Does banks size distort market prices? Evidence for too-big-to-fail in the CDS market

This paper examines the potential distortion of prices in the CDS market caused by too-big-to-fail. Overall, we find evidence for market discipline in the CDS market. However, CDS prices are distorted due to a size effect which arises when investors expect a public bail-out as a result of too-big-to-fail. A one percentage point increase in size reduces the CDS spread of a bank by about two basis points. We further find that some banks have already reached a size that makes them too-big-to-be-rescued. While the price distortion for these banks decreases the existence of banks that are considered to be toobig-to-rescue raises important new issues for banking supervisors. --Market Discipline,Too Big To Fail,Too Big to Rescue CDS Spreads

Ownership strategies in post-financial crisis Southeast Asia: The case of Japanese firms

Existing research on entry mode determinants is firmly grounded in the transaction cost and resource-based literature while location-and institution-specific characteristics lack attention. The primary goal of this article is to address the determinants of entry mode by Japanese manufacturing firms in Southeast Asia after the financial crisis on the basis of a theoretical framework that integrates firm-specific, industry-specific, location-and institution-specific factors. Results show that locational factors make significant contributions to the understanding of the entry mode selection of MNEs and partly override the effect of firm-specific factors. --entry mode,transaction costs,resource commitment,location factors,country risk,Japanese manufacturing firms,Southeast Asia

Oxygen targeting in preterm infants: a physiological interpretation.

Randomized controlled trials evaluating low-target oxygen saturation (SpO2:85% to 89%) vs high-target SpO2 (91% to 95%) have shown variable results regarding mortality and morbidity in extremely preterm infants. Because of the variation inherent to the accuracy of pulse oximeters, the unspecified location of probe placement, the intrinsic relationship between SpO2 and arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) and between SaO2 and partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2) (differences in oxygen dissociation curves for fetal and adult hemoglobin), the two comparison groups could have been more similar than dissimilar. The SpO2 values were in the target range for a shorter period of time than intended due to practical and methodological constraints. So the studies did not truly compare 'target SpO2 ranges'. In spite of this overlap, some of the studies did find significant differences in mortality prior to discharge, necrotizing enterocolitis and severe retinopathy of prematurity. These differences could potentially be secondary to time spent beyond the target range (SpO2 <85 or >95%) and could be avoided with an intermediate but wider target SpO2 range (87% to 93%). In conclusion, significant uncertainty persists about the desired target range of SpO2 in extremely preterm infants. Further studies should focus on studying newer methods of assessing oxygenation and strategies to limit hypoxemia (<85% SpO2) and hyperoxemia (>95% SpO2)

Critical congenital heart disease screening by pulse oximetry in a neonatal intensive care unit.

ObjectiveCritical congenital heart disease (CCHD) screening is effective in asymptomatic late preterm and term newborn infants with a low false-positive rate (0.035%). (1) To compare 2817 neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) discharges before and after implementation of CCHD screening; and (2) to evaluate CCHD screening at <35 weeks gestation.Study designCollection of results of CCHD screening including pre- and postductal pulse oximetry oxygen saturation (SpO2) values.ResultDuring the pre-CCHD screen period, 1247 infants were discharged from the NICU and one case of CCHD was missed. After 1 March 2012, 1508 CCHD screens were performed among 1570 discharges and no CCHDs were missed. The pre- and postductal SpO2 values were 98.8 ± 1.4% and 99 ± 1.3%, respectively, in preterm and 98.9 ± 1.3% and 98.9 ± 1.4%, respectively, in term infants. Ten infants had false-positive screens (10/1508 = 0.66%).ConclusionPerforming universal screening in the NICU is feasible but is associated with a higher false-positive rate compared with asymptomatic newborn infants

Formal Intergovernmental Alliances in the European Union: Disappearing or Still Alive?

The leading opinion-making newspaper The Economist suggested during the time of the Constitutional Treaty negotiations that ‘there are no more fixed and reliable alliances in the EU. Countries team up with each other, depending on issue and circumstances’ (The Economist, February 6, 2003: 3). This was a daring suggestion in view of the history of long-term strategic relationships within Europe, especially the Franco-German and the Benelux, which have in the past played leadership role in the establishment and progress of European integration. Former Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, also commented that the Constitutional Treaty negotiations have shown a ‚renaissance of bilateralism‛ in the new Europe: ‘With each new issue we are likely to see changing ad hoc coalitions of member states’ (De Hoop Scheffer 2003: 1). Similarly, Lord Kerr in his address at the Center for European Studies, Harvard University (11 July 2003) suggested that ‘*a+lliances [were] increasingly a matter of convenience; we can expect more of a wide-spread promiscuity among member states’. Do such assertions stand up to scholarly investigation? Is there any empirical evidence to suggest that the existing formal alliances in Europe are disappearing? Analysing the case of the Visegrád Group this paper answers negatively. It argues that the strength of cooperation within formal alliances is not to be evaluated based on their coalitional cooperation in the end games of EU negotiations, which tend to attract most popular attention. Rather, the questions of viability of formal alliances need to shift from the end-game of EU negotiations to the day-to-day interactions between the lower-end of the government hierarchy, i.e. the government representatives at the technical and lower political level – this is where the vast majority of EU policy agenda is set and majority of policy formulations are agreed upon in the pre-negotiations within the Council working groups. In view of these findings, the paper suggests that the prominent account of ‘two-level games’ by Putnam (1988) which has influenced most of the recent literature on EU negotiations might need to be revised to take into account the ‚third-level‛ negotiations within formal alliances.. The argument introduced is that next to the domestic constituencies and EU-level negotiations, as depicted by Putnam (1988), governments involved in formal alliances also simultaneously negotiate with their alliance partners

Europeanisation of the "European Student Movement"

European Students’ Union [ESU], representing through its member National Unions of Students [NUSes] from 37 countries over 11 million students in Europe, is one of major interest groups in Europe, and a recognised partner to European institutions and governments within European Higher Education Area [EHEA]. Yet neither ESU nor NUSes have gained much scholarly attention. The aim of the proposed paper is to shed light on this important actor through an investigation of ESU’s and NUSes’ participation in the Bologna Process *BP+ towards establishment of the European Higher Education Area [EHEA]. The paper explores the ‘Europeanisation’ mechanisms in the context of ESU’s and NUSes participation in the BP. It examines specifically how ESU and its member NUSes participate in and influence policy making within the BP and how they themselves are affected by this participation. Thus, it is concerned with meso-level analysis of Europeanisation mechanisms in a specific context of higher education policy making within the BP and with analysis of students unions as political actors. The central thesis of this paper is that the two-way Europeanisation mechanisms are clearly present in the case of ESU’s and NUSes’ involvement in the BP. While some Europeanisation can be identified prior to the BP, this is marginal compared to the intensity of institutional and policy changes and changes in relational structures that happened after 1999 and continued to intensify in the course of the Process. The degree of these changes varies, however, between the both levels of student union system. Institutional adaptation is significantly stronger in ESU than in NUSes. Policy adaptation too is stronger in ESU. In fact, ESU policy agenda is almost ‘hijacked’ by the issues related to the BP. Again, this is less visible in NUSes where other issues of national concern – especially those related to welfare, such as introduction of tuition fees, feature as prominently. In many national systems, the ‚new governance‛ agenda on financing of higher education - especially the question of introducing tuition fees - was in fact launched as a ‚Bologna issue‛, thereby governments and HEIs misinterpreting Bologna recommendations. The most significant change induced by the BP for student unions in Europe was in terms of their relational structures, i.e. their involvement in the HE policy making. The BP legitimised student unions as ‚full members of the academic community‛ and recommended that these be involved in HE governance at all levels. ESU was effectively granted a monopoly of student representation in Europe. The NUSes also drew leverage from this recognition of ESU in the BP. 2 The overwhelming majority of NUSes report having been involved in Bologna-related policy making at the national level. The change in involvement was especially visible in the countries were more statist traditions of state-society relations and in those with relatively weak administrations. The latter were particularly interested in including student representatives in the early phases of the BP because these tended to have information and expertise resources on the BP issues gained through the ESU. ‘Upward Europeanisation’ in the sense of uploading of student preferences into the BP has been conducted almost exclusively through ESU, rather than by individual NUSes. In other words, there has been no individual policy preferences of NUSes uploaded to the BP. All NUSes policy preferences are formulated into common ESU positions following internal policy making procedures. These common positions are then launched in the BP. ESU managed to upload their most salient issues – the social dimension in the BP and student participation in HE governance – onto the Bologna agenda and had inserted them into the official documents. For the first time, however, NUSes effectively lobbied their respective government on ESU positions. Finally, an unexpected – and certainly unintentional – effect of the BP on the student unions in Europe has been in terms of strengthening the ‚European student movement‛. Before the BP, NUSes involvement in ESU was relatively weak and varied. NUSes did not promote their membership in ESU nationally and have not lobbied their governments on ESU issues. The BP has created circumstances highly conducive to cooperation and empowerment of ESU to represent them on the European level

Investigating the influence of situations and expectations on user behavior : empirical analyses in human-robot interaction

Lohse M. Investigating the influence of situations and expectations on user behavior : empirical analyses in human-robot interaction. Bielefeld (Germany): Bielefeld University; 2010.Social sciences are becoming increasingly important for robotics research as work goes on to enable service robots to interact with inexperienced users. This endeavor can only be successful if the robots learn to interpret the users' behavior reliably and, in turn, provide feedback for the users, which enables them to understand the robot. In order to achieve this goal, the thesis introduces an approach to describe the interaction situation as a dynamic construct with different levels of specificity. The situation concept is the starting point for a model which aims to explain the users' behavior. The second important component of the model is the expectations of the users with respect to the robot. Both the situation and the expectations are shown to be the main determinants of the users' behaviors. With this theoretical background in mind, the thesis examines interactions from a home tour scenario in which a human teaches a robot about rooms and objects within them. To analyze the human expectations and behaviors in this situation, two main novel methods have been developed. In particular, a quantitative method for the analysis of the users' behavior repertoires (speech, gesture, eye gaze, body orientation, etc.) is introduced. The approach focuses on the interaction level, which describes the interplay between the robot and the user. In the second novel method, also the system level is taken into account, which includes the robot components and their interplay. This method serves for a detailed task analysis and helps to identify problems that occur in the interaction. By applying these methods, the thesis contributes to the identification of underlying expectations that allow future behavior of the users to be predicted in particular situations. Knowledge about the users' behavior repertoires serves as a cue for the robot about the state of the interaction and the task the users aim to accomplish. Therefore, it enables robot developers to adapt the interaction models of the components to the situation, actual user expectations, and behaviors. The work provides a deeper understanding of the role of expectations in human-robot interaction and contributes to the interaction and system design of interactive robots

Key Factors of Effective Water Governance in Rural India

Manja Wurschke's poster on water governance in the rural areas of India