Motivated by the global financial market turbulence in 2007-2011 and the gaps from the literature, this thesis presents an econometric assessment of different transmission mechanisms that propagated and amplified shocks from advanced economies to East Asia. The asset price channel is investigated with MS-VAR model and multivariate unconditional correlation tests. The recursive bivariate probit models are applied to test the liquidity shock transmission via the sudden stop in international lending. The second round effects are examined with partial adjustment models and system GMM estimation. The econometric procedure and testing approach bring about novel results from superior estimation techniques and handle several statistical problems such as heteroskedasticity, non-linearity, endogeneity, omitted variables, simultaneous equations and sample selection bias. The main finding of the thesis is that despite relatively sound fundamentals and limited exposure to structured credit products, East Asia could not totally decouple from the global financial crisis. Specifically, the asset price channels propagated volatility spillovers from the US and Europe to East Asian equity, foreign exchange and CDS markets. While international volatility spillovers were mainly caused by fundamental links, international behaviour during the shocks intensified the regional linkages and generated contagion effect. There was also contagion evidence associated with the sudden stop in international lending which facilitated the transmission of liquidity tensions in the interbank markets. Finally, contagion was magnified by the second round effects, defined as the feedback loops from the sudden changes in macro-financial conditions which caused adverse adjustment in bank performance. These findings have useful implications for international investors and policy authorities regarding to portfolio diversification and systematic risk containment.

In recent years, ultra-wideband (UWB) communications has gained tremendous popularity in both research community and industry. The large bandwidth of UWB systems raises new wireless channel effects and consequently unique advantages as well as challenges to be dealt with, compared to conventional wireless systems. One of these advantages is the ability to resolve dense multipath components and use Rake combining at the receiver in order to significantly reduce the negative effects of fading. However, implementing a Rake receiver with a sufficiently large number of fingers to make use of this advantage is an evident challenge for most UWB devices with limited signal processing capabilities. A possible approach to overcome this problem is to move computational complexity from the receiver to the more powerful transmitter, which is the main focus of the present work. In this thesis, we propose two novel pre-equalization schemes for multiple- input single-output (MISO) direct-sequence ultra-wideband (DS-UWB) systems with pre-Rake combining and symbol-by-symbol detection. The first pre-equalization filter (PEF) scheme employs one PEF per transmit antenna, whereas in the second, simplified PEF (S-PEF) scheme all transmit antennas share the same PEF. For both schemes the optimum finite impulse response (FIR) and infinite impulse response (IIR) PEFs are calculated based on the minimum mean squared error (MMSE) criterion. We show that in contrast to previously proposed schemes for DS-UWB, both our proposed PEF schemes efficiently exploit the channel shortening properties of the pre-Rake filter. In particular, our proposed PEF schemes operate at the symbol level. We also show that under certain conditions the S-PEF scheme achieves the same performance as the more complex PEF scheme. Finally, we demonstrate that a single-input multiple-output (SIMO) DS-UWB system with post-Rake combining and MMSE post-equalization is the dual system to the considered MISO DS–UWB system with pre-Rake combining and MMSE pre-equalization. This uplink-downlink duality can be exploited for efficient calculation of the PEFs and for complexity reduction. Our simulation results show that the proposed PEF schemes achieve significant performance gains over pre-Rake combining without equalization even if only short PEFs are employed, and this is the case even for long UWB channel impulse responses.

The main objective of this thesis is to analyse the relationship between tribalism and modernity in Afghanistan. Focusing on Pashtuns, who constitute the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, the thesis traces their transformation from a tribal confederacy into a central state that introduced modernity to Afghanistan. In this regard, the thesis is, basically, a discussion of the struggle for power between two institutions in Afghanistan: the tribe and the state. In an effort to reveal the relationship between the two, the thesis looks at the modern strategies and ideologies used by the Afghan state to beat the power of tribalism. Nationalism and Socialism, in this regard, come up as two modern ideologies that are discussed in relation to Pashtun Tribalism. Questioning the concepts of Afghan Nationalism and Pashtun Nationalism as well as their relation to Pashtun Tribalism, the thesis discusses the concept of a tribe within the frame of modern border demarcation, nation-building efforts and modernist reform programmes. Passing on to the discussion on Socialism, the thesis then addresses the question of tribe in relation to the idea of class struggle, a communist party, a modern coup d&rsquo / &eacute / tat and a communist revolution. Contrasting the concept of tribe with such modern notions, the thesis finally reveals how tribalism managed to survive within these modern ideologies by articulating into them in various ways.

In direct-sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) systems, the heuristic optimization algorithms for multiuser detection include genetic algorithms (GA) and simulated annealing (SA) algorithm. In this thesis, we use particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms to solve the optimization problem of multiuser detection (MUD). PSO algorithm has several advantages, such as fast convergence, low computational complexity, and good performance in searching optimum solution. In order to enhance the performance and reduce the number of parameters, we propose two modified PSO algorithms, inertia weighting controlled PSO (W-PSO) and reduced-parameter PSO (R-PSO). From simulation results, the performance of our proposed algorithms can achieve that of optimal solution. Furthermore, our proposed algorithms have faster convergence performance and lower complexity when compared with other conventional algorithms.

This thesis analyses the return of the relocated Armenians and resettlement of them in former their hometowns between the years 1918 and 1920, with special reference to the relative archival materials. Upon the permission given for their return on the last days of the World War I, most of the relocated Armenians did return either with the help of the Ottoman government or by their own means. The first chapter of the thesis is devoted to the preliminary developments which were influential in taking of the return decision by the Ottoman government. The following chapter elaborates the return of the Armenians from the relocation residences to their former hometowns. In the third chapter, the resettlement process and the government&rsquo / s attempts for care of the returnees are examined. Because it was completed in the most disastrous years of the Ottoman Empire, the return of the Armenians properly reflects the postwar Ottoman panorama with its administrative, financial and social aspects. The postwar Allied interference with and pressures on the Empire are also observable through the return and resettlement processes.

This thesis studies the role of financial frictions in shaping the consumption and investment behavior in China and its implications on rest of the world. The first chapter uses a panel of Chinese individual level data to show that the inability to borrow against future labour income forces a significant portion of individuals to deviate from a smooth consumption path over the life cycle, which they would otherwise follow. Financial frictions also affect the Chinese corporate sector. The second chapter relates China's current account surplus, as well as productivity differential between state-owned (SOEs) and privately-owned enterprises (POEs), to differences in access to finance. I consider an open- economy DSGE model of the Chinese economy with two productive sectors. I model SOEs and POEs as start-ups which need to borrow in order to begin production. Following a policy-induced asymmetric shock to the borrowing constraints, SOEs are on average less productive than POEs. Because of the lower hurdle rate for investment they face, SOEs end up creating more investable assets than POEs, while, due to more constrained credit availability, POEs save more and invest less than SOEs. In aggregate, this simple mechanism implies investment (driven by less productive SOEs) does not keep up with savings (driven by more productive POEs), resulting in a current ac- count surplus. Furthermore, the savings of Chinese POEs owners in search of investable foreign assets put downward pressure on the world long run real interest rate. In the third chapter, I move from China to an international perspective. This chapter constructed a measure of financial frictions for 41 emerging economies (EMs) between 1995 and 2008 in order to shed light on common factors across countries. Finally, Chapter four shows econometrically that financial frictions pose a serious danger to EMs, by reducing long run economic growth, raising the probability of a crisis, and leading to asset bubbles. Consistent with Chapter 2, I confirm that financial fractions can also help explain the current account position of EMs.

Health Inequalities and the Right to Healthcare of Negev Bedouin in Israel with Diabetes: A case study of a Marginalized Arab Indigenous Minority Diabetes is one of the world’s most pervasive chronic diseases and there are high rates of prevalence in the Arab world and amongst indigenous peoples. It is widespread amongst older Bedouin in the Negev, who are a marginalized Arab indigenous minority in Israel. This is a multi-method case study using non participant observation in clinic settings, analysis of medical records and semi-structured interviews in a Health Centre and Hospital Outpatient Clinic and household interviews. The fieldwork took place over eight months in 2007. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS and thematic qualitative analysis was conducted using NVIVO 7 with supplementary manual analysis. The conceptual frameworks used are the right to heath and health care approach as set out in UN Special Comment 14 in relation to the availability, accessibility acceptability and quality of health care, as well as neo materialist, materialist and socio-behavioural explanations of health inequalities linked to lay and professional explanatory models of illness. The findings show that there are limitations on the right to health care in terms of availability of clinics and clinic hours, accessibility in terms of distance, language, cost, and information, acceptability in terms of linguistic and cultural differences between staff and patients and quality in terms of medical records, monitoring and appropriate context specific lifestyle advice. The issue of non-discriminatory care needs to be addressed. Explanatory models of illness used by Bedouin and health professionals differ although both reflect awareness of changing lifestyles. These models link to explanations of health inequalities. There are gender differences in how Bedouin men and women understand and live with diabetes which is related to their social status and circumstances. Some aspects of the findings are generalisable to Bedouin in the Arab world and to indigenous peoples in relation to health care provision, health inequalities and explanatory models. However, there were specific areas of health care provision that related to the marginalized minority status and situation of this population in Israel which needs to be addressed and the rights to health and health care framework provides a potential means of monitoring improvement.

This thesis constitutes an attempt to conceptualise the partition and independence of India and Pakistan in terms of rupture and novelty. The event or transition, which formally occurred in August 1947, is analysed as a rare moment of openness and undecidability. It is argued that a study of the so-called transfer of power—and of the inclusion of the notions of 'Partition‘ and 'Independence‘ as key elements of Indian and Pakistani nation building—ought to contain a recognition of the active labour by the political elites to overwrite the abyssal and ambiguous character of becoming independent and postcolonial. A second argument is that this overwriting was, necessarily, partial, i.e. it left certain groups and subject positions to populate the margins and the in-betweens of citizenship and national identity. The principal implication of the thesis‘ pro-posed theorising is that we need to adopt a new approach to the study of the partition of British India and the ensuing nation and state building; an approach that is sensitive to the constitutive contingency, and the forceful closure of it, which was contained in the moment of transition. In doing the above, the thesis critically engages with literature on the various and multi-layered levels of violence that were inscribed into the politics of belonging. Special attention is, in some parts, devoted to the Indian case. Partly in order to contest some of the sedimented assumptions regarding how to conceive the events in the late 1940s and the early 1950s; partly as a consequence of the primary material that underpins much of the reasoning. In order to demonstrate the above-mentioned uncertainty—both regarding the future trajectory of statehood and what independence actually signified—that the political elites, but also other sections of the two societies, was confronted with, the thesis is to a significant degree the product of archival research carried out at the National Archives of India and at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. It, in addition, draws on a close reading of the Constituent Assembly debates in both India and Pakistan.

While relatively neglected in the historiography, the 4th Earl of Minto, who achieved the distinction of serving consecutively as Governor-General of Canada and Viceroy of India from 1898-1910, is more truly representative of the methods Britain adopted to govern its Empire than his more illustrious contemporaries. He was one of the many aristocrats who, while increasingly marginalised in other aspects of British political life, were believed to possess important qualities that made them ideally suited to the highest levels of imperial service. As part of the governing elite, Britain’s aristocrats shared many of the assumptions held by politicians, civil servants and military officers, about imperial governance. Vague notions circulated about Britain’s duty to civilize its possessions, but most policy-makers eschewed ‘ideological’ visions in favour of a more pragmatic approach based on recognition that protecting the empire from both internal and external threats was vital to maintaining Britain’s leading position amongst its rival Great Powers. The pragmatism of its governors provided an element of continuity in the diverse territories of Britain’s empire. This thesis examines the role of Lord Minto in the formation of defence and foreign policy to illustrate the centrality of the pragmatic approach to British imperialism. He held his posts at a time of transition for the Empire. Ideas about the duties of imperial governors were changing, as power shifted either to local governments in the self-governing colonies or back to the metropole from the periphery. Yet as Britain faced an increasing range of challenges, governors remained able to influence many of the decisions made in response. Like most governors Minto worked under a series of constraints. He was forced to repair the damage caused by his predecessors and contain the unrealistic aspirations of his superiors, although, a soldier himself, he found his military colleagues a valuable source of support throughout his career. In Canada Minto worked hard to ensure that Laurier’s government accepted its imperial responsibilities, most notably during the South African war, but also that his British superiors understood Canadian attitudes towards the Empire and rapprochement with America. As Viceroy, Minto’s priority remained protecting the security of the Raj, particularly the strategically vital North West Frontier, often against the insistence of a Liberal government focused on economic retrenchment. That he was able to achieve these aims and restore stability to previously troubled territories is a tribute to the effectiveness of pragmatism.

(kein Abstract vorhanden) / Series: Forschungsberichte des Forschungsinstituts für Altersökonomie