Eastern European Equity Markets and the Subprime Crisis Does Emerging Europe Still Offer Diversification Benefits?

The stock markets in Eastern Europe went through a period of rapid growth. Those which joined the EU had to integrate with Western Europe on various levels, which had important implications for their equity price development during the subprime mortgage crisis. The aim of the paper is to analyze the developments in the stock markets of Eastern European countries before and during the subprime crisis and to evaluate the hypothesis of disappearing portfolio diversification opportunities in the region. Through the application of correlation analysis, Markowitz mean variance approach and portfolio optimisation strategy based on the Sharpe ratio, it is shown that diversification opportunities for a US investor in the Eastern European region have largely disappeared.

Cortical auditory processing of informational masking effects by target-masker similarity and stimulus uncertainty

Purpose: Understanding speech in a background of other people talking is one of the most difficult listening challenges for hearing-impaired individuals, and even for those with normal hearing. Speech-on-speech masking, is known to contribute to increased perceptual difficulty over non-speech background noise because of informational masking provided over and above the energetic masking effect. While informational masking research has identified factors of similarity and uncertainty between target and masker that contribute to reduced behavioral performance in speech background noise, critical gaps in knowledge including the underlying neural-perceptual processes remain. By systematically manipulating aspects of similarity and uncertainty in the same auditory paradigm, the current study proposed to examine the time course and objectively quantify these informational masking effects at both early and late stages of auditory processing using auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) in a two-factor repeated measures paradigm. Method: Thirty participants were included in this cross sectional repeated measures design. Target-masker similarity between target and masker were manipulated by varying the linguistic/phonetic similarity (i.e. language) of the talkers in the noise maskers. Specifically, four levels representing hypothesized increasing levels of informational masking were implemented: (1) No masker (quiet), (2) Mandarin (linguistically and phonetically dissimilar), (3) Dutch (linguistically dissimilar, but phonetically similar), and (4) English (linguistically and phonetically similar). Stimulus uncertainty was manipulated by task complexity, specifically target-to-target interval (TTI) of an auditory paradigm. Participants had to discriminate between English word stimuli (/bæt/ and /pæt/) presented in an oddball paradigm in each masker condition at +3 dB SNR by pressing buttons to either the target or standard stimulus (pseudo-randomized between /bæt/ and /pæt/ for all participants). Responses were recorded simultaneously for P1-N1-P2 (standard waveform) and P3 (target waveform). This design allowed for simultaneous recording of multiple AEP peaks, including analysis of amplitude, area, and latency characteristics, as well as accuracy, reaction time, and d’ behavioral discrimination to button press responses. Finally, AEP measurers were compared to performance on a behavioral word recognition task (NU-6 25-word lists) in the proposed language maskers and at multiple signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) to further explore if AEP components of amplitude/area and latency are correlated to behavioral outcomes across proposed maskers. Results: Several trends in AEP and behavioral outcomes were consistent with the hypothesized hierarchy of increasing linguistic/phonetic similarity from Mandarin to Dutch to English, but not all differences were significant. The most supported findings for this factor were that all babble maskers significantly affected outcomes compared to quiet, and that the native language English masker had the largest effect on outcomes in the AEP paradigm, including N1 amplitude, P3 amplitude and area, as well as decreased reaction time, accuracy, and d’ behavioral discrimination to target word responses. AEP outcomes for the Mandarin and Dutch maskers, however, were not significantly different across all measured components. Outcomes for AEP latencies for both N1 and P3 also supported an effect of stimulus uncertainty, consistent with a hypothesized increase in processing time related to increased task complexity when target stimulus timing was randomized. In addition, this effect was stronger, as evidenced by larger effect sizes, at the P3 level of auditory processing compared to the N1. An unanticipated result was the absence of the expected additive effect between linguistic/phonetic similarity and stimulus uncertainty. Finally, trends in behavioral word recognition performance were generally consistent with those observed for AEP component measures such that no differences between Dutch and Mandarin maskers were found, but the English masker yielded the lowest percent correct scores. Furthermore, correlations between behavioral word recognition and AEP component measures yielded some moderate correlations, but no common AEP components accounted for a majority of variance for behavioral word recognition. Conclusions: The results of this study add to our understanding of auditory perception in informational masking in four ways. First, observable effects of both similarity and uncertainty were evidenced at both early and late levels of auditory cortical processing. This supports the use of AEPs to better understand the informational masking deficit by providing a window into the auditory pathway. Second, stronger effects were found for P3 response, an active, top-down level of auditory processing providing some suggestion that while informational masking degradation happens at lower levels, higher level active auditory processing is more sensitive to informational masking deficits. Third, the lack of interaction of main effects leads us to a linear interpretation of the interaction of similarity and uncertainty with an equal effect across listening conditions. Fourth, even though there were few and only moderate correlations to behavioral word recognition, AEP and behavioral performance data followed the same trends as AEP measures across similarity. Through both auditory neural and behavioral testing, language maskers degraded AEPs and reduced word recognition, but particularly using a native-language masker. The behavioral and objective results from this study provide a foundation for further investigation of how the linguistic content of target and masker and task difficulty contribute to difficulty understanding speech in noise

The Relationship Between Central Auditory Tests and Neurocognitive Domains in Adults Living With HIV

Objective: Tests requiring central auditory processing, such as speech perception-in-noise, are simple, time efficient, and correlate with cognitive processing. These tests may be useful for tracking brain function. Doing this effectively requires information on which tests correlate with overall cognitive function and specific cognitive domains. This study evaluated the relationship between selected central auditory focused tests and cognitive domains in a cohort of normal hearing adults living with HIV and HIV– controls. The long-term aim is determining the relationships between auditory processing and neurocognitive domains and applying this to analyzing cognitive function in HIV and other neurocognitive disorders longitudinally. Method: Subjects were recruited from an ongoing study in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Central auditory measures included the Gap Detection Test (Gap), Hearing in Noise Test (HINT), and Triple Digit Test (TDT). Cognitive measures included variables from the Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA), Cogstate neurocognitive battery, and Kiswahili Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). The measures represented three cognitive domains: processing speed, learning, and working memory. Bootstrap resampling was used to calculate the mean and standard deviation of the proportion of variance explained by the individual central auditory tests for each cognitive measure. The association of cognitive measures with central auditory variables taking HIV status and age into account was determined using regression models. Results: Hearing in Noise Tests and TDT were significantly associated with Cogstate learning and working memory tests. Gap was not significantly associated with any cognitive measure with age in the model. TDT explained the largest mean proportion of variance and had the strongest relationship to the MoCA and Cogstate tasks. With age in the model, HIV status did not affect the relationship between central auditory tests and cognitive measures. Age was strongly associated with multiple cognitive tests. Conclusion: Central auditory tests were associated with measures of learning and working memory. Compared to the other central auditory tests, TDT was most strongly related to cognitive function. These findings expand on the association between auditory processing and cognitive domains seen in other studies and support evaluating these tests for tracking brain health in HIV and other neurocognitive disorders

CORPORATE DEBT AND CRISIS SEVERITY IN EUROPE

The aim of this paper is to analyse the financial structure of non-financial corporations in the European Union prior to the 2008 crisis and to determine whether the ex-ante differences in corporate financial structure had an impact on the severity of the 2008 financial crisis in European countries. The analysis confirms a negative relationship between the corporate debt ratio prior to the crisis and crisis-induced contractions in corporate investment and GDP. The results indicate a greater importance of the growth in corporate indebtedness in the years prior to the crisis for crisis vulnerability than solely the level of debt immediately before the crisis. The paper has several important implications for crisis prevention and mitigation policy

EASTERN EUROPEAN EQUITY MARKETS AND THE SUBPRIME CRISIS. DOES EMERGING EUROPE STILL OFFER DIVERSIFICATION BENEFITS?

The stock markets in Eastern Europe went through a period of rapid growth. Those which joined the EU had to integrate with Western Europe on various levels, which had important implications for their equity price development during the subprime mortgage crisis. The aim of the paper is to analyze the developments in the stock markets of Eastern European countries before and during the subprime crisis and to evaluate the hypothesis of disappearing portfolio diversification opportunities in the region. Through the application of correlation analysis, Markowitz mean variance approach and portfolio optimisation strategy based on the Sharpe ratio, it is shown that diversification opportunities for a US investor in the Eastern European region have largely disappeared

Influence of globalization and European integration processes on structural transformations in the Polish sugar industry

The problem of economic transformation, and especially of structural transformations of industries in view of globalization and European integration becomes particularly significant. One of the most important effects of globalization, vital in modernization of economy, is restructuring of industry. This process requires precise recognition of the mechanisms of its functioning and identification and employment of these mechanisms in the process of adapting countries’ economies to the new, competitive conditions of the global economy. Such actions are indispensable to increase the competitiveness of products and services provided by enterprises. In the period of transformation, functioning of the Polish sugar industry depended not only on the current socio-economic conditions, but also on the influence of integration processes. As economic transformation, especially restructuring of enterprises, is strictly connected with great financial expenditure and with changes in the system of management, it had an effect on the course of transformations in the spatial structure of the Polish sugar industr

The trial of Saint Paul as an example of Roman penal procedure

Tematem pracy magisterskiej jest proces Apostoła Pawła, analizowany w świetle rzymskiej procedury karnej, w szczególności procesu cognitio extra ordinem, kształtującego się w I wieku po Chr. i współwystępującego równolegle z porządkiem ordo. Głównym źródłem, z którego czerpiemy informację na temat sprawy Pawła z Tarsu są Dzieje Apostolskie, będące jedną z ksiąg Nowego Testamentu, dlatego na początku dokonane zostało porównanie tego dzieła z innymi źródłami starożytnymi, w celu ustalenia wartości historycznej Dziejów, głównie dziełami Józefa Flawiusza.W pierwszej części pracy przedstawiona została osoba świętego Pawła, jego pochodzenie, cechy ważne dla zrozumienia zajmowanej przez niego pozycji w społeczeństwie, co miało wpływ na przebieg procesu i jego prawa. Zrozumienie rzymskiego prawa karnego nie byłoby możliwe bez analizy stosunków panujących na obszarze Imperium i zasad, które w nim obowiązywały. Dlatego w pracy ukazana jest sytuacja polityczna; z wprowadzeniem historycznym, przedstawiającym początki rzymskiego panowania na terenach żydowskich, kompetencje urzędników i organizacja prowincji. Druga część pracy stanowi przedstawienie najważniejszych cech procedury cognitio extra ordinem. Analiza procesu Pawła z Tarsu nie była by możliwa bez wiadomości o rozwoju prawa karnego i jego zmianach. Dopiero znajomość poszczególnych elementów funkcjonującej procedury pozwala na stwierdzenie, czy konkretny przypadek mieści się w jej ramach oraz czy proces został przeprowadzony prawidłowo. Ostatnia część to analiza procesu świętego Pawła, poprzez porównanie jego elementów z głównymi zasadami procedury cognitio. W pracy przedstawione zostały poszczególne etapy sprawy Apostoła, więc aresztowanie i przewód kognicyjny w Jerozolimie, postępowanie przed prokuratorami Feliksem i Festusem, więzienie w Cezarei Nadmorskiej, apelacja i pobyt w Rzymie. W zakończeniu ukazane zostały możliwe dalsze losy Pawła z Tarsu. Ze względu na brak wskazania przez autora Dziejów zakończenia procesu i zapadłego w sprawie wyroku, przedstawione zostały powstałe w tej kwestii hipotezy współczesnych egzegetów i historyków.The topic of my master’s thesis is the trial of Paul the Apostle which is analyzed in the light of the Roman penal procedure, in particular the cognitio extra ordinem procedure. It was still forming in the 1st Century AD and coexisted with the ordo procedure. The main source of information about the case of Paul of Tarsus is the Acts of the Apostles, which is one of the books of the New Testament. That is why it is compared to another antient sources, especially works of Flavius Josephus at the beginning of this thesis.The first part of the thesis presents characteristic of Saint Paul. His origins and features which affected his position in the society had influence on course the trial and his rights. It is impossible to understand the Roman law without analyzing the social relations in the Empire and its rules. Therefore, the thesis shows the political situation of the Empire in this period. It presents the beginnings of the Roman rule in Palestine, competences of Roman officials and organization of provinces.The second part of the thesis contains presentation of the most important characteristics of the cognitio extra ordinem procedure. Analysis of the trial of Saint Paul is impossible without knowledge about Roman penal law and its changes throughout the time. Only comprehension of individual elements of the procedure allows to tell whether the particular trial was conducted properly.The last part of the thesis contains analysis of the trial of Saint Paul and comparison of its individual elements to the main rules of the cognitio procedure. Particular elements of the trial: arrest and process in Jerusalem, procedure before Felix and Festus, imprisonment in Cesarea Maritima, appeal and residence in Rome.The ending shows possible further fate of Paul of Tarsus. Due to lack of information about the end of the trial and the final sentence in the Acts of the Apostles, hypothesis of modern historians and exegetes are presented

Post-cinemas in Krakow

Praca poświęcona jest zjawisku krakowskich post-kin, czyli miejsc, które mimo zamknięcia wciąż noszą ślady dawnej funkcji. Można natknąć się na nie do dnia dzisiejszego – jak choćby w przypadku kin Wanda, Uciecha, Pasaż czy Apollo. To właśnie one, wraz z towarzyszącymi im opowieściami mieszkańców miasta, stanowią główny obiekt badań autora. W jaki sposób kina te ciągle istnieją? Jak funkcjonują w przestrzeni i pamięci? Czy można mówić o nich w kategorii miejsca? Niniejsza praca odpowiada na te pytania poprzez zestawienie zjawiska post-kina z różnymi kontekstami: historycznym, przestrzennym, publicznym czy emocjonalnym. Głównym przedmiotem badań pozostaje jednak człowiek i jego pamięć o kinach – pamięć, bez której nie mogłyby one istnieć w swojej post formie. To społeczeństwo staje się nośnikiem wszystkiego, czym dane kino było i to właśnie społeczeństwo umiejscawia kino na mapie miasta, nawet długi czas po jego zamknięciu.The work is dedicated to the phenomenon of Kraków’s post-cinemas: places that, although closed, still bear marks of their previous function. One can find them even today – like in the case of Wanda, Uciecha, Pasaż or Apollo cinemas. Accompanied by their stories narrated by the city inhabitants, they are the main focus of the author’s research. How do these cinemas still exist? How do they function in space and memory? Is it possible to discuss them in terms of place? This research answers those questions through a juxtaposition of the phenomenon of post-cinema with different contexts: historical, spatial, public or emotional. But the main subject of the research is the human and his or her memory of the cinemas – memory without which they would not exist in their post form. It is society that becomes the carrier of everything that specific cinema was. And it is society that places the cinema on the city map even long after it has been closed down