1,634 research outputs found
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 holÃstico 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 holÃstico 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 tÃpicos de optimización de diseño de embarcación de buques de carga y navales relacionados a los objetivos múltiples, conllevando a caracterÃsticas de diseño mejoradas y parcialmente innovadoras con respecto a la economÃa 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
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
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
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
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