The typical theoretical work on dividend policy suggests five possible imperfections that management should consider. They are taxes, asymmetric information, an incomplete contract, institutional constraints and transaction costs. Different from the typical framework, this dissertation is to study the optimal dividend poly with heterogeneous beliefs among investors. The first model in this study has analyzed investment/dividend policy with heterogeneous beliefs-the full information model in a frictionless economy with divergent types of shareholders. A high dividend policy is optimal with limited endowment for the optimistic investors as the stocks are sold not only to type-o investors, but also to at least one type-p investor holding some shares. A low dividend policy is appropriate with cash dividend D= X0-ao+1 is optimal as the shares are sold only to the type-o investors. Heterogeneous beliefs of investors change dividend policy given the same information even under full information. Following the Miller and Rock (1985) theory, the second model in this dissertation has analyzed heterogeneous beliefs among investors-the two period model in leading to changing a firm¡¦s optimal dividend policy. A firm¡¦s optimal dividend policy is changed not only by the ratio of the pessimistic to optimistic investors, but also heterogeneous beliefs. An increase in the ratio of pessimistic to optimistic investors will result in a higher dividend. On the other hand, as the beliefs of both optimistic and pessimistic investors increase, i.e. a new biotechnology is innovated, a relative low dividend policy is appropriate. Based on the previous analysis, the results show that optimal dividend policy with heterogeneous beliefs among investors in a firm¡¦s earnings exists under heterogeneous beliefs framework. A firm¡¦s optimal dividend policy is different from that of the MM dividend invariance theorem. It is not because of taxes, asymmetric information, incomplete contracts, institutional constraints and traction costs, but heterogeneous beliefs of investors.

The ‘Demarcation Problem’ is to mark the boundary between things that are scientific and things that are not. Philosophers have worked on this problem for a long time, and yet there is still no consensus solution. Should we continue to hope, or must we draw a more sceptical conclusion? In his paper, ‘The Demise of the Demarcation Problem’, Larry Laudan (1983) does the latter. In this thesis, I address the three arguments he gives for this conclusion. / The Pessimistic Induction: From the failure of many specific past attempts at demarcation, Laudan infers that all future attempts at demarcation will fail. For his argument to be fully convincing, Laudan needs to show that each attempt has been a complete failure, and that these failures have never led to progress in the theory of demarcation. I argue that many past attempts at demarcation have only resulted in partial failure, and many of these failures have led to some cumulative progress. So I think we can draw a more optimistic conclusion: future attempts at demarcation may be even more successful than past attempts. / The Pseudo-Problem: Laudan argues that the demarcation problem presupposes an ‘epistemic invariant’: something common to all and only the sciences, which makes them epistemically special. But, says Laudan, this presumption is false – so, by definition, the issue is merely a pseudo-problem. I find Laudan’s argument unconvincing. I present reasons for thinking that the demarcation problem does not, in fact, presuppose an extremely simple epistemic invariant. Furthermore, there may still be a satisfactory, moderately complex epistemic invariant to be found. So I do not think any false assumption is presupposed. / The New Problem: Laudan argues that we should replace the original demarcation problem with a new demarcation problem. I take this to be the problem of demarcating between well-confirmed and ill-confirmed theories. I argue that scientific status is relevant to the confirmation of theories, so the two problems are closely related. I also argue that science has other purposes; so scientific status indicates other virtues besides well-confirmedness. Thus we do want to know which theories and activities are scientific, because this will help us to decide which theories and activities to pursue. So this new demarcation problem is not a suitable replacement for the original problem. / My central question is ‘Has Laudan killed the demarcation problem?’, and my answer is ‘No!’.

The primary aim of this thesis is the consideration of neuroscientific studies regarding the localization of high-level cognitive (i.e., nonsensory and nonmotor) processes into the brain. To accomplish this aim, I briefly summarized history of the localizations which lead to the cortical localization of high-level cognitive processes. Then, I present a case study, memory consolidation to compare molecular neuroscience (MN) and cognitive neuroscience (CN) as to how they differ in their localizations. After I put forward the difference between MN and CN, I make use of Uttal&rsquo / s arguments to consider the localizations of MN and CN. His arguments resemble the underdetermination problem and pessimistic meta-induction (PMI) highly debated topic in scientific realism debate. In this respect, I examine UD and PMI with its relevance to MN and CN.

The most important factor that affects the decision making process in finance is the risk which is usually measured by variance (total risk) or systematic risk (beta). Since investors' sentiment (whether she is an optimist or pessimist) plays a very important role in the choice of beta measure, any decision made for the same asset within the same time horizon will be different for different individuals. In other words, there will neither be homogeneity of beliefs nor the rational expectation prevalent in the market due to behavioral traits. This dissertation consists of three essays. In the first essay, Investor Sentiment and Intrinsic Stock Prices, a new technical trading strategy is developed using a firm specific individual sentiment measure. This behavioral based trading strategy forecasts a range within which a stock price moves in a particular period and can be used for stock trading. Results show that sample firms trade within a range and show signals as to when to buy or sell. The second essay, Managerial Sentiment and the Value of the Firm, examines the effect of managerial sentiment on the project selection process using net present value criterion and also effect of managerial sentiment on the value of firm. Findings show that high sentiment and low sentiment managers obtain different values for the same firm before and after the acceptance of a project. The last essay, Investor Sentiment and Optimal Portfolio Selection, analyzes how the investor sentiment affects the nature and composition of the optimal portfolio as well as the performance measures. Results suggest that the choice of the investor sentiment completely changes the portfolio composition, i.e., the high sentiment investor will have a completely different choice of assets in the portfolio in comparison with the low sentiment investor. The results indicate the practical application of behavioral model based technical indicators for stock trading. Additional insights developed include the valuation of firms with a behavioral component and the importance of distinguishing portfolio performance based on sentiment factors.

abstract: This thesis addresses the following fundamental maximum throughput routing problem: Given an arbitrary edge-capacitated n-node directed network and a set of k commodities, with source-destination pairs (s_i,t_i) and demands d_i> 0, admit and route the largest possible number of commodities -- i.e., the maximum throughput -- to satisfy their demands. The main contributions of this thesis are three-fold: First, a bi-criteria approximation algorithm is presented for this all-or-nothing multicommodity flow (ANF) problem. This algorithm is the first to achieve a constant approximation of the maximum throughput with an edge capacity violation ratio that is at most logarithmic in n, with high probability. The approach used is based on a version of randomized rounding that keeps splittable flows, rather than approximating those via a non-splittable path for each commodity: This allows it to work for arbitrary directed edge-capacitated graphs, unlike most of the prior work on the ANF problem. The algorithm also works if a weighted throughput is considered, where the benefit gained by fully satisfying the demand for commodity i is determined by a given weight w_i>0. Second, a derandomization of the algorithm is presented that maintains the same approximation bounds, using novel pessimistic estimators for Bernstein's inequality. In addition, it is shown how the framework can be adapted to achieve a polylogarithmic fraction of the maximum throughput while maintaining a constant edge capacity violation, if the network capacity is large enough. Lastly, one important aspect of the randomized and derandomized algorithms is their simplicity, which lends to efficient implementations in practice. The implementations of both randomized rounding and derandomized algorithms for the ANF problem are presented and show their efficiency in practice. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Computer Science 2020

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Inferences from scientific success to the approximate truth of successful theories remain central to the most influential arguments for scientific realism. Challenges to such inferences, however, based on radical discontinuities within the history of science, have motivated a distinctive style of revision to the original argument. Conceding the historical claim, selective realists argue that accompanying even the most revolutionary change is the retention of significant parts of replaced theories, and that a realist attitude towards the systematically retained constituents of our scientific theories can still be defended. Selective realists thereby hope to secure the argument from success against apparent historical counterexamples. Independently of that objective, historical considerations have inspired a further argument for selective realism, where evidence for the retention of parts of theories is itself offered as justification for adopting a realist attitude towards them. Given the nature of these arguments from success and from retention, a reasonable expectation is that they would complement and reinforce one another, but although several theses purport to provide such a synthesis the results are often unconvincing. In this paper I reconsider the realist's favoured type of scientific success, novel success, offer a revised interpretation of the concept, and argue that a significant consequence of reconfiguring the realist's argument from success accordingly is a greater potential for its unification with the argument from retention.

The goal of this thesis is to create a financial project of Take-over Company and specify the steps that lead to its profitability. The thesis is divided into two parts. The first, theoretical section describes the calculations used, marketing plan and market analysis. The second part is practical and there is specifically described a plan how to deal with building a restaurant with bowling and beach sports pitch in the town Rakovník and what is the expected development during the first five years. Key to the success of company is the marketing plan and the use of employee benefits in the cooperating companies. The thesis should provide the appropriate basis for investor and subsequent realization of the project.

Mokslinis realizmas yra filosofinis požiūris tvirtinantis, kad mokslo teorijos teigia tiesą apie pasaulį. Šis požiūris nebūtų filosofiškai įdomus, jei jo nesiektų paneigti įvairūs filosofiniai, istoriniai ir sociologiniai kontrargumentai. Šiame darbe analizuojami Paulo Feyerabendo, Arthuro Fine‘o, Thomo S. Kuhno, Larry Laudano, Baso van Fraasseno bei socialinio konstruktyvizmo prieš mokslinį realizmą nukreipti argumentai. Vertinama, kaip šie argumentai atsilaiko prieš naujausius argumentus mokslinio realizmo naudai, pateiktus Philipo Kitcherio, Jarretto Leplino, Ilkka Niiniluoto, Stathiso Psillos ir kitų mokslinių realistų darbuose. Darbe teigiama, kad mokslinis realizmas yra nuoseklus, savo teiginius gerai pagrindžiantis, geriausiai mokslo sėkmę paaiškinantis mokslo teorijų aiškinimas ir todėl laikytinas teisingu teorinis požiūris. Mokslinis realizmas yra nuoseklus teorinis požiūris, kadangi pagrįsdamas dvi prielaidas, kad egzistuoja nuo mąstymo nepriklausomas ir tam tikrą struktūrą turintis pasaulis (ontologinė prielaida) bei kad mokslas yra pajėgus šį pasaulį pažinti (episteminė prielaida), daro išvadą apie mokslo teorijų semantiką, jog teorijos parodo, koks yra pasaulis. Mokslinis realizmas gerai pagrindžia savo teiginius ir prieš jį nukreipti argumentai nepajėgia jo paneigti. Savąjį episteminį optimizmą mokslinis realizmas pagrindžia neigdamas galimybę nubrėžti griežtą ribą tarp stebimų ir negalimų stebėti esinių ir reiškinių bei tvirtindamas abdukcijos (geriausio... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Scientific realism is a philosophical approach that claims the literal truth of scientific theories. This approach would not be philosophically interesting if there were not ample philosophical, historical and sociological arguments that would argue against it. In this thesis we evaluate the arguments of Paul Feyerabend, Arthur Fine, Thomas S. Kuhn, Larry Laudan and Bas van Fraassen as well as the challenge of social constructivists. All the counterarguments are weighed against the most up-to-date arguments for scientific realism – notably, Philip Kitcher, Jarrett Leplin, Ilkka Niiniluoto, Stathis Psillos and others. We claim that scientific realism is a consistent and soundly substantiated account of scientific theories which best explains the empirical success of scientific theories and which, therefore, is justly believed to be a truthful theoretical attitude. Scientific realism is a consistent theoretical attitude because it starts from the two premises that there is a mind independent world of a particular structure (an ontological premise) and that science is able to know this world (an epistemic premise) and concludes with a semantic thesis that scientific theories represent what the world is like. Scientific realism is a sound and well substantiated theoretical attitude because the arguments against it do not succeed to refute it. It grounds its epistemic optimism in the denial to draw a rigid line between the observable and unobservable aspects of the world and in... [to full text]

O aumento crescente no número de processadores das arquiteturas paralelas que estão no topo dos rankings de desempenho, apesar de permitir uma maior capacidade de processamento, também traz consigo um aumento na taxa de falhas diretamente proporcional ao número de processadores. Atualmente, as técnicas de tolerância a falhas com recuperação retroativa são as mais empregadas em aplicações MPI, principalmente a técnica de checkpoint coordenado. No entanto, previsões afirmam que essa última técnica será inadequada para as arquiteturas emergentes. Em contrapartida, as técnicas de log de mensagens possuem características que as tornam mais apropriadas no novo cenário que se estabelece. O presente trabalho consiste em uma proposta de log de mensagens pessimista remoto com checkpoint não-coordenado e a avaliação de desempenho da comunicação MPI sobre Publish/Subscriber no qual se baseia o log de mensagens. O trabalho compreende: um estudo das técnicas de tolerância a falhas mais empregadas em ambientes de alto desempenho e a motivação para a escolha dessa variante de log de mensagens; a proposta de log de mensagens; uma implementação de comunicação Open MPI sobre OpenAMQ e sua respectiva avaliação de desempenho com comunicação tradicional TCP/IP e com o log de mensagens pessimista local da distribuição do Open MPI. Os benchmarks utilizados foram o NetPIPE, o NAS Parallel Benchmarks e a aplicação Virginia Hydrodynamics (VH-1). / The growing number of processors in parallel architectures at the top of performance rankings allows a higher processing capacity. However, it also brings an increase in the fault rate which is directly proportional to the number of processors. Nowadays, coordinated checkpoint is the most widely used rollback technique for system recovery in the occurrence of faults in MPI applications. Nevertheless, projections point that this technique will be inappropriate for the emerging architectures. On the other hand, message logging seems to be more appropriate to this new scenario. This work consists in a proposal of pessimistic message logging (remote based) with non-coordinated checkpoint and the performance evaluation of an MPI communication mechanism that works over Publish/Subscriber channels in which the proposed message logging is based. The work is organized as following: an study of fault tolerant techniques used in HPC and the motivation for choosing this variant of message logging; a message logging proposal; an implementation of Open MPI communication over OpenAMQ; performance evaluation and comparision with the tradicional TCP/IP communication and a pessimistic message logging (sender based) from Open MPI distribution. The benchmark set is composed of NetPIPE, NAS Parallel Benchmarks and Virginia Hydrodynamics (VH-1).