Determinants of government bond spreads in new EU countries

Based on a rich database of government bond spreads and macroeconomic indicators over the period 2001-2008, we propose an empirical assessment of the role of fundamentals in driving long-term sovereign bond spreads of the new EU countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia). The results of a dynamic panel error correction model that accounts for both common long-run determinants and cross-country heterogeneities in sovereign bond spreads tend to suggest that fundamentals still matter for market’s assessment of a country creditworthiness. Countries’ levels of external debt, fiscal and current account balances, exchange and inflation rates, their degree of trade openness as well as short-term interest rate spreads play an important role in the new EU countries’ access to long-term finance. We furthermore challenge the pooled mean approach in order to check whether other factors may become relevant in the long-run for two sub-groups of countries according to the developments in their current account balances. Fiscal fundamentals seem to matter most for one group of countries, those characterised by widening external imbalances and historically high levels of spreads. In a context of heightened risk aversion and potential for spill over effects, this group of countries are more exposed to domestic sources of vulnerability as well as to swings in market perceptions of sovereign risks. JEL Classification: G12, H60, E62long-term government bond spreads, new EU countries, pooled mean group estimation

Using water, light, air and spirulina to access a wide variety of polyoxygenated compounds

A new set of completely green methods utilising air, light, water and spirulina to transform readily accessible furan substrates into a diverse range of synthetically useful polyoxygenated motifs commonly found in natural products is presented herein

La prise de conscience interculturelle dans les manuels d’espagnol langue étrangère

RésuméL’importance que représente la construction d’une compétence communicative interculturelle (Byram 1997) trouve l’une de ses applications les plus fructueuses dans l’enseignement des langues étrangères. Effectivement, dans nos sociétés globalisées, la prise de conscience interculturelle qui, d’après le Cadre Européen Commun de Références pour les Langues (CECRL) (Conseil de l’Europe 2001) figure parmi les compétences générales qu’un apprenant d’une langue étrangère doit acquérir, s’avère indispensable si l’on veut garantir une interaction réussie entre personnes de différentes cultures.La connaissance, la perception et la compréhension de la culture cible, ainsi que la prise de conscience des similitudes et différences avec la culture source favorisent le développement de la compétence interculturelle et par conséquent l’élimination des stéréotypes, tout en donnant accès à un enseignement basé sur la tolérance et le respect pour la diversité culturelle et la compréhension mutuelle.Dans ce travail, nous nous proposons de vérifier comment les manuels d’espagnol langue étrangère (ELE) contribuent à la construction de la compétence interculturelle. Pour cette raison, en premier lieu, nous exposons sommairement comment est abordé le concept d’interculturalité dans le CECRL, ainsi que dans le Plan Curriculaire de l’Institut Cervantes. Par la suite, nous nous proposons de restituer les résultats de l’analyse qu’on a menée en ce qui concerne les activités qui constituent la composante culturelle

An empirical study on the decoupling movements between corporate bond and CDS spreads

Applied to the European markets, this paper analyzes the price of credit risk on the Credit Default Swap (CDS) and corporate bond markets by comparing the sensitivity of the credit spreads on each market to systematic, idiosyncratic risk factors and liquidity. Our analysis confirms the existence of a long-run relationship between the two markets, and the tendency for CDS markets to lead corporate bond markets in terms of price discovery. We find that the outbreak of the financial turmoil in the summer of 2007 induced a substantial increase in risk aversion and a shift in the pricing of credit risk, with CDS markets becoming more sensitive to systematic risk while cash bond markets priced in more information about liquidity and idiosyncratic risk. Moreover, the financial turbulence also brought about a systematic disconnection between the two markets caused by the significant change in the lead-lag relationship, with CDS markets always leading the cash bond markets. JEL Classification: G12, G14, G15corporate bond spreads, Credit Default Swap Spreads, liquidity

Free and restrictive relative clauses in Greek*

This paper argues that the categorical status of relative clauses as DPs is related to the D/f-features of Greek C (pu). Kayne’s (1994) external determiner and associated NP-raising hypothesis are thus dispensed with. The consequences of this approach are discussed in relation to resumption in restrictive and free relative clauses.

The syntax of discourse functions in Greek: a non-configurational approach

This thesis offers an account of the syntactic properties of Focus-movement, Topicalisation and Clitic Left Dislocation (CLLD) in Greek. As these phenomena are central to discussions of the syntax-discourse interface, a significant part of this study pursues the question of the representation of the discourse functions of topic and focus and their relation to syntax.For the most part, the literature on the syntax of Focus-movement, Topicalisation and CLLD advocates that focus and topic are encoded in the Phrase Structure by distinct Func¬ tional Projections: Focus Phrase (FP) and Topic Phrase (TP). Foci and topics move to the Specifier of the relevant Projection to check their discourse features. The term Discourse Configurational Languages has been recently coined for languages that encode focus and topic through Phrase Structure configurations.With respect to the syntactic properties of the relevant structures, the Discourse Configurational approach assumes that Focus-movement, Topicalisation and CLLD instantiate three distinct syntactic operations; A-bar-movement, A-movement and base-generation respectively. This complex syntax enables a simple view of the syntax-discourse interface; there is an isomorphic relation between syntax and discourse, as each discourse function is associated with a distinct syntactic operation. Further, focus and topic are treated as syntactic features, specifying heads of Functional Projections.This thesis, in contrast, argues for a non-configurational approach. It shows that the claim that Focus-movement and Topicalisation instantiate A-bar-movement and A-movement respectively is based on insufficient evidence. This claim is motivated by the absence of weak crossover effects in Topicalisation and their presence in Focus-movement. However, this study argues that the weak crossover effect is not a valid diagnostic of the A/A-bar distinction, since some cases of Wh-questions, the prototypical instance of A-bar movement, do not give rise to weak crossover effect. Further, in the Discourse Configurational approach, CLLD is treated as an instance of base-generation rather than movement, because it does not license parasitic gaps. In this thesis, CLLD is analysed as adjunct extraction and it is shown that the unavailability of parasitic gaps is a general property of adjunct extraction. Further, this study demonstrates that Focus-movement, Topicalisation and CLLD exhibit the same syntactic properties and instantiate the same extraction mechanism. Thus, they are given a unified syntactic treatment.The argument that Focus-movement, Topicalisation and CLLD share the same syntax has implications for the architecture of the discourse-syntax interface. Unlike the Discourse Configurational approach, this syntactic analysis implies a non-isomorphic relation between syntax and discourse, as a single syntactic structure corresponds to more than one discourse function. Thus, the syntax of discourse constructions is independent of the discourse func¬ tions encoded. It is argued that the discourse evidence does not justify the incorporation of discourse functions in Phrase Structure or their treatment as syntactic features. Rather, focus and topic should be represented at a distinct level, independent of syntax, Information Structure.The analysis is couched in the framework of Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar. The syntactic properties of extractions in Greek are readily captured by the HPSG mechanism of Unbounded Dependencies. The multidimensional nature of HPSG signs allows for the representation of discourse functions and a flexible mapping between syntax and discourse

An agile business process and practice meta-model

Business Process Management (BPM) encompasses the discovery, modelling, monitoring, analysis and improvement of business processes. Limitations of traditional BPM approaches in addressing changes in business requirements have resulted in a number of agile BPM approaches that seek to accelerate the redesign of business process models. Meta-models are a key BPM feature that reduce the ambiguity of business process models. This paper describes a meta-model supporting the agile version of the Business Process and Practice Alignment Methodology (BPPAM) for business process improvement, which captures process information from actual work practices. The ability of the meta-model to achieve business process agility is discussed and compared with other agile meta-models, based on definitions of business process flexibility and agility found in the literature. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V

Investigating of the conservation problems of oil paintings on paper supports

The initial results of a research project on the investigation of problems presented by a collection of oil paintings on paper supports are presented. The project focuses on the effect of the oil medium on the deterioration of cellulose, on the materials and techniques used by the artists and on comprehension of the resulting problems. Non destructive methodology was used to record the behaviour of the materials when examined in several regions of the electromagnetic spectrum which gives an indication of areas of damage. . Various analytical techniques were applied to investigate the painting materials and supports in original works of art. The increase in rate of the oxidation of cellulose in paper, when the paper is coated in oil, is investigated by analyzing volatile organic compounds emitted during ageing tests. The assessment of the results obtained will act as a pilot for a more extensive program of research, the ultimate aim of which is the formulation of a recommended methodology as a tool for the evaluation of the condition of these types of works, as well as the determination of conservation and care parameters