. Novelty is therefore expected to elicit different responses in urban and rural populations, a difference that has been frequently studied, but with mixed results. The main objective of my thesis was to study the novelty response of wild black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) in ecologically relevant conditions while controlling for individual characteristics and potential differences in foraging group size. I predicted that urban black-capped chickadees would be more likely to initially contact novelty than rural chickadees, and that subordinates and juveniles would be more likely to first contact novelty than dominants and adults, respectively. I ran replicated experiments using three novelty types (object, colour, or food) on six sites, during which I registered feeder choice of 71 tagged individuals. I found that urban chickadees showed less neophobia than their rural counterparts, the latter initially contacting the familiar feeder before approaching the novel feeder, while the former were equally likely to contact any feeder. There was no significant effect of an individual’s dominance, age or sex on its first choice of feeder, nor was there an effect of novelty type. Overall, my results suggest that urban chickadees exhibit less neophobia than their rural counterparts, because they have generally learned to tolerate novelty in their habitat and/or they have adapted to live in an environment that rewards low neophobia.

by Diana Robertson-Dunn. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-132). / Bibliography --- p.viii / Summary --- p.ix / List of Tables --- p.xi / List of Figures --- p.xi / Chapter Chapter One --- Introduction / Chapter 1.1. --- Cerebral asymmetry --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2. --- Functional asymmetry / Chapter 1.2.1. --- Cerebral dominance and laterality --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2.2. --- Speech --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2.3. --- Handedness --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3. --- Morphological asymmetry --- p.4 / Chapter Chapter Two --- Literature review and aim of the research / Chapter 2.1. --- Scope of the literature search --- p.6 / Chapter 2.2. --- Asymmetries of the cerebral hemispheres / Chapter 2.2.1. --- Introduction --- p.6 / Chapter 2.2.2. --- Weight assessments at post-mortem --- p.6 / Chapter 2.2.3. --- Volume assessments at post-mortem --- p.7 / Chapter 2.2.4. --- Volume assessments from CT and MR images --- p.8 / Chapter 2.2.5. --- Summary --- p.11 / Chapter 2.3. --- Asymmetries of the temporal lobes and the Sylvian fissures / Chapter 2.3.1. --- Introduction --- p.12 / Chapter 2.3.2. --- Asymmetries identified at post-mortem --- p.12 / Chapter 2.3.3. --- Asymmetries identified from arteriograms --- p.17 / Chapter 2.3.4. --- Asymmetries identified on CT and MR images --- p.18 / Chapter 2.3.5. --- Summary --- p.21 / Chapter 2.4. --- Asymmetries of the occipital and frontal lobes / Chapter 2.4.1. --- Introduction --- p.22 / Chapter 2.4.2. --- Asymmetry of the occipital lobes --- p.22 / Chapter 2.4.3. --- Asymmetry of the frontal lobes --- p.24 / Chapter 2.4.4. --- Asymmetries of both occipital and frontal lobes in vitro --- p.26 / Chapter 2.4.5. --- Asymmetries of both occipital and frontal lobes in vivo --- p.28 / Chapter 2.4.6. --- Summary --- p.35 / Chapter 2.5. --- Reported levels of left handedness / Chapter 2.5.1. --- Introduction --- p.37 / Chapter 2.5.2. --- Worldwide assessment of handedness --- p.37 / Chapter 2.5.3. --- Use of left hand for writing --- p.39 / Chapter 2.5.4. --- Use of the left hand for writing amongst Chinese in Taiwan and Hong Kong --- p.39 / Chapter 2.5.5. --- Summary --- p.41 / Chapter 2.6. --- Reported differences amongst Chinese and other racesin behavioural and morphological asymmetries / Chapter 2.6.1. --- Introduction --- p.41 / Chapter 2.6.2. --- Racial differences of brain morphology in vitro --- p.42 / Chapter 2.6.3. --- Racial differences of brain morphology in vivo --- p.42 / Chapter 2.6.4. --- Racial differences relating to speech --- p.44 / Chapter 2.6.5. --- Chinese attitudes to use of the left and right hands --- p.44 / Chapter 2.6.6. --- Summary --- p.44 / Chapter 2.7. --- Choice of method / Chapter 2.7.1. --- Choice of CT for morphological brain measurements --- p.45 / Chapter 2.7.2. --- Choice of linear measurements to assess morphological asymmetries --- p.46 / Chapter 2.7.3. --- Selection of subjects for handedness --- p.47 / Chapter 2.7.4. --- Selection of method for handedness assessment --- p.47 / Chapter 2.8. --- Justification for this research --- p.48 / Chapter 2.9. --- Aim and objectives of the research / Chapter 2.9.1. --- Aim of the research --- p.49 / Chapter 2.9.2. --- Objectives of the research --- p.50 / Chapter Chapter Three --- Methods / Chapter 3.1. --- Measurements of the cerebral hemispheres / Chapter 3.1.1. --- Selection of subjects --- p.51 / Chapter 3.1.2. --- Computed tomographic equipment used --- p.51 / Chapter 3.1.3. --- Exposure factors and pixel size --- p.52 / Chapter 3.1.4. --- Position of the subject for routine brain scan --- p.53 / Chapter 3.1.5. --- Exclusion criteria --- p.54 / Chapter 3.1.6. --- Measurements of the frontal and occipital lobes --- p.54 / Chapter 3.1.7. --- Measurements of the mid-cerebral region --- p.56 / Chapter 3.1.8. --- Division of subjects by age --- p.57 / Chapter 3.1.9. --- Reproducibility of width measurements --- p.58 / Chapter 3.1.10. --- Decimal places --- p.59 / Chapter 3.1.11. --- Assumptions --- p.59 / Chapter 3.2. --- Assessment of handedness in three age groups / Chapter 3.2.1. --- Rational behind choice of three groups --- p.63 / Chapter 3.2.2. --- Students aged 19-22 years --- p.64 / Chapter 3.2.3. --- Children aged 6-7 years --- p.64 / Chapter 3.2.4. --- Children aged 4-5 years --- p.65 / Chapter 3.3. --- Analysis of data / Chapter 3.3.1. --- Distribution of width measurements --- p.65 / Chapter 3.3.2. --- The affect of age on the data --- p.66 / Chapter 3.3.3. --- Asymmetry of both frontal and occipital lobes --- p.66 / Chapter 3.3.4. --- Skew Index --- p.66 / Chapter 3.3.5. --- "Significance of ""Positive skew"" and ""Negative skew""" --- p.67 / Chapter 3.3.6. --- Analysis of data for Skew index --- p.69 / Chapter Chapter Four --- Results / Chapter 4.1. --- "Distribution of the width measurements from left and right sides of the occipital,frontal and mid-cerebral regions" / Chapter 4.1.1. --- Introduction --- p.70 / Chapter 4.1.2. --- The mid-cerebral regions --- p.70 / Chapter 4.1.2.1. --- Distribution of widths from the left mid-cerebral region --- p.71 / Chapter 4.1.2.2. --- Distribution of widths from the right mid-cerebral region --- p.72 / Chapter 4.1.2.3. --- Comparison of left and right widths --- p.73 / Chapter 4.1.3. --- The frontal lobes --- p.74 / Chapter 4.1.3.1. --- Distribution of widths from the left frontal lobe --- p.74 / Chapter 4.1.3.2. --- Distribution of widths from the right frontal lobe --- p.75 / Chapter 4.1.3.3. --- Comparison of left and right widths --- p.76 / Chapter 4.1.4. --- The occipital lobes --- p.77 / Chapter 4.1.4.1. --- Distribution of widths from the left occipital lobe --- p.77 / Chapter 4.1.4.2. --- Distribution of widths from the right occipital lobe --- p.78 / Chapter 4.1.4.3. --- Comparison of left and right widths --- p.79 / Chapter 4.1.5. --- Summary of the means and standard deviations of widths --- p.80 / Chapter 4.1.6. --- Correlation between left and right sides --- p.81 / Chapter 4.1.7. --- Correlation of size of regions with age --- p.81 / Chapter 4.1.8. --- Summary --- p.82 / Chapter 4.2. --- Measurements examined as a function of age / Chapter 4.2.1. --- The mid-cerebral regions --- p.83 / Chapter 4.2.1.1. --- The left mid-cerebral region of all age groups --- p.83 / Chapter 4.2.1.2. --- The right mid-cerebral region of all age groups --- p.85 / Chapter 4.2.2. --- The frontal lobes --- p.86 / Chapter 4.2.2.1. --- The left frontal lobe of all age groups --- p.86 / Chapter 4.2.2.2. --- The right frontal lobe of all age groups --- p.87 / Chapter 4.2.3. --- The occipital lobes --- p.88 / Chapter 4.2.3.1. --- The left occipital lobe of all age groups --- p.88 / Chapter 4.2.3.2. --- The right occipital lobe of all age groups --- p.89 / Chapter 4.2.4. --- Summary --- p.90 / Chapter 4.3. --- Asymmetry of the frontal and occipital lobes and Skew Index / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Asymmetry of the frontal and occipital lobes --- p.91 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Introduction to 'Skew index' --- p.92 / Chapter 4.3.3. --- Positive Skew 226}0ب and 226}0بNegative Skew' --- p.93 / Chapter 4.3.4. --- Distribution of 'Skew index' --- p.95 / Chapter 4.3.5. --- Skew index' as a function of age --- p.96 / Chapter 4.3.5.1. --- Distribution of 226}0بSkew index' of subjects aged 0-9 years (group 1) --- p.96 / Chapter 4.3.5.2. --- Distribution of 'Skew index' of subjects aged 10-19 years (group 2) --- p.97 / Chapter 4.3.5.3. --- Distribution of 'Skew index' of all subjects divided by decade (groups 1-9) --- p.98 / Chapter 4.3.6. --- Summary --- p.99 / Chapter 4.4. --- Handedness --- p.100 / Chapter Chapter Five --- Discussion / Chapter 5.1. --- Morphological asymmetries of the brain / Chapter 5.1.1. --- Asymmetry of the frontal and occipital lobes --- p.101 / Chapter 5.1.2. --- Asymmetry of the temporal lobes --- p.103 / Chapter 5.1.3. --- Skew of the cerebral hemispheres --- p.103 / Chapter 5.2. --- "Findings from the younger age groups, aged under 20 years" / Chapter 5.2.1. --- Width measurements from subjects aged under 10 years --- p.104 / Chapter 5.2.2. --- Skew measurements of subjects aged under 10 years --- p.105 / Chapter 5.2.3. --- Width measurements of subjects aged from 10 to 19 years --- p.106 / Chapter 5.2.4. --- Skew measurements of subjects aged from 10 to 19 years --- p.106 / Chapter 5.3. --- Findings from the adults aged from 20 to 79 years / Chapter 5.3.1. --- Size of the cerebral regions --- p.107 / Chapter 5.3.2. --- Skew measurements of subjects aged from 20 to 79 years --- p.107 / Chapter 5.4. --- Findings from the oldest adults aged over 80 years / Chapter 5.4.1. --- An atypical group of subjects --- p.107 / Chapter 5.4.2. --- Size of the cerebral regions --- p.108 / Chapter 5.4.3. --- Cerebral skew in subjects aged over 80 years --- p.109 / Chapter 5.5. --- "Limitations, problems, bias, artefacts and main weakness" / Chapter 5.5.1. --- Limitations of the occipital and frontal measurements --- p.111 / Chapter 5.5.2. --- Linear measurements and possible limitations --- p.111 / Chapter 5.5.3. --- Problems encountered with cerebral measurements --- p.112 / Chapter 5.5.4. --- Potential bias in selection of subjects for assessing morphological asymmetry of the brain --- p.113 / Chapter 5.5.5. --- Potential source of error from CT artefacts --- p.113 / Chapter 5.5.6. --- Main weakness of this study --- p.113 / Chapter 5.6. --- Handedness / Chapter 5.6.1. --- Cerebral asymmetries --- p.114 / Chapter 5.6.2. --- Numbers of left-handers amongst the Chinese --- p.114 / Chapter 5.6.3. --- Left handedness amongst the Chinese in Taiwan --- p.114 / Chapter 5.6.4. --- Comparison of handedness amongst different races --- p.115 / Chapter 5.6.5. --- Biasing influences on Chinese children at school --- p.116 / Chapter 5.6.6. --- Biasing influences on Chinese children at home --- p.117 / Chapter 5.6.7. --- Handedness in two generations --- p.117 / Chapter 5.6.8. --- Potential bias in selection of subjects for assessing handedness --- p.118 / Chapter 5.6.9. --- Summary of results of handedness --- p.118 / Chapter 5.7. --- Extensions of the study / Chapter 5.7.1. --- Assessment of left-handedness amongst Chinese of Hong Kong --- p.119 / Chapter 5.7.2. --- Establishment of the association between handedness in the population and morphological brain asymmetry --- p.119 / Chapter Chapter Six --- Conclusion / Chapter 6.0 --- Conclusion --- p.121 / References --- p.123 / Acknowledgements --- p.133