In the past two decades the Latin American region has experienced a number of credit crises stemming from large sovereign debt levels and sharp currency devaluations. This study aims to discover whether or not the sovereign credit default swaps (CDS) in the Latin American region lead equity markets prior to these sovereign credit events. Through a sample of the seven largest Latin American economies and daily return data from 2001 to 2018, I try to empirically test this question through a Generalized Least Squared model. The paper finds little significant evidence of CDS leading equity markets in price discovery prior to sovereign credit events. Additionally, the paper observes a potential momentum effect present amongst Latin American equity market returns. However, this effect is more likely serial correlation amongst equity market returns due to the illiquidity of these equity markets.

In this dissertation, I focus my research on some of the economically significant and current open problems in international finance, specifically the relationship between Credit Default Swaps (CDS) on sovereign debt, the importance of fundamental dyadic distances on the initiation and completion of cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and the impact of domestic and transnational terrorism on cross-border mergers and acquisitions. In the first essay, we study the relationship between sovereign debt ratings and the information contained in CDS spreads regarding the credit risk of the reference entity. Using data for 54 countries over a twelve-year period, we find that the variation in average sovereign ratings in a given year can be explained by average CDS spreads over the previous three years. In a horse race between CDS spreads and sovereign ratings, we find that CDS spread changes can predict sovereign events while rating changes cannot. In the second essay, we study how dyadic distance influences the initiation, completion, and duration of cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Using a sample of 173,616 cross-border deals announced between 1970 and 2016, we find evidence that cross-country cultural, institutional, geographical, religious, and language differences, all play a deciding role in the initiation of mergers and acquisitions. The completion of acquisitions is independent of cultural factors, but largely depends on differences in economy size, language, religion, and bureaucracy of the acquiring and target countries. Finally, the duration of deals is influenced by idiosyncratic factors only. In the third essay, we study whether incidents of domestic and transnational terrorism impact the propensity of firms to acquire cross-border firms. We adopt a theoretical model to show that high levels of terrorism in the target countries are associated with lower cross-border acquisition flows. Empirically, we exploit the exogenous variation induced by differences in genetic diversity, ethnic fractionalization, and religious fractionalization between acquirer and target countries. Our results show that an target from a country with lower terrorist incidents than the acquirer country are associated with more cross-border mergers and acquisitions.

<p>An integrated circuit for evaluation of APS technology has been implemented in a 0.35 um process. The APS features snapshot operation and the readout circuitry can carry out: CDS, DS, and analog summing all in one circuit that is fully programmable. The output from the chip is a differential analog signal, intended to be connected to a high-speed ADC on an evaluation board. The sensor is fully compatible with current IVP camera systems, hence, the evaluation board should be easy to design. </p><p>Several small code snippets that illustrate different modes of readout have been outlined, to aid the evaluation of the chip. It should be fairly straightforward to convert these code snippetsinto actual camera code. Furthermore, some code to illustrate a possible application and a faster mode of CDS have been indicated. </p><p>Six types of APs have been implemented. They differ regarding diode type and implementation of the sampling capacitor. Design instructions and models for hand calculation have been described. The models have in most cases been validated by simulations and it has been shown that a readout speed of 8 MHz is possible to obtain, even for a larger sensor than this test chip. The desired resolution of 8 bits cannot be obtained for high levels of illumination. However, for low levels of illumination a resolution as high as 10 bits is possible. </p><p>The chip layout has been validated to a large extent and should result in a fully functional chip, if manufactured. However, in the eventuality that IVP decides to manufacture this chip it is recommended to use the newer CAD tools, not available to the author at the time of implementation, to check the chip design for DRC and LVS errors.</p>

In a firm level matched sample of 499 firms we examine the information flow between stocks and the credit default swap (CDSs) over a period of January 2004 to December 2008. Our study confirms the general findings of previous studies that the information generally flows from equity market to CDS market. However, for a much smaller number of firms we also find that information also flows from the CDS to its stock. A major advantage of our sample period is that it allows us to examine the information flow before and during the crisis. This paper makes two contributions. We document that the firms for which the information flows from the CDS to its stock increases by almost tenfold during the crisis. The current crisis is often referred as a credit crisis, so this finding is consistent with what is expected of CDSs. The major contribution of this paper is that it identifies the firm specific factors that influence the information flow across the two markets. We show that characteristics such as asset size, profitability, and industry, amongst others, play an important role in determining information flow.

Coverage in a Wireless Sensor Network reflects how well a sensor network monitors an area. Many times it is impossible to provide full coverage. The key challenges are to prolong the lifetime and ensure connectivity to provide a stable network. In this thesis we first define p-percent coverage problem in which we require only p% of the whole area to be monitored. We propose two algorithms, Connected P-Percent Coverage Depth First Search (CpPCA-DFS) and Connected P-Percent Connected Dominating Set (CpPCA-CDS). Through simulations we then compare and analyze them for their efficiency and lifetime. Finally in conclusion we prove that CpPCA-CDS provides 5 to 20 percent better active node ratio at low density. At high node density it achieves better distribution of covered area however the lifetime is only 5 to10 percent shorter then CpPCA-DFS. Overall CpPCA-CDS provides up to 30 percent better distribution of covered area.

This thesis investigates the pricing of sovereign credit risk in the bond and credit default swap (CDS) market for Turkey. Using daily data, CDS premiums and Emerging Market Bond Index (EMBI) are examined over the period 1, January 2001- 20, June 2012. Firstly, the short-run and long-run determinants of CDS premiums are compared with those of EMBI, employing the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach. Then, the basis, the difference between CDS and EMBI spreads is analyzed seeking the factors which drive the two markets apart. Empirical results reveal that the CDS and bond market price credit events differently and hence, two spreads deviates in the short run. On the other hand, cointegration analysis shows that two prices move together in the long run, as theory predicts. Applying VECM analysis, the findings suggest that CDS spreads move ahead of the EMBI in the terms of price adjustment.

Credit Default Swaps have become a large part of financial markets and recently the center of debate between academics and regulators alike. Transferring the techniques to measure information flow between the CDS market and stock markets presented by Acharya and Johnson (2007), this paper looks at the relationship between a countries sovereign CDS spread level and its predominate stock exchange. Under the back drop of the Greek Credit Crisis in Spring of 2010 I measure contagion effects in the Euro Zone comparing the level of Granger causality significance between the stock and CDS market. I find that the greatest information flow from the CDS market to the stock market is during credit shocks or times of high credit distress. My results also point to the significance of the contagion effect in the CDS market but not in the stock market.

An integrated circuit for evaluation of APS technology has been implemented in a 0.35 um process. The APS features snapshot operation and the readout circuitry can carry out: CDS, DS, and analog summing all in one circuit that is fully programmable. The output from the chip is a differential analog signal, intended to be connected to a high-speed ADC on an evaluation board. The sensor is fully compatible with current IVP camera systems, hence, the evaluation board should be easy to design. Several small code snippets that illustrate different modes of readout have been outlined, to aid the evaluation of the chip. It should be fairly straightforward to convert these code snippetsinto actual camera code. Furthermore, some code to illustrate a possible application and a faster mode of CDS have been indicated. Six types of APs have been implemented. They differ regarding diode type and implementation of the sampling capacitor. Design instructions and models for hand calculation have been described. The models have in most cases been validated by simulations and it has been shown that a readout speed of 8 MHz is possible to obtain, even for a larger sensor than this test chip. The desired resolution of 8 bits cannot be obtained for high levels of illumination. However, for low levels of illumination a resolution as high as 10 bits is possible. The chip layout has been validated to a large extent and should result in a fully functional chip, if manufactured. However, in the eventuality that IVP decides to manufacture this chip it is recommended to use the newer CAD tools, not available to the author at the time of implementation, to check the chip design for DRC and LVS errors.

In a firm level matched sample of 499 firms we examine the information flow between stocks and the credit default swap (CDSs) over a period of January 2004 to December 2008. Our study confirms the general findings of previous studies that the information generally flows from equity market to CDS market. However, for a much smaller number of firms we also find that information also flows from the CDS to its stock. A major advantage of our sample period is that it allows us to examine the information flow before and during the crisis. This paper makes two contributions. We document that the firms for which the information flows from the CDS to its stock increases by almost tenfold during the crisis. The current crisis is often referred as a credit crisis, so this finding is consistent with what is expected of CDSs. The major contribution of this paper is that it identifies the firm specific factors that influence the information flow across the two markets. We show that characteristics such as asset size, profitability, and industry, amongst others, play an important role in determining information flow.

In dieser Arbeit wurde das laserinduzierte Fluoreszenzlicht von mikrometergroßen Partikeln untersucht, die in einer elektrodynamischen Vierpolfalle gespeichert waren. Untersuchungsobjekte dabei waren ligandenstabilisierte Cadmiumsulfid-Cluster, Farbstoffpartikel und Diamanten mit N-V-Zentren. Auf die Herstellung und Charakterisierung der CdS-Proben wird genauer eingegangen. Zum Probentransfer in den Speicher wurde die Verwendung eines kommerziellen Tröpfchengenerators eingeführt und diskutiert.