Determinants of bank efficiency: Evidence from a semi-parametric methodology

In this paper, we use a semi-parametric two-stage model to examine the effect of bank-specific, industry-specific and macroeconomic determinants of bank efficiency. This method, proposed by Simar and Wilson (2007), relaxes several deficiencies of previous two-stage analyses, which regress non-parametric estimates of bank efficiency on exogenous determinants. In particular, we propose a bootstrap procedure to be used in the second stage and we compare the results obtained to the equivalents of a Tobit model. We suggest that the Tobit regressions inaccurately provide insignificant estimates for the effect of bank size, industry concentration and economic investment on bank efficiency, a fact that illustrates the power of the new method. Since the effect of these determinants has been ambiguous in previous literature, this may be a desideratum for future research.Bank efficiency; semi-parametric models

Isostaticity at Frictional Jamming

Amorphous packings of frictionless, spherical particles are isostatic at jamming onset, with the number of constraints (contacts) equal to the number of degrees of freedom. Their structural and mechanical properties are controlled by the interparticle contact network. In contrast, amorphous packings of frictional particles are typically hyperstatic at jamming onset. We perform extensive numerical simulations in two dimensions of the geometrical asperity (GA) model for static friction, to further investigate the role of isostaticity. In the GA model, interparticle forces are obtained by summing up purely repulsive central forces between periodically spaced circular asperities on contacting grains. We compare the packing fraction, contact number, mobilization distribution, and vibrational density of states using the GA model to those generated using the Cundall-Strack (CS) approach. We find that static packings of frictional disks obtained from the GA model are mechanically stable and isostatic when we consider interactions between asperities on contacting particles. The crossover in the structural and mechanical properties of static packings from frictionless to frictional behavior as a function of the static friction coefficient coincides with a change in the type of interparticle contacts and the disappearance of a peak in the density of vibrational modes for the GA model. These results emphasize that mesoscale features of the model for static friction play an important role in determining the properties of granular packings.Comment: 4.5 pages, 5 figures, http://prl.aps.org/covers/110/1

Singing poets: popular music and literature in France and Greece (1945-1975).

This thesis is based on a comparative examination of popular music in Greece and France between 1945 and 1975. Its central claim is that the concept of the singing poet provided a crucial framing of the field of popular music in both countries and led to a reassessment of the links between literature and popular culture. The term singing poets is coined in order to regroup artists who used poetic texts for their songs or adopted a poetic persona themselves, but also accounts for the reception of a particular style of popular music in the period and the countries under discussion as poetic/intellectual song. Adopting a Cultural Studies approach, this thesis thus outlines the role played by the prestige of literary institutions and an idealized view of oral poetry in the conceptualization of high-popular music. It questions the presentation of certain singersongwriters as 'poets in their own right', as folk poets, auteurs, poet-composers, bards and troubadours. Books, special editions and articles published in France in the 60s are extensively examined in the first part to reveal their traditionalist consensus about the poetic value of the work of certain Auteurs-Compositeurs-Interprétes. Roland Barthes's theorization of reading (and) jouissance provides a vivid counterargument by opening up the possibility of seeing literariness and pop pleasure as symbiotic rather than mutually exclusive. The second part focuses on Greek popular music and reviews how the field of what was termed Entehno Laiko (Art-Popular) has been performatively shaped by the work of Mikis Theodorakis and Manos Hadjidakis. The significant input of literary ideals and the success of Theodorakis's Melopoiemene Poiese (Sung Poetry) project are fundamental to this process. The resulting cultural divide between 'high' and 'low' popular music spheres is reassessed by examining the 'dislocating' performance of singer-songwriter Dionysis Savvopoulos, who appeared in the mid-60s performing a hybrid mimicry of Georges Brassens and Bob Dylan. Through readings of his songs, performances and interviews, popular music emerges both as the space of a reconstructed utopia and as a subversive Other to high cultural forms

Optimización del diseño holístico de buques: embarcaciones mercantes y navales

The present paper provides a brief introduction to a holistic approach to ship design optimization, defines the generic ship design optimization problem, and demonstrates its solution by using advanced optimization techniques for the computer-aided generation, exploration, and selection of optimal designs. It discusses proposed methods on the basis of some typical ship design optimization problems of cargo and naval ships related to multiple objectives, leading to improved and partly innovative design features with respect to ships’ economy, cargo carrying capacity, safety, survivability, comfort, required powering, environmental protection, or combat strength, as applicable.Este documento brinda una breve introducción a un enfoque holístico a la optimización del diseño de embarcaciones, define el problema genérico de la optimización del diseño de embarcaciones y demuestra su solución mediante el uso de técnicas avanzadas de optimización asistidas por computador para la generación, exploración y selección de diseños óptimos. Discute los métodos propuestos sobre la base de algunos problemas típicos de optimización de diseño de embarcación de buques de carga y navales relacionados a los objetivos múltiples, conllevando a características de diseño mejoradas y parcialmente innovadoras con respecto a la economía de la embarcación, capacidad de carga, seguridad, supervivencia, comodidad, potencia requerida, protección ambiental o fortaleza de combate, como sea aplicable

A COMPARATIVE MORPHOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE KOS-NISYROS-TILOS VOLCANOSEDIMENTARY BASINS

A swath bathymetric map of Kos-Nisyros-Tilos Volcanic field was created with 50m grid interval, with 10 m isobaths at a scale 1:100.000 using SEABEAM 1180 (180 kHz) multibeam system for depths 500m. Five basins have been distinguished in the circum-volcanic area of Nisyros: 1)Eastern Kos basin, the larger and deeper one, with an average sea-bottom depth of 630m. Submarine canyons within the basin occur along the southern coastline of Kos cutting the isobaths from 150 up to 400m depth. A shallow crater with relative topography of ±70m has been discovered at the bottom of the basin (600-670m) 2)Western Kos basin with average depth of 520m. The basin is separated from the Eastern Kos Basin by a rise between Yali and Kos at 400m depth. This basin is separated from the Western Nisyros basin by the Kondeliousa rise. 3)The Western Nisyros basin is located between Kondeliousa rise and western Kos platform with depths of 550m. 4)The Southern Nisyros basin constitutes the northern end of the large Karpathos basin which reaches more than 2000m depth towards the south. 5)The Tilos basin with depths of 600m occurs southeast of Nisyros Island, separated from South Nisyros Basin through a rise of less than 400m depth. The Pachia-Pergoussa and Yali-Nisyros basins are shallow structures within the intra-volcanic relief of Nisyros and surrounding islets. The geometrty of each basin is discussed in relation to the volcanic and tectonic structure of the graben between Kos and Tilos.The intensity of the active geodynamic acrtivity is demonstrated by the creation of a volcanic relief of 1400m in the Nisyros volcanic field

Tectonic structure and volcanic centers at the eastern edge of the aegean volcanic arc around Nisyros island

The recent volcanic activity at the eastern edge of the Aegean Volcanic Arc is limited within a neotectonic graben structure which is developed in an E-W general direction between the alpine basement of Kos Island to the north and the alpine basement of Tilos Island to the south. In between the boundary faults of the neotectonic graben there is an extended volcanic area comprising several individual volcanic centers, which penetrate through the thick post-alpine sedimentary deposits of the graben

Exploring the Nexus between Banking Sector Reform and Performance: Evidence from Newly Acceded EU Countries

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between banking sector reform and bank performance – measured in terms of efficiency, total factor productivity growth and net interest margin – accounting for the effects through competition and bank risk-taking. To this end, we develop an empirical model of bank performance and draw on recent econometric advances to consistently estimate it. The model is applied to bank panel data from ten newly acceded EU countries. The results indicate that both banking sector reform and competition exert a positive impact on bank efficiency, while the effect of reform on total factor productivity growth is significant only toward the end of the reform process. Finally, the effect of capital and credit risk on bank performance is in most cases negative, while it seems that higher liquid assets reduce the efficiency and productivity of banks.Bank performance; Banking sector reform; Competition; Risk-taking

Stochastic life cycle ship design optimization

In the presented research study, a parametric model of a bulk carrier design is utilized in order to explore the technical and economic ship design features (design attributes) in the frame of a stochastic optimization procedure. The life cycle assessment of a newbuilding's investment that includes ship's acquisition and operation cost for ship's life cycle is affected by a variety of cost and other parameters have an inherent uncertainty. The ship design attributes are herein represented by six main ship parameters that define the basic characteristics of a vessel: length, breadth, depth, draft, block coefficient and speed. Among the ship characteristics that are related to high uncertainty are ship's energy consumption in terms of fuel consumption, fuel mix and fuel prices. In the present paper, an attempt is made to investigate how the uncertainty of estimations of the fuel consumption, fuel mix and prices, which are made at an early stage of ship design, can affect the outcome of the ship design optimization procedure with respect to ship's life cycle cost. Therefore, a stochastic optimization procedure is being applied, which is utilizing well established optimization algorithms and techniques in a robust and efficient manner. Sample results of this stochastic optimization are compared with solutions of a deterministic optimization and eventually lead to a rational basis for the decision making regarding the life cycle assessment of ship investments