Cross-Autocorrelation between Small and Large Cap Portfolios in the German and Turkish Stock Markets

This paper studies the cross-autocorrelation structure in the German and Turkish stock markets by using daily portfolio returns. We find the evidence that large cap portfolios lead small cap portfolios in both subperiods of German stock market but this structure is seen only in the first subperiod of Turkish stock market. Analysing the market-wide and portfolio-specific information effects on portfolio returns shows that above stated lead-lag relation is associated with the market-wide information content in lagged large cap portfolio returns. We also document a directional asymmetry in small (large) cap portfolio returns’ reactions to lagged large (small) cap portfolio returns. The evidence is contradicting to the previous findings of McQueen, Pinegar and Thorley (1996) and Marshall and Walker (2002) whoose researches are conducted on US and Chile stock markets. Our findings show the lagged effects of bad news - not good news - on small cap portfolio returns. It is documented that the speed of adjustment of small cap portfolio prices to common market-wide information is slower than large cap portfolio prices and small cap portfolio prices are slower in reacting to bad news.German stock market ; Turkish stock market ; Cross- autocorrelation ; Market-wide and portfolio-specific information ; Asymmetric reaction

An Assessment of the Southeastern Anatolia Region in Turkey in terms of the Sustainable Development Tatgets

This study aims to examine the Southeastern Anatolia Project in Turkey, which contains irrigation, energy and drinking water development schemes. The project is the biggest regional development effort ever undertaken by Turkish Government and has influenced the sustainable economic and human development targets. With the completion of each step of the project, it has been expected that there have been many important economic and social changes in Turkish regions, especially the southeast part of Turkey (called as "Southeastern Anatolia Region") and its surrounding areas. The project also interests in both Turkey and its related regions and sustainability is a major issue of concern. Following a brief introduction of the project, the paper examines the type of recent social-economic changes in the region and Turkey in terms of sustainable development components. Under the light of our investigations from different perspectives, it is observed that GAP region with its development project is very far from expectations in the point of sustainability

Purchasing Power Parity Revisited: A Time-Varying Parameter Approach

We re-examine the validity of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) proposition using Taylor's (2002) data set. Applying the Kalman filter process, our findings not only demonstrate the strong instability in the relationship between the dollar denominated foreign price levels and the US price level, but also rule out the empirical validity of the PPP hypothesis. Thus, we argue that the inference based on the Fisher-Seater methodology cannot account for the Lucas critique in the PPP testing procedure.Purchasing power parity, Fisher-Seater, time-varying parameter, Kalman filter

Frisch Demand Functions and Intertemporal Behaviour in Consumption: The Turkish Case

This paper examines the intertemporal behaviour in consumption for Turkey which has been experiencing high and chronic inflation since the late 1970s. The Frisch demand system is used to estimate three separate but inextricably intertemporal elasticities: intertemporal price elasticities of demand, commodity-specific intertemporal elasticities, and the intertemporal substitution elasticity of consumption. Our main result is that the Turkish households are reluctant to move their expenditures on non-durable goods from the current period to the next period, regardless of how high nominal interest rates are. This interesting result shows that the consumption behaviour in Turkey has been mainly shaped by uncertainty created by inflationary process and the tendency towards hedging against inflation.

Low Power Elliptic Curve Cryptography

This M.S. thesis introduces new modulus scaling techniques for transforming a class of primes into special forms which enable efficient arithmetic. The scaling technique may be used to improve multiplication and inversion in finite fields. We present an efficient inversion algorithm that utilizes the structure of a scaled modulus. Our inversion algorithm exhibits superior performance to the Euclidean algorithm and lends itself to efficient hardware implementation due to its simplicity. Using the scaled modulus technique and our specialized inversion algorithm we develop an elliptic curve processor architecture. The resulting architecture successfully utilizes redundant representation of elements in GF(p) and provides a low-power, high speed, and small footprint specialized elliptic curve implementation. We also introduce a unified Montgomery multiplier architecture working on the extension fields GF(p), GF(2) and GF(3). With the increasing research activity for identity based encryption schemes, there has been an increasing need for arithmetic operations in field GF(3). Since we based our research on low-power and small footprint applications, we designed a unified architecture rather than having a seperate hardware for GF{3}. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a unified architecture was built working on three different extension fields

Characterizations of Atmospheric Pressure Low Temperature Plasma Jets and Their Applications

Atmospheric pressure low temperature plasma jets (APLTPJs) driven by short pulses have recently received great attention because of their potential in biomedical and environmental applications. This potential is due to their user-friendly features, such as low temperature, low risk of arcing, operation at atmospheric pressure, easy handheld operation, and low concentration of ozone generation. Recent experimental observations indicate that an ionization wave exists and propagates along the plasma jet. The plasma jet created by this ionization wave is not a continuous medium but rather consists of a bullet-like-structure known as Plasma Bullet . More interestingly, these plasma bullets actually have a donut-shaped makeup. The nature of the plasma bullet is especially interesting because it propagates in the ambient air at supersonic velocities without any externally applied electric field. In this dissertation, experimental insights are reported regarding the physical and chemical characteristics of the APLTPJs. The dynamics of the plasma bullet are investigated by means of a high-speed ICCD camera. A plasma bullet propagation model based on the streamer theory is confirmed with adequate explanations. It is also found that a secondary discharge, ignited by the charge accumulation on the dielectric electrode surfaces at the end of the applied voltage, interrupts the plasma bullet propagation due to an opposing current along the ionization channel. The reason for this interesting phenomenon is explained in detail. The plasma bullet comes to an end when the helium mole fraction along the ionization channel, or applied voltage, or both, are less than some critical values. The presence of an inert gas channel in the surrounding air, such as helium or argon, has a critical role in plasma bullet formation and propagation. For this reason, a fluid dynamics study is employed by a commercially available simulation software, COMSOL, based on finite element method. Spatio-temporally resolved optical emission spectroscopy (OES) gives the evolution of excited species along the trajectory of the plasma bullets. The APLTPJs\u27 chemical composition includes short-lived species, such as He, N2, N+2, and long-lived species, such as Hem (helium metastable), O3, NO, NO2. It is worth noting that metastable level excited atoms play an important role in promoting an enhanced chemistry along the plasma jet. Some of the APLTPJs\u27 biomedical applications, such as dental hygiene applications and destruction of amyloid fibrils underlying Parkinson\u27s disease, are explored along with an important discussion showing that the APLTPJs do not have a cytotoxic effect on living cells

Continuously variable lipid packing as the principle of functional membrane heterogeneity

Lipid rafts are nanoscale entities in the membranes of eukaryotic cells which provide a mechanism for the functional membrane segregation vital for several cellular processes. This lateral segregation of specific lipid and protein components provides the facilitative platforms for a variety of signaling and trafficking events at the plasma membrane and in the Golgi. Rafts are distinguished from the surrounding membranes by their physical properties and composition - they are relatively tightly packed and enriched in saturated lipids, sterols, and lipid-anchored proteins. Although the existence of rafts has been conclusively confirmed by several independent techniques, questions concerning various aspects of membrane heterogeneity are still to be addressed. Typical experiments investigating raft composition have been designed to evaluate the affinity of a given component for raft domains. In such experiments, the results are usually interpreted in a Boolean fashion, i.e., the component is either a raft molecule, or not. However, this binary point of view overlooks potential complexity that may underlie the nature of membrane heterogeneity. In this work, we systematically investigated the nature of functional cellular membrane heterogeneity. We started by characterizing the model membranes and fluorescent lipid analogs widely used in research into membrane domains. After extensively evaluating the potentials/limits of these approaches and the artifacts that must be avoided or alternatively could be exploited, we applied these tools to understand whether the cell membrane has multiple kinds of raft domains with distinct compositions and physical properties, rather than only one. We found that cell membranes have the potential to form various kinds of functional domains having different physicochemical properties, compositions, and functional outputs. Therefore, we propose continuously variable lipid packing as the principle of the functional membrane lateral heterogeneity. According to this principle, the membrane is not composed of a single variety of raft domain with strictly defined properties coexisting alongside a specific and uniform non-raft environment; rather it is composed of entities having continuously variable lipid packing. Finally, we show that this spectrum of membrane packing modulates the orientation of membrane lipid receptors, which ultimately influences their specific bioactivity. Our results showing continuously variable lipid packing and its ability to fine-tune the activity of membrane molecules comprise a novel model for the structure and function of eukaryotic membranes

Local Dynamics as a Resource for Labour Protests: The Case of Wildcat Strikes in the Metal Industry in Turkey, 2012-2016

This article analyses the role of local dynamics on trade unions’ mobilisation capacity at thenational level, with a focus on the wildcat strikes in the metal sector in Bursa, a city in north-westTurkey, from 2012 to 2016. It studies to what extent local dynamics such as alliances with localbranches of political parties, workplace demonstrations, and local electoral and union organisingcampaigns contributed to protests against national government policies. The research andanalysis are based on both qualitative data collected during fieldwork and on quantitative datafrom a variety of Turkish and international sources. Through an analysis of the wildcat strikes,the article contributes to the literature on labour movements and strikes in authoritarian contexts.Differently from the majority of the existing literature on this issue, it focuses on the workplacelevel rather than analysing the relations between government officials and the trade unionconfederations at the national level. By doing this, it shows that, despite the oppressive context atthe national level, trade unions may regain power at the sectoral level.KEYWORDS: trade unions; metal industry; Turkey; authoritarian regime; social movement

A versatile Montgomery multiplier architecture with characteristic three support

We present a novel unified core design which is extended to realize Montgomery multiplication in the fields GF(2n), GF(3m), and GF(p). Our unified design supports RSA and elliptic curve schemes, as well as the identity-based encryption which requires a pairing computation on an elliptic curve. The architecture is pipelined and is highly scalable. The unified core utilizes the redundant signed digit representation to reduce the critical path delay. While the carry-save representation used in classical unified architectures is only good for addition and multiplication operations, the redundant signed digit representation also facilitates efficient computation of comparison and subtraction operations besides addition and multiplication. Thus, there is no need for a transformation between the redundant and the non-redundant representations of field elements, which would be required in the classical unified architectures to realize the subtraction and comparison operations. We also quantify the benefits of the unified architectures in terms of area and critical path delay. We provide detailed implementation results. The metric shows that the new unified architecture provides an improvement over a hypothetical non-unified architecture of at least 24.88%, while the improvement over a classical unified architecture is at least 32.07%