Prior research has provided evidence that the disclosure of internal controls material weaknesses (ICMWs) is a powerful input attribute in misstatement prediction. However, the disclosure of ICMWs is imperfect in capturing internal control quality because many firms with control problems fail to disclose ICMWs on a timely basis. The purpose of this study is to examine whether the existence of ICMWs, including both the disclosed and the undisclosed ICMWs, improves misstatement prediction. I develop a two-stage machine learning model for misstatement prediction with the predicted existence of ICMWs as the intermediate concept; my model that outperforms the model with the ICMW disclosures. I also find that the model incorporating both the predicted existence and the disclosure of ICMWs outperforms those with only the disclosure or the predicted existence of ICMWs. These results hold across different input attributes, machine learning methods, and prediction periods, and training-test samples splitting methods. Finally, this study shows that the two-stage models outperform the one-stage models in predictions related to financial reporting quality.

The aim of this dissertation is to provide a robust theory of environmental ethics which can offer nuanced accounts of value while evading the central problem of subjective disagreement that plagues other theories. The theory in question has many names, but the best abstraction of it can be found in the term "ontocentrism." Like pure biocentrism, this theory locates a monist center of value around which all other theorizations may orbit. Unlike biocentrism, however, this theory is not satisfied by anything short of the most basic commonality between valuable entities. That most basic value is existence, and it is taken to be the ground for all other values. This proposed theory, along with the methodology suggested, will be argued to be the next, if not final, step in theorization about environmental ethics. Due to the ubiquity of existence, however, this monism, as will be shown in detail later, paradoxically also appears to behave as a pluralist account of value would, wherein different positive accounts of value(s) are all affirmed. Therefore, despite being objectivist about value, it makes short work of the relativistic situations that are often brought to bear against objectivist accounts. This theory does not wish to abstract from the details of the world, and thus aim for some unattainable lack of bias, but rather it incorporates as many details about the world as possible such that any biases that may exist will be overwhelmed by the diversity of inputs which enter it. Any and all positive accounts of value have a prima-facie reason to be taken seriously, if not ultimately upheld. Since there is such a multiplicity of potential referents towards which value may be ascribed, there seems to be only, if one is not to impose preference on others, one way of impartially ascribing value; and that is equally. Thus, more complex entities will tend to have a greater number of potential referents of value, and therefore more value under this system. The intrinsic existential value of some specific entity can then be summed with the intrinsic existential value that that entity's continued existence will create or destroy in the specified future, often called extrinsic value, and this yields the total value that can inform our decisions.

Ce mémoire se veut une recherche exploratoire visant à établir des bases théoriques et épistémologiques, tant sur des plans philosophiques que sociologiques, pour l'étude du sens de l'existence et ses rapports avec le monde social. L'existence et le sens sont d'abord analysés de manière à situer ce qui fonde le social et à comprendre ce qui est sous-jacent à la représentation. Notre vision du sens de l'existence est ensuite exposée, donnant une large place à l'exploration, au dépassement et à l'évolution, elle sert en outre de point de référence pour l'interprétation des différentes représentations sociales du sens de l'existence. L'analyse se resserre enfin sur les manières dont on se construit une représentation pour culminer dans ses rapports avec la société, voyant dans la culture un champ d'interactions entre unités idéelles où se dessinent un ou des courants sociaux dominants. Il en ressort du mémoire des bases pour une théorique sociologique se centrant sur la représentation, qui comprend essentiellement la société et son devenir à partir des finalités et des valeurs collectives qui en découlent.

This master's thesis, titled "Space as a Meaning-Making Factor in Children's and Young Adult Literature", concentrates on building and projection of literary space in the literature specifically intended for children and young adults. It has literary analytical and literary interpretive character and is based on theoretical works on the topic of literary space. This thesis is divided into two parts. The first part covers the theoretical conception of literary space. The second part consists of examinations of literary works, first of the world's classics of children's and young adult literature (The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren, The Neverending Story by Michael Ende, Through a Glass, Darkly by Jostein Gaarder) and then of the works of contemporary Czech children's and young adult literature Lenka a Nelka neboli AHA ('Lenka and Nelka or AHA') by Daniela Fischer, Spící město, Spící spravedlnost a Spící tajemství ('Sleeping City', 'Sleeping Justice', and 'Sleeping Secret') by Martin Vopěnka and Soví zpěv ('Owl's Song') by Iva Procházková. In the theoretical part, the conception of literary space is defined from the perspective of literary topology. The definition of this concept is based on literary studies on the topic of literary topology, mainly on the essays Místa s Tajemstvím ('Places...

Au regard des débats actuels polarisés autour du concept de « personne », cette recherche se donne comme but d’explorer l’approche du théologien orthodoxe Dumitru Stăniloae relative à la personne dans son versant anthropologique. À cet effet, le présent travail tâche d’une part de repérer et de révéler les éléments qui édifient sa réflexion de la personne, à savoir les composantes de la personnéité humaine, et d’autre part, les sources à la fois théologiques et philosophiques ayant inspiré et influencé de manière déterminante notre auteur. Expression d’une jonction de la théologie patristique orientale (byzantine) et de la pensée moderne, la personne comporte ainsi, chez Staniloae, une structure ontologique-communautaire, dont le pôle ontologique plonge ses racines dans l’héritage des Pères et le pôle relationnel ou communautaire, dans les avancées de la réflexion moderne : associée à l’hypostase des anciens, la personne se définit comme mode de subsistance ou d’existence réelle de l’être, tandis qu’assimilée au sujet et au moi modernes, elle se présente comme facteur conscient et libre en relation d’amour avec autrui. Représentée donc comme subsistance en soi et existence en communion, la personne manifeste, chez notre auteur, l’aboutissement de toute une série de confluences : du passé et du présent, de l’Orient et de l’Occident, de la théologie et de la philosophie, de l’orthodoxie et des deux autres confessions chrétiennes. / Considering the current debates polarized around the concept of "person", this research aims to explore the approach of the orthodox theologian Dumitru Staniloae relative to the person in its anthropological side. In this purpose, the present work tries on one hand to identify and to reveal the elements which compose his reflection of the person, namely the components of the human personhood, and on the other hand, the theological and philosophical sources having inspired and influenced our author. As a junction of the oriental patristic theology and the modern thought, the person contains, at Staniloae, an ontological-communitarian structure. The ontological pole plunges its roots into the inheritance of the Fathers and the relational or communitarian pole, in the progress of the modern reflection: associated with the hypostasis, the person is defined as mode of subsistence or real existence of the being, whereas likened to the subject and to the modern I, it appears as conscious and free factor in relation of love with others. Thus represented as subsistence in itself and existence in communion, the concept of person is the outcome of a whole series of confluences: of the past and of the present, of the East and of the West, of the theology and of the philosophy, of the orthodoxy and of two other Christian confessions.

A obra de Ibn Arab (1165 d.C. /560 H.) é bastante extensa, compreendendo cerca de 400 títulos, dos quais Kitb fu½½ al-¬ikam (O livro dos engastes das sabedorias) destaca-se como um dos principais escritos no qual o autor apresenta sua concepção metafísica, de forma mais sistematizada, como sua teoria dos nomes divinos através dos quais a essência do real procede, manifestando todos os existentes, assim como trata, de maneira aprofundada, do significado dos profetas e das sabedorias por eles transmitidas, propondo uma conotação totalmente metafísica para o profético. A profecia assume, nessa obra, uma importância fundamental, ela é apresentada como a condição de possibilidade da existência determinada, assim como também a condição de possibilidade do conhecimento da essência do real, ou seja, a condição de possibilidade de conhecer a realidade primeira. É interessante notar ainda a riqueza e a complexidade discursiva, na qual vida e obra encontram-se implicadas nesse processo de existenciação, de modo que tanto o autor quanto sua obra recebem estatutos muito significativos e particulares referentes ao sistema metafísico apresentado. Servindo-se da filosofia, da teologia e da mística arabo-islâmicas, oferecendo, com isso, um pensamento, embora complexo, de alcance universal que reconhece todos os profetas do ciclo histórico e as diversas tradições reveladas, a hermenêutica de Ibn Arab evidencia-se em muito original, promovendo um diálogo criativo e conciliador entre diversas culturas, permanecendo, até os dias de hoje, profundamente rico, inovador e inspirador para as mais diversas culturas e domínios do pensamento. / The work of Ibn \'Arab (1165 AD / H. 560) is quite extensive, comprising about 400 titles, of which Kitb fu½½ al-¬ikam (The Book of the bezels of wisdom) stands out as one of the major writings in which the author presents his metaphysical conception in a more systematic way as his theory of divine names, by which the essence of real conceives, showing all as he deeply addresses, the meaning of the prophets and the wisdom transmitted by them, proposing an entirely metaphysical connotation for the prophetic. On this work, the prophecy itself assumes a fundamental importance. It is presented as the condition of possibility of determined existence, as well as the condition of possibility of knowledge of the essence of real, i.e.: the condition of possibility of knowing the first reality. It is quite interesting to notice the richness and discursive complexity, in which life and the paper are implied in this existence process, so that both the author and his work receive very significant and specific status relating to the metaphysical system presented. Making use of philosophy, theology and the Arab-Islamic mysticism, offering thereby a thought, though complex, universal reach that recognizes all the prophets of the historical cycle and several revealed traditions, the hermeneutic of Ibn \'Arab evidences itself as being very original, promoting a creative and conciliatory dialogue among several cultures and remaining until this day, deeply rich, innovative and inspiring for several cultures and thought domains.

The thesis is divided into six chapters. In the first part, man and time were interested i philosophy. In the second part, we dealt with human being and human existence. In the third chapter we deal with context of time and history and their importance for man and human society. The fourth chapter tries to capture the meaning of human existence and follows another chapter that tries to find out possible causes that can lead to a loss of meaning of life. The last part, devoted to free time a leisure education, aimed to show the possibilities and limits of a free time educator in helping to meaningfully live.

Dans cette thèse, nous étudions des modèles mathématiques concernant certains problèmes d'écoulement de fluide à densité variable. Le premier chapitre résume l'ensemble de la thèse et se concentre sur les résultats obtenus, la nouveauté et la comparaison avec la littérature existante. Dans le deuxième chapitre, nous étudions la stabilisation locale des équations non homogènes de Navier-Stokes dans un canal 2d autour du flot de Poiseuille. Nous concevons un contrôle feedback de la vitesse qui agit sur l'entrée du domaine de sorte que la vitesse et la densité du fluide soient stabilisées autour du flot de Poiseuille, à condition que la densité initiale soit donnée par une constante additionnée d'une perturbation dont le support se situe loin du bord latéral du canal. Dans le troisième chapitre, nous étudions un système couplant les équations de Navier-Stokes compressibles à une structure élastique située à la frontière du domaine fluide. Nous prouvons l'existence locale de solutions solides pour ce système couplé. Dans le quatrième chapitre, notre objectif est d'étudier la nulle- contrôlabilité d'un problemè d'interaction fluide-structure linéarisé dans un canal bi dimensional. L'écoulement du fluide est ici modélisé par les équations de Navier-Stokes compressibles. En ce qui concerne la structure, nous considérons une poutre de type Euler-Bernoulli amortie située sur une partie du bord. Dans ce chapitre, nous établissons une inégalité d'observabilité pour le problème considéré d'interaction fluid-structure linéarisé qui constitue le premier pas vers la preuve de la nulle contrôlabilité du système. / In this thesis we study mathematical models concerning some fluid flow problems with variable density. The first chapter is a summary of the entire thesis and focuses on the results obtained, novelty and comparison with the existing literature. In the second chapter we study the local stabilization of the non-homogeneous Navier-Stokes equations in a 2d channel around Poiseuille flow. We design a feedback control of the velocity which acts on the inflow boundary of the domain such that both the fluid velocity and density are stabilized around Poiseuille flow provided the initial density is given by a constant added with a perturbation, such that the perturbation is supported away from the lateral boundary of the channel. In the third chapter we prove the local in time existence of strong solutions for a system coupling the compressible Navier-Stokes equations with an elastic structure located at the boundary of the fluid domain. In the fourth chapter our objective is to study the null controllability of a linearized compressible fluid structure interaction problem in a 2d channel where the structure is elastic and located at the fluid boundary. In this chapter we establish an observability inequality for the linearized fluid structure interaction problem under consideration which is the first step towards the direction of proving the null controllability of the system.

Hydrogen fuel cells are devices used to generate electricity from the electrochemical reaction between air and hydrogen gas. An attractive advantage of these devices is that their byproduct is water, which is very safe to the environment. However, hydrogen fuel cells still lack some improvements in terms of increasing their life time and electricity production, decreasing power losses, and optimizing their operating conditions. In this thesis, the cathode part of the hydrogen fuel cell will be considered. This part mainly consists of an air gas channel and a gas diffusion layer. To simulate the fluid dynamics taking place in the cathode, we present two models, a general model and a simple model both based on a set of conservation laws governing the fluid dynamics and chemical reactions. A numerical method to solve these models is presented and verified in terms of accuracy. We also show that both models give similar results and validate the simple model by recovering a polarization curve obtained experimentally. Next, a shape optimization problem is introduced to find an optimal design of the air gas channel. This problem is defined from the simple model and a cost functional, $E$, that measures efficiency factors. The objective of this functional is to maximize the electricity production, uniformize the reaction rate in the catalytic layer and minimize the pressure drop in the gas channel. The impact of the gas channel shape optimization is investigated with a series of test cases in long and short fuel cell geometries. In most instances, the optimal design improves efficiency in on- and off-design operating conditions by shifting the polarization curve vertically and to the right. The second primary goal of the thesis is to analyze mathematical issues related to the introduced shape optimization problem. This involves existence and uniqueness of the solution for the presented model and differentiability of the state variables with respect to the domain of the air channel. The optimization problem is solved using the gradient method, and hence the gradient of $E$ must be found. The gradient of $E$ is obtained by introducing an adjoint system of equations, which is coupled with the state problem, namely the simple model of the fuel cell. The existence and uniqueness of the solution for the adjoint system is shown, and the shape differentiability of the cost functional $E$ is proved.

Hydrogen fuel cells are devices used to generate electricity from the electrochemical reaction between air and hydrogen gas. An attractive advantage of these devices is that their byproduct is water, which is very safe to the environment. However, hydrogen fuel cells still lack some improvements in terms of increasing their life time and electricity production, decreasing power losses, and optimizing their operating conditions. In this thesis, the cathode part of the hydrogen fuel cell will be considered. This part mainly consists of an air gas channel and a gas diffusion layer. To simulate the fluid dynamics taking place in the cathode, we present two models, a general model and a simple model both based on a set of conservation laws governing the fluid dynamics and chemical reactions. A numerical method to solve these models is presented and verified in terms of accuracy. We also show that both models give similar results and validate the simple model by recovering a polarization curve obtained experimentally. Next, a shape optimization problem is introduced to find an optimal design of the air gas channel. This problem is defined from the simple model and a cost functional, $E$, that measures efficiency factors. The objective of this functional is to maximize the electricity production, uniformize the reaction rate in the catalytic layer and minimize the pressure drop in the gas channel. The impact of the gas channel shape optimization is investigated with a series of test cases in long and short fuel cell geometries. In most instances, the optimal design improves efficiency in on- and off-design operating conditions by shifting the polarization curve vertically and to the right. The second primary goal of the thesis is to analyze mathematical issues related to the introduced shape optimization problem. This involves existence and uniqueness of the solution for the presented model and differentiability of the state variables with respect to the domain of the air channel. The optimization problem is solved using the gradient method, and hence the gradient of $E$ must be found. The gradient of $E$ is obtained by introducing an adjoint system of equations, which is coupled with the state problem, namely the simple model of the fuel cell. The existence and uniqueness of the solution for the adjoint system is shown, and the shape differentiability of the cost functional $E$ is proved.