Strategic Groups and Banks’ Performance

The theory of strategic groups predicts the existence of stable groups of companies that adopt similar business strategies. The theory also predicts that groups will differ in performance and in their reaction to external shocks. We use cluster analysis to identify strategic groups in the Polish banking sector. We find stable groups in the Polish banking sector constituted after the year 2000 following the major privatisation and ownership changes connected with transition to the mostly-privately-owned banking sector in the late 90s. Using panel regression methods we show that the allocation of banks to groups is statistically significant in explaining the profitability of banks. Thus, breaking down the banks into strategic groups and allowing for the different reaction of the groups to external shocks helps in a more accurate explanation of profits of the banking sector as a whole. Therefore, a more precise ex ante assessment of the loss absorption capabilities of banks is possible, which is crucial for an analysis of banking sector stability. However, we did not find evidence of the usefulness of strategic groups in explaining the quality of bank portfolios as measured by irregular loans over total loans, which is a more direct way to assess risks to financial stability.strategic groups, financial stability, clustering, Ward algorithm, panel regression

The light Higgs window in the 2HDM at GigaZ

The sensitivity to a light Higgs boson in the general 2HDM (II), with a mass below 40 GeV, is estimated for an future e+e- linear collider operating with very high luminosity at the Z peak (GigaZ). We consider a possible Higgs boson production via the Bjorken process, the (hA) pair production, the Yukawa process Z -> b {\bar b} h(A), -> tau {\bar tau} h(A), and the decay Z ->h(A)+gamma. Although the discovery potential is considerably extended compared to the current sensitivities, mainly from LEP, the existence of a h or A even with a mass of a few GeV cannot be excluded with two billion Z decays. The need to study the very light Higgs scenario at a linear e+e- collider running at several hundred GeV and the LHC is emphasised.Comment: Latex file, 11 pages, 6 ps figure

Confirmation that Captain Włodzimierz Drzewieniecki is a Delegate of the “SYRENA” Branch of the Polish Combatants’ Association

Confirmation that Captain Włodzimierz Drzewieniecki is a delegate of the “SYRENA” Branch of the Polish Combatants’ Association (Stowarzyszenie Polskich Kombatanów) on the terrain of Great Britain issued by the Organizational Committee of the Polish Combatants’ Association in Italy, July 4, 1946.https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/drzpasses/1016/thumbnail.jp

Russia's interest in the Mistral: the political and military aspects. OSW Commentary No. 41, 2010-10-11

The negotiations over Russia’s purchase of French Mistral-class multipurpose assault ships, which were intensified in 2010, have gained a significant political dimension. The prospects of such a spectacular acquisition of large and expensive assault ships from one of NATO’s member states are being used by Russia to demonstrate that it has opened a new stage of relations with Western Europe. Paris has welcomed Russia’s desire to embark on military cooperation; for France, the Mistral deal has become a convenient tool to prove that relations with Russia are becoming increasingly normal, and that Russia poses no threat to the European security

Internetwork and intranetwork communications during bursting dynamics: Applications to seizure prediction

We use a simple dynamical model of two interacting networks of integrate-and-fire neurons to explain a seemingly paradoxical result observed in epileptic patients indicating that the level of phase synchrony declines below normal levels during the state preceding seizures (preictal state). We model the transition from the seizure free interval (interictal state) to the seizure (ictal state) as a slow increase in the mean depolarization of neurons in a network corresponding to the epileptic focus. We show that the transition from the interictal to preictal and then to the ictal state may be divided into separate dynamical regimes: the formation of slow oscillatory activity due to resonance between the two interacting networks observed during the interictal period, structureless activity during the preictal period when the two networks have different properties, and bursting dynamics driven by the network corresponding to the epileptic focus. Based on this result, we hypothesize that the beginning of the preictal period marks the beginning of the transition of the epileptic network from normal activity toward seizing

Measuring predictability of autonomous network transitions into bursting dynamics

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109548/1/12868_2014_Article_3557.pd