With globalization and modernization, increasingly people are influenced by multiple cultures. This paper examines the case of two authors, Mark Tully and Ruskin Bond, who were born in India shortly before India's Independence (1947). Both had British parents, but one considers himself Indian while the other has retained his British identity. The focus of this paper is how and why this difference has occurred and how it has influenced their writing. Both Tully and Bond write short stories about India and Indians, particularly the small towns and villages. Their reasons for writing, however, are very different. Tully writes to achieve social change, while Bond writes because he loves to write.

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This thesis considers the link between financialisation and emerging market government policy autonomy. It analyses the government bond markets of three case study countries: Brazil, Lebanon and Turkey. Using extensive interview data in the three countries, and interviews with financial market actors in London and New York, the study explores the investment behaviour of a range of investors: commercial banks; individual investors; mutual funds; pension funds and hedge funds. The thesis uses the framework of financialisation – measured by the ability to trade risk – to analyse both international and domestic investors. The study shows that increased financialisation, of both financial market actors and the structure of government bond markets, generally serves to reduce loyalty and therefore reduces government policy autonomy. However, it is demonstrated that initial financialisation – the development of pension and mutual funds – serves to increase autonomy. This is captured by the construction of an ‘autonomy curve’. The conclusions suggest an updating the use of Hirschman’s concept of voice, exit and loyalty in the analysis of financial markets, to give a greater emphasis on loyalty and to include the use of ‘disloyalty’, the ability to short securities. It is also argued that financialisation is the appropriate framework to analyse processes of change in financial markets. The thesis also makes observations as to the true extent of government policy autonomy in emerging market countries, and policy recommendations regarding those governments’ attitude to financialisation.

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Exploring the main factors that determine bond spreads with respect to Treasury rates is one of the most critical issues in the corporate debt market. Credit risk has long been perceived as the most important determinant of bond spreads (Fisher, 1959). One of the most critical parameters in credit risk models is asset volatility, which includes idiosyncratic and systematic components. However, these models do not distinguish between them. Chapter 2 investigates the impact of idiosyncratic volatility on bond portfolio spreads between 2000 and 2010. While the prediction of traditional asset pricing models is that firm-specific risk should be diversified away at aggregate level, I find idiosyncratic volatility plays an incremental role in explaining bond portfolio spreads beyond the market factors. Recovery is an important measurement of credit risk additional to default probability. Chapter 3 focuses on the estimation of firm recovery after bankruptcy using the Leland and Toft (1996) model. Using a large sample of Chapter 11 filings from 1996 to 2007, I find that the recovery derived from the Leland and Toft model has strong explanatory power on the debt recovery observed in the market. Recent literature finds that all extant credit risk models significantly underestimate bond spreads, especially for investment grade bonds of short maturity. Chapter 4 identifies a heretofore ignored component, perceived accounting misstatement, by regressing bond spreads on the proxy of accounting misstatement propensity, while controlling for issuers’ default risk and bond illiquidity risk between January 1994 and June 2002. My thesis deepens the understanding of bond price discovery mechanisms and presents an important challenge for future research to incorporate the strong empirical relationship between idiosyncratic volatility and bond yields in asset pricing models. My thesis also sheds light on the accurate prediction of debt recovery, which is important to the valuation and hedging of risky debt and credit derivatives. Furthermore, my thesis assists in solving the credit spread puzzle by identifying a new risk factor. Overall, my thesis provides new insights into research on the corporate debt market and has important implications for academic scholars and market practitioners. / Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2013-05-01 07:43:17.718

A large amount of information concerning interatomic distances in the solid state is available, but little has been done in recent times to comprehensively filter, summarize and analyze this information. Here, I examine the distribution of bond lengths for 135 ions bonded to oxygen, using 180,331 bond lengths extracted from 9367 refined crystal structures collected from the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database (ICSD). The data are used to evaluate the parameterization of the bond-length—bond-valence relation of the bond-valence model. Published bond-valence parameters for 135 cations bonded to oxygen, and the various methods used in their derivation, are evaluated. New equations to model the relation are tested and the common form of the equation is found to be satisfactory. A new method (the Generalized Reduced Gradient Method, GRG method) is used to derive new bond-valence parameters for 135 cations bonded to oxygen, leading to significant improvements in fit for many of the ions. The improved parameterization is used to gain crystal-chemical insight into the milarite structure. A literature review of 350+ published compositions is done to review the end-members of the milarite group and to identify compositions that should have been described as distinct minerals species. The a priori bond-valences are calculated for minerals of this structure, and are used to examine the controls of bond topology on site occupancy, notably by localizing the major source of strain of the structure (the B site). Examination of the compositions of all known milarite-group minerals shows that compositions with a fully occupied B site are less common than those with a vacant B site, in accord with the idea that the B site is a local region of high strain in the structure. The bond-length distributions for the ions of the alkali and alkaline-earth metal families are examined. Variations in mean bond-lengths are only partly explained by the distortion theorem of the bond-valence model. I have found that bond length also correlates with the amount of vibrational displacement of the constituent ions. The validity of some uncommon coordination numbers, e.g., [3]-coordinated Li+, [3]-coordinated Be2+, is confirmed. / October 2016

This research evaluates the relationship between ESG score of the firm and its effect on the performance of their bonds. The study looks at listed companies on the Nordic countries ’ stock exchanges and tries to establish a relationship between ESG score and corporate bond yield spread. The study finds that no such relationship can be established and therefore that a high ESG score does not imply a decreased level of required risk premium by bond investors and a decreased or stabilized cost of debt for companies in the Nordic countries. Further, the study will contribute to a theoretical discussion by using the Stakeholder Theory, Legitimacy Theory, The Resource-Based View and finally the Agency theory in order to further analyze the underlying dynamics of this proposed relationship.

The Near Surface Mounted (NSM) strengthening is an emerging retrofitting technique, which involves bonding Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) reinforcement into grooves cut along the surface of a concrete member to be strengthened. This technique offers many advantages over external bonding of FRP reinforcement, for example, an increased bond capacity, protection from external damage and the possibility of anchoring into adjacent concrete members. To date, significant research has been conducted into the NSM FRP strengthening technique. However, there are still some areas which need further research in order to fully characterise bond and anchorage of NSM FRP bars. Lack of experimental data, design tools and analytical models addressing these areas create obstacles for the efficient use of these advanced polymer materials. The particular objectives of the research are; to investigate bond behaviour between NSM FRP bars and concrete, to understand the critical failure modes involved and their mechanics, and to develop a rational analytical model to predict bond strength and anchorage length requirements for NSM FRP bars. Several significant variables affecting bond, such as bond length, size, shape and type of bar, resin type, groove dimensions and concrete strength, have been considered. In particular, attention has been focussed on the effect of bar shape on bond behaviour. A comprehensive set of laboratory testing and their results, including the effect of the investigated parameters are presented. Various modes of anchorage failure of NSM FRP bars are identified and the underlying mechanics are investigated. Analytical models are developed to predict bond capacity and anchorage length requirements of NSM FRP bars, and are verified with experimental results.