The Market Performance of Initial Public Offerings in the Istanbul Stock Exchange

This study examines the long-standing IPO performance in the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) by using new factors such as source of shares (new issue or sale of large shareholders), allocation of shares and dispersion of investors as well as existing factors such as market conditions (hot/cold), underwriters’ reputation, and firm characteristics (firm size, E/P, and B/M ratios) in the period of 1990-2000. Our results differ from the previous studies at least three ways. First, the magnitude of underpricing is significantly lower, while underperformance is higher than those of in other studies. Our strong evidence supports the existence of the underpricing by positive initial excess returns (5.94%) and the long-term underperformance up to three-year holding period (-84.5%) in the ISE. Second, underperformance starts much earlier than in other markets i.e. at the end of first month following the IPO because of myopic behavior of investors seeking short-term returns. Third, the underperformance disappears for IPOs made in a cold market, and those made through the sale of large shareholders. Allocation of shares in an IPO and firm size also impact after-market performance of sharesInitial Public Offerings, Underperformance, Underpricing, Market Efficiency, Emerging Markets

Collisional Effects in Isovector Response Function of Nuclear Matter at Finite Temperature

The dipole response function of nuclear matter at zero and finite temperatures is investigated by employing the linearized version of the extended TDHF theory with a non-Markovian binary collision term. Calculations are carried out for nuclear dipole vibrations by employing the Steinwedel-Jensen model and compared with experimental results for $^{120}Sn$ and $^{208}Pb$.Comment: 14 pages, RevTex, 3 PS figure

Refutation of C. W. Misner's claims in his article "Yilmaz Cancels Newton''

It is shown that an article by C. W. Misner contains serious errors. In particular, the claim that the Yilmaz theory of gravitation cancels the Newtonian gravitational interaction is based on a false premise. With the correct premise the conclusion of the article regarding the absence of gravitational interactions applies to general relativity and not to the Yilmaz theory.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX, submitted to Il Nuovo Ciment

Predatory lending in rational world

Regulators express growing concern over “predatory lending,” which we take to mean lending that reduces the expected utility of borrowers. We present a rational model of consumer credit in which such lending is possible, and identify the circumstances in which it arises with and without competition. Predatory lending is associated with imperfect competition, highly collateralized loans, and poorly informed borrowers. Under most circumstances competition among lenders eliminates predatory lending.Predatory lending

Predatory mortgage lending

Regulators express growing concern over predatory loans, which we take to mean loans that borrowers should decline. Using a model of consumer credit in which such lending is possible, we identify the circumstances in which it arises both with and without competition. We find that predatory lending is associated with highly collateralized loans, inefficient refinancing of subprime loans, lending without due regard to ability to pay, prepayment penalties, balloon payments, and poorly informed borrowers. Under most circumstances competition among lenders attenuates predatory lending. We use our model to analyze the effects of legislative interventions.Predatory lending

Exponential Metric Fields

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission will use advanced technologies to achieve its science goals: the direct detection of gravitational waves, the observation of signals from compact (small and dense) stars as they spiral into black holes, the study of the role of massive black holes in galaxy evolution, the search for gravitational wave emission from the early Universe. The gravitational red-shift, the advance of the perihelion of Mercury, deflection of light and the time delay of radar signals are the classical tests in the first order of General Relativity (GR). However, LISA can possibly test Einstein's theories in the second order and perhaps, it will show some particular feature of non-linearity of gravitational interaction. In the present work we are seeking a method to construct theoretical templates that limit in the first order the tensorial structure of some metric fields, thus the non-linear terms are given by exponential functions of gravitational strength. The Newtonian limit obtained here, in the first order, is equivalent to GR.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Science, 17 page

Measuring Dynamic Connectedness with Large Bayesian VAR Models

We estimate a large Bayesian time-varying parameter vector autoregressive (TVP-VAR) model of daily stock return volatilities for 35 U.S. and European financial institutions. Based on that model we extract a connectedness index in the spirit of Diebold and Yilmaz(2014)(DYCI).We show that the connectedness index from the TVP-VAR model captures abrupt turning points better than the one obtained from rolling-windows VAR estimates. As the TVP-VAR based DYCI shows more pronounced jumps during important crisis moments, it captures the intensification of tensions in financial markets more accurately and timely than the rolling-windows based DYCI. Finally, we show that the TVP-VAR based index performs better in forecasting systemic events in the American and European financial sectors as well

Detection and localization of specular surfaces using image motion cues

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Successful identification of specularities in an image can be crucial for an artificial vision system when extracting the semantic content of an image or while interacting with the environment. We developed an algorithm that relies on scale and rotation invariant feature extraction techniques and uses motion cues to detect and localize specular surfaces. Appearance change in feature vectors is used to quantify the appearance distortion on specular surfaces, which has previously been shown to be a powerful indicator for specularity (Doerschner et al. in Curr Biol, 2011). The algorithm combines epipolar deviations (Swaminathan et al. in Lect Notes Comput Sci 2350:508-523, 2002) and appearance distortion, and succeeds in localizing specular objects in computer-rendered and real scenes, across a wide range of camera motions and speeds, object sizes and shapes, and performs well under image noise and blur conditions. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg