Risk Arbitrage in the Swedish Market – Evaluation with Contingent Claims

The thesis analyses a risk arbitrage portfolio in Swedish equities over 2611 trading days (132 months), to evaluate the ability of a risk arbitrage strategy to generate excess returns, alpha, in the Swedish market. It is found that risk arbitrage generates a significant alpha of 120 basis points per month, in a linear model and assuming CAPM holds. In a contingent claims framework, aiming to correctly price non-linearities observed in previous studies, and assuming Black-Scholes holds, I find that the monthly alpha is 51 basis points per month

Chemical speciation and transformation of mercury in contaminated sediments

Biomagnification of mercury (Hg) in aquatic food webs occurs almost exclusively as mono-methyl Hg (MeHg). In this thesis, the influence of chemical speciation and environmental conditions on transformations of inorganic Hg (HgII) and MeHg was studied at eight sites in Sweden with Hg contaminated sediments. The source of contamination was either Hg0(l) or phenyl-Hg, and total Hg concentrations ranged between 1.0-1100 nmol g-1. The environmental conditions, e.g. salinity, temperature climate, primary productivity, redox conditions and organic matter content and quality, varied substantially among sites. The results show that MeHg production (HgII methylation) is relatively more important than MeHg degradation (demethylation) and input-output for accumulation of MeHg in contaminated surface (0-20 cm) sediments. The total Hg concentration influences MeHg production, likely by a control of the concentration of bioavailable HgII species. The most important factor determining differences in accumulation of MeHg among sites is indicated to be the availability of electron donors to methylating organisms, as a result of differences in primary production and subsequent input of organic matter to sediments. In contrast, the availability of sulphate is not indicated to limit MeHg production in the sediments studied. Within sub-sets of sites with similar properties, a great proportion of the variation in MeHg concentration is explained by the concentration of dissolved neutral HgIIsulphides [Hg(SH)2 0(aq) and possibly HgOHSH0(aq)]. MeHg degradation is influenced by ambient concentrations of MeHg and/or HgII, but the effect appears to vary among sites. It is suggested that the rate of oxidative demethylation is positively related to the concentration of dissolved MeHg-sulphides [MeHgSH(aq) and MeHgS-(aq)]. For improved risk assessment of Hg contaminated sediments, measurement of MeHg concentration and solubility is advised. It is shown that %MeHg (of total Hg) can be used as a proxy for MeHg production, across sites. It is also shown that filtration of pore water for analysis of MeHg concentrations must be done in an anoxic atmosphere to avoid oxidation artefacts

Propaganda vs. education : a case study of hate radio in Rwanda

This chapter discusses whether education limits or exacerbates the effects of statesponsored propaganda on political violence. It provides evidence for the hypothesis that basic education can limit the effectiveness of propaganda by increasing access to alternative media sources. It builds on the case study of the Rwandan genocide in work done by Yanagizawa-Drott (2011), and shows that the propaganda disseminated by the “hate radio” station RTLM did not affect participation in violence in villages where education levels, as measured by literacy rates, were relatively high. A discussion of the potential underlying mechanisms driving the results is presented. The methodological challenges of identifying causal effects of mass media and propaganda are also described, including recent innovations using statistical methods that may be used to overcome those challenges

Propaganda vs. education : a case study of hate radio in Rwanda

This chapter discusses whether education limits or exacerbates the effects of statesponsored propaganda on political violence. It provides evidence for the hypothesis that basic education can limit the effectiveness of propaganda by increasing access to alternative media sources. It builds on the case study of the Rwandan genocide in work done by Yanagizawa-Drott (2011), and shows that the propaganda disseminated by the “hate radio” station RTLM did not affect participation in violence in villages where education levels, as measured by literacy rates, were relatively high. A discussion of the potential underlying mechanisms driving the results is presented. The methodological challenges of identifying causal effects of mass media and propaganda are also described, including recent innovations using statistical methods that may be used to overcome those challenges

On-line Handwritten Signature Verification using Machine Learning Techniques with a Deep Learning Approach

The problem to be solved in this project is to distinguish two signatures from each other, with help of machine learning techniques. The main technique used is the comparison between two signatures and classifying if they are written by the same person (match) or not (no-match). The binary classication problem is then tackled with a few alternatives to better understand it. First by a simple engineered feature, then by the machine learning techniques as logistic regression, multi-layer perceptron and nally a deep learning approach with a convolutional neural network. The evaluation method for the dierent algorithms was a plot of true positive rate (sensitivity) versus false positive rate (fall-out). The results of the alternative algorithms gave a dierent understanding of the problem. The engineered feature performed unexpectedly well. The logistic regression and multi-layer perceptron performed similarly. The main results from the nal model, which was a max-pooling, convolutional neural network, were a true positive rate of 96.7 % and a false positive rate of 0.6 %. The deep learning approach on the signature verication problem shows promising results but there is still room for improvement

Shaping the Nation: The Effect of Fourth of July on Political Preferences and Behavior in the United States

This paper examines whether social interactions and cultural practices affect political views and behavior in society. We investigate the issue by documenting a major social and cultural event at different stages in life: the Fourth of July celebrations in the United States during the 20th century. Using absence of rainfall as a proxy for participation in the event, we find that days without rain on Fourth of July in childhood shift adult views and voting in favor of the Republicans and increase turnout in presidential elections. The effects we estimate are highly persistent throughout life and originate in early age. Rain-free Fourth of Julys experienced as an adult also make it more likely that people identify as Republicans, but the effect depreciates substantially after a few years. Taken together, the evidence suggests that political views and behavior derive from social and cultural experience in early childhood, and that Fourth of July shapes the political landscape in the Unites States

Government Distortion in Independently Owned Media: Evidence from U.S. Cold War News Coverage of Human Rights

This paper investigates the extent to which strategic objectives of the U.S. government influenced news coverage during the Cold War. We establish two relationships: 1) strategic objectives of the U.S. government cause the State Department to under-report human rights violations of strategic allies; and 2) these objectives reduce news coverage of human rights abuses for strategic allies in six U.S. national newspapers. To establish causality, we exploit plausibly exogenous variation in a country's strategic value to the U.S. from the interaction of its political alliance to the U.S. and membership on the United Nations Security Council. In addition to the main results, we are able to provide qualitative evidence and indirect quantitative evidence to shed light on the mechanisms underlying the reduced form effects.

Trädplantering i stadsmiljö

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur olika potentiellt skadliga faktorer påverkar nyetablerade stadsträd. För att göra detta utvecklas en metod för inventering av träd och ståndort, som sedan appliceras på ett urval på 94 stadsträd fördelade på 11 anläggningar i Uppsala och Stockholm. Faktorerna som framkom som resultatet av studien jämförs med skadliga och gynnsamma faktorer enligt uppgifter från trädexperter och litteratur. Uppsatsen inleds med en beskrivning av stadsträds situation idag och historiskt, samt nuvarande kunskapsläge. Därefter följer ett metodkapitel som beskriver metodutvecklingen. Metoden bygger på inventering och analys av ett antal punkter. Exempelvis behandlas vilken information stamomfång kan ge och hur det inventerats under rubriken Stamomfång. Sedan följer studien som utfördes med hjälp av metoden. Träden som undersökts är stadsträd planterade år 2001-2005 på ett sådant sätt att de kan förväntas ha möjlighet att etableras och utvecklas. Resultatet pekar på att planering är viktig för att ge träden tid att utvecklas. Anläggningens utförande påverkar trädens vitalitet och övriga tillstånd. Faktorer som påverkar är tillgång till vatten och växtnäring. För att säkerställa detta måste trädens rötter kunna växa, vilket kräver genomsläpplig växtbädd med gasutbyte. Skydd mot skador krävs eftersom många typer av skador uppstår i stadsmiljö.The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how various potentially harmful factors affect newly established city trees. To do this, I developed a method for the inventory of trees and their habitats. The method is then applied to 94 urban trees across 11 sites in the cities Uppsala and Stockholm. The factors that emerged as a result of the study are compared with the adverse and the favorable factors as reported by tree experts and literature. The essay begins with a description of the situation of city trees today and historically, and the current state of knowledge. This is followed by a methodology section that describes the development of the method. The method is based on the inventory and analysis of a number of criteria. For example, the criteria Stem circumference addresses what information the circumference of the stem can provide and how to obtain it. Then follows the study conducted by the method. The trees surveyed are city trees planted years 2001-2005 in such a way that they should have a possibility to establish on the site and develop. The results indicate that planning is important to give the trees time to develop. Site design and soil construction affect tree vitality and other permits. Factors affecting are the availability of water and nutrients. To ensure this the tree roots must be able to grow, requiring permeable plant bed with sufficient gas exchange. Protection against damage is required because many types of injuries occur in urban areas