Comme un déterminant de la survie d'une banque durant la crise financière de 2007/2008, la liquidité dans le secteur bancaire a depuis récemment représenté un défi pour les communautés financières et universitaires. Les trois articles présentés dans cette thèse portent sur les deux principales facettes de la liquidité dans le secteur bancaire: la détention d'actifs liquides (à savoir, la trésorerie et les ressources assimilées) et le processus de création de la liquidité dans les banques utilisé pour financer des prêts. Comme on le verra dans les articles, ces deux aspects de la liquidité peuvent être considérés comme les deux faces d'une même pièce. Je reconnais que la liquidité dans le secteur bancaire est liée à la création monétaire; cependant, cette thèse se concentre sur les deux précités aspects de la liquidité. Tout d'abord, cette introduction présente comment le concept de la liquidité a évolué dans la pensée économique dominante. La seconde partie considère le renouveau de la détention de cash qui a été observée depuis la crise financière de 2007/2008 dans le secteur bancaire. La troisième section examine les propriétés de liquidité. La quatrième section explore ce que nous ne savons pas sur la liquidité. La cinquième section identifie et sélectionne trois problèmes fondamentaux relatifs à liquidité et qui sont analysés dans les trois articles présentés dans thèse. La sixième et dernière section présente la méthodologie utilisée dans les trois articles pour répondre à ces questions. Chapitre 1 : “Why do banks hold cash ?". La détention de cash et assimilé cash par les banques détiennent est devenue un enjeu majeur depuis la crise financière de 2008 qui a démontré que la trésorerie retenue est un déterminant majeur dans les chances de survie des banques. Cet article examine les déterminants de la détention de cash banque en utilisant des données internationales pour la période 1981-2014. Sur la base d'un grand échantillon, nous documentons une augmentation séculaire de la détention de cash par les banques pendant une période de 35 ans. Nous apportons la preuve que la nature optimale dynamique de la détention de cash est rejetée dans le secteur bancaire. Ces résultats contrastent avec le secteur non bancaire, où la nature optimale dynamique de trésorerie est observée. Chapitre 2: “Does an increase in capital negatively impact banking liquidity creation?”. A partir d'un ensemble de données composé d'un panel de 940 banques cotées des pays européens, américains et asiatiques, cet article documente l'évolution de la création de la liquidité bancaire au cours d'une période de 35 ans (1981-2014). La preuve empirique confirme que les niveaux de risque et de capital jouent un rôle significatif et négatif dans la création de liquidité par les banques. Dans l'ensemble, les effets négatifs de l’augmentation de capital sur la création de la liquidité bancaire sont plus importants que les effets positifs sur la gestion du risque correspondant, ce qui suggère que les exigences de fonds propres imposées pour soutenir la stabilité financière affectent négativement la création de liquidités. Ces résultats ont de larges implications pour les régulateurs bancaires. Chapitre 3: “Positive effects of Basel III on banking liquidity creation”. Ce document évalue l'effet du cadre réglementaire de Bâle III sur la création de liquidité bancaire. Les résultats sont basés sur un ensemble de données de panel de banques américaines qui représentent environ 60% des prêts et dépôts américains sur une période de 7 ans (2009-2015), en plus de différence dans la différence et les méthodes de survie standard. Tous les composants de Bâle III pris ensemble, il existe des preuves empiriques que Bâle III a un effet positif sur la création de liquidité bancaire sur le marché américain, en particulier pour les grandes banques. Ces résultats ont de larges implications pour les régulateurs bancaires. / As one determinant of a bank’s survival during the financial crisis of 2007-2008, liquidity in the banking sector presents a challenge for the financial and academic communities and has recently become a central point of interest. The three articles presented in this thesis focus on the two main facets of liquidity in the banking sector: the holding of liquid assets (i.e., cash and assimilated resources) and the process of liquidity-creation in banks used to fund loans. As will be discussed in the articles, these two aspects of liquidity can be viewed as two sides of the same coin. I acknowledge that liquidity in banking is linked to the creation of money; however, this thesis focuses on the aforementioned two aspects of liquidity. First, this section presents how ideas about liquidity in the banking sector have evolved in mainstream economic thought. Second, it considers the revival of cash-holding that has been observed since the financial crisis of 2007-2008. Third, it discusses the properties of liquidity. Fourth, it explores what we do not know about liquidity. Fifth, it identifies the fundamental issues analyzed in the three articles. Finally, it presents the methodology used in the articles to address these issues. Chapter1: “Why do banks hold cash ?”. This paper investigates the determinants of bank cash holding by using international data for the period 1981-2014. The results do not seem to provide support for the substitutability hypothesis regarding the substitutive relation between cash and debt levels. Further, using the GMM-system estimation method, we find no support for the dynamic optimal cash model, suggesting that cash management in the banking sector is bounded by number of constraints that make it difficult for the agents to optimize their utility. Chapter 2: “Does an increase in capital negatively impact banking liquidity creation?”. From a dataset composed of a panel of 940 listed banks based in European, American and Asian countries, this paper documents the evolution of bank liquidity creation over a 35-year period (1981-2014). The empirical evidence confirms that risk and equity levels play a significant and negative role. Overall, the negative effects of equity increases on bank liquidity creation are more significant than corresponding positive effects on risk management, suggesting that capital requirements imposed to support financial stability negatively affect liquidity creation. These findings have broad implications for policymakers. Chapter 3: “Positive effects of Basel III on banking liquidity creation”. This paper estimates the effect of the Basel III regulatory framework on banking liquidity creation. The results are based on a panel data set of U.S. banks that represent approximately 60% of U.S. loans and deposits over a 7-year period (from 2009 to 2015) in addition to difference-in-difference and standard survival methods. All components of Basel III taken together, there is empirical evidence that Basel III has a positive effect on banking liquidity creation in the US market in particular for major banks. These findings have broad implications for policy makers.

Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / This work presents a study of the spectral dynamics characteristics of audio signals. More specifically, we aim at detecting regularities that can be modeled in typical domestic sounds, in order to classify them. Our starting point is the work of Sehili et al. [2], in which a household sounds classification system based on GMM is proposed. The Sehili system is reproduced in this work as a baseline system. Following the same protocol of experiments, a 73 % recognition rate is achieved. Afterwards, three sets of experiments are performed, arranged so that each new approach incorporates a new technique to highlight a different aspect of the spectral dynamics. The first technique is the insertion of the discrete gradient information of feature vectors, a strategy aimed at a local spectral dynamic analysis, and resultes in a perceptible increase in recognition rate. The next experiment is conducted with a HMM based classifier, in which the spectral dynamic should be encoded in state transition probability matrices. The tests with the HMM do not result in improved recognition rates. The last experiment is based on a features extraction method, proposed by the author, called Patterns of Energy Envelope per Band (PEEB). The PEEB is an extractor that highlight the signal spectral dynamics inside narrow bands. In domestic sounds recognition tests, the classification system based on a combination of PEEB, MFCC and GMM strategies resulted in a significant improvement over all other systems tested. We conclude, based on our results, that the spectral dynamics of the studied dataset plays an important role in the classification task. However, the approaches for spectral dynamic information extraction, studied in this work, are not definitive, for it is clear that they can be further developed. For example, in the case of PEEB, the recognition rate is strongly dependent on the sound class, suggesting more elaborate forms of fusion of PEEB and MFCC features for each class. / Este trabalho é um estudo da característica da dinâmica espectral em sinais sonoros, com vistas a encontrar as regularidades que podem ser modeladas em sons tipicamente domésticos, com o objetivo de classificá-los. O ponto de partida é o trabalho de Sehili et al. [1], no qual é proposto um sistema de classificação de sons domésticos baseado em GMM. O sistema de Sehili é reproduzido neste trabalho como marco zero na análise da dinâmica espectral, seguindo o mesmo roteiro dos experimentos. A partir daí, três conjuntos de experimentos são realizados, organizados de forma que, a cada novo experimento, uma técnica – que destaca um aspecto diferente da dinâmica espectral – seja incorporada. A primeira técnica analisada é a inserção da informação de gradiente discreto dos vetores de características, estratégia que representa uma análise de dinâmica espectral local e que resulta num aumento perceptível na taxa de classificação. O próximo experimento é realizado com um classificador baseado em HMM, no qual a informação de dinâmica espectral deve ser codificada na matriz de probabilidades de transição de estados do modelo. Os testes com o HMM não resultam em melhora na taxa de reconhecimento das classes de sons. O último experimento é baseado num extrator de características proposto pelo autor, chamado de Padrões de Envelopes de Energia por Banda (PEEB). O PEEB é um extrator que destaca os padrões de evolução espectro-temporais do sinais. Nos testes de reconhecimento de sons domésticos, o sistema de classificação baseado numa combinação das estratégias PEEB, MFCC e GMM resultam numa melhora significativa em relação a todos os outros sistemas testados. Conclui-se, com base nos resultados, que a dinâmica espectral dos sinais da base estudada é relevante à tarefa de classificação. No entanto, as maneiras de extração da informação de dinâmica espectral estudadas neste trabalho não são definitivas, pois ainda há muito espaço para desenvolvê-las. Por exemplo, no caso do PEEB, nota-se que a taxa de classificação fortemente é dependente da classe sonora, sugerindo formas mais elaboradas de fusão das características PEEB e MFCC para cada classe.

Submitted by Marcos Rocha (marcosrocha@gvmail.br) on 2012-06-27T18:30:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_MRocha_biblio.pdf: 2007577 bytes, checksum: 595f726cc8507c10b02153b1ee6674cd (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vera Lúcia Mourão (vera.mourao@fgv.br) on 2012-06-27T19:02:57Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_MRocha_biblio.pdf: 2007577 bytes, checksum: 595f726cc8507c10b02153b1ee6674cd (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2012-06-27T19:11:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_MRocha_biblio.pdf: 2007577 bytes, checksum: 595f726cc8507c10b02153b1ee6674cd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-29 / Este trabalho é composto de três partes. O primeiro capítulo avalia a hipótese de substituição de poupanças. De acordo com Bresser-Pereira e Nakano (2003), existe nas economias emergentes uma alta taxa de substituição de poupança interna por externa gerada pelo processo de influxo dos recursos estrangeiros. Isso acontece porque, dada a propensão ao consumo dos países emergentes, a maior parte do déficit em conta corrente se transforma em consumo de importados; a parcela dos fluxos gasta em investimento é pequena, de forma que a estratégia de crescimento com poupança estrangeira não é uma opção. Diante desta hipótese, o capítulo avalia teórica e empiricamente a existência de substituição de poupança interna por externa nos países em desenvolvimento e o papel da sobreapreciação da taxa de câmbio real (TCR) nesse processo. Foi utilizado um painel dinâmico System-GMM para uma amostra de 48 países de renda média cobrindo o período de 1970-2004. Os resultados mostram um processo de substituição de poupança doméstica por externa significante, além de efeitos negativos sobre a poupança doméstica resultantes da interação entre sobreapreciação do câmbio e entrada de poupança estrangeira. O segundo capítulo analisa os efeitos de sobreapreciações da TCR sobre o valor adicionado por setores dos países emergentes, para o período 1970-2004. A sobreapreciação, ao minar a competitividade dos produtos manufaturados e industriais domesticamente, pode reduzir a capacidade dos países em desenvolvimento de estimular setores dinâmicos da estrutura produtiva que induzem crescimento e desenvolvimento sustentável no longo prazo. A motivação teórica é a visão Kaldoriana de desenvolvimento. Assim, o capítulo testa a relação entre a sobreapreciação da TCR sobre o valor adicionado dos setores produtivos de bens primários e manufatureiros como parcela do produto, no período de 1970 a 2004, para uma amostra de 45 países emergentes. Os resultados evidenciam que os episódios de sobreapreciação caracterizados pelo índice reduzem a participação de manufaturados no valor agregado no produto das economias em desenvolvimento, de forma significante. A razão provável deste resultado é que um câmbio sobreapreciado não só torna os bens industriais domésticos menos competitivos, como também favorece a importação doméstica destes que, em virtude disto, deixam de ser produzidos ou aperfeiçoados dentro do país. Por fim, o terceiro capítulo avalia os efeitos da dívida externa sobre crescimento de um ponto de vista diferente dos diagnósticos da literatura 'debt overhang': argumenta que é a estratégia de crescimento com poupança externa a causa do crescente endividamento que, no longo prazo, é responsável por prejudicar a performance de crescimento dos países emergentes por gerar crises no balanço de pagamentos. Para avaliar esta dinâmica empiricamente foi estimada uma equação de crescimento com painel dinâmico System-GMM de variáveis instrumentais; são utilizados dados para 45 países de renda média, no período 1970-2004. A conclusão geral dos exercícios empíricos atesta uma influência não linear da dívida externa sobre o crescimento dos países selecionados na amostra: no longo prazo, o contínuo endividamento reduz o desempenho de crescimento dos países. Pode-se apontar ainda que um dos mecanismos pelo qual a poupança externa pode levar a maior dívida externa é sua interação significante com o influxo de recursos externos necessários para a rolagem da dívida; o resultado sobre o desempenho de crescimento é negativo e significante. Por fim, o apêndice do trabalho detalha os procedimentos de estimação de painel cointegrado utilizados para derivar os índices de sobreapreciação da TCR. / This work consists of three parts. The first chapter assesses the possibility of “savings displacement”. According to Bresser-Pereira and Nakano (2003), there is in emerging economies a high rate of substitution of foreign for domestic savings generated by the process of inflow of foreign financial flows. This is happens because, given the propensity for consumption in emerging countries, most of the deficit in current account turns into consumption of imported goods; the share of the flow spent on investment is small. The existence of savings displacement makes growing with foreign savings a risky strategy. Given this hypothesis, the chapter evaluates theoretically and empirically the existence of substitution of foreign for domestic savings in developing countries and also the role of overvaluation of the real exchange rate (RER) in this process. We used a dynamic panel GMM-System for a sample of 48 middle income countries covering the time span of 1970-2004. The results show a process of substitution of foreign for domestic savings significant and negative effects on domestic savings resulting from the interaction of overvaluation of the exchange and foreign inflows. The second chapter analyzes the effects of RER overvaluations on the value added by economy sectors for developing countries covering the period 1970-2004. The overvaluation process, once undermines the competitiveness of domestically manufacturing industries may reduce the ability of developing countries to stimulate dynamic sectors of the productive structure. The long run outcome can led to adverse effects upon growth and sustainable development. The theoretical motivation of this work is the Kaldorian view of development. The chapter proceeds by testing tests the relationship between the overvaluation of the RER on the added value of the productive sectors of primary goods and manufacturing as product share for the period 1970 to 2004, using a sample of 45 emerging countries. The results show that episodes of overvaluation are correlated with a lower share of manufacturing value-added production on the economies´ product significantly. The probable reason of this result is that an exchange overvaluation not only makes the domestic industrial goods less competitive, but also favors the domestic importats of this commodity from other countries; in this scenario, manufacturing could no longer be produced or improved within the country. Finally, the third chapter evaluates the effects of external debt on growth from a different point of view underlined by the "debt overhang" literature. Here we argues that the strategy of growth with foreign savings is the main reason for the increasing debt that in the long term that is responsible for harming the growth performance of developing countries since generates balance of payments crises. To assess this dynamic was empirically estimated growth equation with a dynamic panel System GMM. The data used 45 middle-income countries, covering the period 1970-2004. The overall conclusion of the empirical exercises attests a nonlinear influence of external debt on growth of selected countries in the sample: in the long term, continuous indebtedness reduces growth performance of countries. It can be pointed that one probable reason why foreign savings can lead to higher external debt problems is its significant interaction with the influx of external resources required to rollover debt, the result on the growth performance is negative and significant. Concluding the thesis, an appendix details the procedures for estimating panel cointegration used to derive indexes of RER overvaluation.

La diseguaglianza dei redditi è comunemente analizzata e misurata attraverso l’impiego di varie misure quali l’indice di Gini, il coefficiente di variazione, l’indice di Theil, la varianza dei logaritmi ed altri ancora (Sen, 1970). A partire dagli anni ’90 l’applicazione di tecniche di scomposizione relative, ad esempio, all’indice di Theil hanno reso possibile quantificare due diverse componenti della diseguaglianza ovvero la disuguaglianza legata allo sforzo individuale e la disuguaglianza dovuta alle ineguali opportunità. Questa seconda componente dipende esclusivamente da fattori esogeni, non controllabili dall’individuo, e, per questa ragione, è a ragione considerata una diseguaglianza “ingiusta”. Alla componente residua della scomposizione è di solito attribuito, invece, il significato di disuguaglianza nello sforzo, ovvero quanto ciascun individuo si è impegnato per raggiungere un determinato obiettivo di successo economico. L’applicazione di questo approccio alle misure di diseguaglianza ha permesso di studiare quale tipo di disuguaglianza prevalga all’interno di un Paese e, soprattutto, quali siano le circostanze esogene che incrementano la disparità nelle opportunità. Il presente lavoro si muove lungo questa linea di ricerca proponendo un metodo per testare il peso relativo delle due componenti e la loro significativita’. Come misura di diseguaglianza si e’ scelto di considerare il coefficiente di variazione in modo da ricondurre il test ad un problema di Analisi della varianza (ANOVA) a piu’ vie. Il test viene presentato facendo riferimento ai dati dell’ISTAT e dell'indagine Bankitalia sui redditi delle famiglie. Dopo quest'analisi preliminare sulle determinanti della diseguaglianza di opportunità in Italia, si utilizza la scomposizione della diseguaglianza nelle sue due componenti: diseguaglianza di opportunità e diseguaglianza legata all'impegno, per definire univocamente l'effetto della diseguaglianza sulla crescita economica. L'analisi econometria è svolta sui dati dell'indagine sulla ricchezza e sui redditi delle famiglie forniti dalla Banca d'Italia. L'effetto viene stimato utilizzando il modello panel dinamico con il metodo di stima GMM. / While the analysis of inequality has been central to economic studies for cen- turies, in recent years many studies concentrated on the distinction between in- equality of opportunity (IO) and inequality of returns to effort (IE) and attempted empirical estimates of the two components, e.g. in US and in Europe. The decompo- sition of a general inequality index into these two components allows to analyze the prevalence of fair or unfair income inequality within a country. This paper suggests to test the differences between the two sources of inequality in a simple way using the ANOVA framework adapted to decompose the coefficient of variation, to better suit the requirements of an inequality index. The proposed procedure is applied to the Italian Survey on Income and Living Condition (IT-SILC data, wave 2005 and 2011). The analysis of the results help identifying the circumstances that foster the rise of inequality of opportunities in Italy. Our analysis shows in particular, that father education, region of residence and gender result as the most relevant circumstances determining inequality of opportunity. On the other side, the role of mother education starting from a lower level, as an inequality of opportunity factor, is increasing its influence over time. The decomposition of inequality index in two components allows not only to analyze the prevalence of fair or unfair income inequality in a country, but also to find a clearer relation between inequality and growth. In fact, it is still missing an analysis of the relation between inequality of opportunity and economic growth in Italy. This paper aims at filling in that gap, by using Italian data from Bank of Italys Survey on Income and Wealth from 1998 to 2014. We choose the coefficient of variation to measure inequality of opportunity at the regional level and, then, we studied its relation with economic growth using Dynamic Panel Data models estimated through System- GMM. Finally, in order to check if the coefficient of variation could be a measure as good as the Entropy’s index, I will compare the results of the estimated panel models with the two different inequality of opportunity indeces. We evaluate the effect of inequality of opportunity on different length of the economic growth rate, going from a short term (2 years) to a very long term growth rate (10 years). Our results shows that, in Italy, inequality of opportunity is negative in the short period, but it does not have any effect on long run growth.

The CEO and CFO are the two key executives of a firm. They work cohesively to ensure the growth of the firm. After the adoption of the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) in 2002, the importance of CFOs has increased due to their personal legal obligation in certifying the accuracy of financial statements. Only a few papers such as Mian (2001), Fee and Hadlock (2004), and Geiger and North (2006) focus on CFOs in the pre-SOX era. However, a vacuum exists in research focusing exclusively on CFOs in the post-SOX era. The purpose of this dissertation is to delve into a comprehensive investigation of the CFOs. More specifically, I answer three questions: a) does the CEO change lead to the CFO change? b) does the CFO appointment type affect the firm’s debt-equity choice? and c) does the CFO appointment affect the firm’s information environment? I use Shumway’s (2001) dynamic hazard model in answering question ‘a’. For question ‘b’, I use instrumental variable (IV) regression under various estimation techniques to control for endogeneity. For part ‘c’, I use the cross sectional difference-in-difference (DND) methodology by pairing treatment firms with control firms chosen by the propensity scores matching (PSM). I find there is about a 70% probability of CFO replacement after the CEO replacement. Both of their replacements are affected by prior year’s poor performance. In addition, as a custodian of the firm’s financial reporting, the CFO is replaced proactively due to a probability of restatement of earnings. I find firms with internal CFO hires issue more equity in the year of appointment than firms with external hires. The promoted CFO significantly improves the firm’s overall governance which helps the firm obtain external financing from equity issue. However, I find that CFO turnover does not significantly affect the firm’s information environment. To ensure that my finding is not due to mixing up of samples of good and distressed firms together, I separated distressed firms and re-ran my models and my finding still holds. This dissertation fills the gap in the literature with regards to CFOs and their post SOX relationship with the firm.

High resolution surveillance video cameras are invaluable resources for effective crime prevention and forensic investigations. However, increasing communication bandwidth requirements of high definition surveillance videos are severely limiting the number of cameras that can be deployed. Higher bitrate also increases operating expenses due to higher data communication and storage costs. Hence, it is essential to develop low complexity algorithms which reduce data rate of the compressed video stream without affecting the image fidelity. In this thesis, a computer vision aided H.264 surveillance video encoder and four associated algorithms are proposed to reduce the bitrate. The proposed techniques are (I) Speeded up foreground segmentation, (II) Skip decision, (III) Reference frame selection and (IV) Face Region-of-Interest (ROI) coding. In the first part of the thesis, a modification to the adaptive Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) based foreground segmentation algorithm is proposed to reduce computational complexity. This is achieved by replacing expensive floating point computations with low cost integer operations. To maintain accuracy, we compute periodic floating point updates for the GMM weight parameter using the value of an integer counter. Experiments show speedups in the range of 1.33 - 1.44 on standard video datasets where a large fraction of pixels are multimodal. In the second part, we propose a skip decision technique that uses a spatial sampler to sample pixels. The sampled pixels are segmented using the speeded up GMM algorithm. The storage pattern of the GMM parameters in memory is also modified to improve cache performance. Skip selection is performed using the segmentation results of the sampled pixels. In the third part, a reference frame selection algorithm is proposed to maximize the number of background Macroblocks (MB’s) (i.e. MB’s that contain background image content) in the Decoded Picture Buffer. This reduces the cost of coding uncovered background regions. Distortion over foreground pixels is measured to quantify the performance of skip decision and reference frame selection techniques. Experimental results show bit rate savings of up to 94.5% over methods proposed in literature on video surveillance data sets. The proposed techniques also provide up to 74.5% reduction in compression complexity without increasing the distortion over the foreground regions in the video sequence. In the final part of the thesis, face and shadow region detection is combined with the skip decision algorithm to perform ROI coding for pedestrian surveillance videos. Since person identification requires high quality face images, MB’s containing face image content are encoded with a low Quantization Parameter setting (i.e. high quality). Other regions of the body in the image are considered as RORI (Regions of reduced interest) and are encoded at low quality. The shadow regions are marked as Skip. Techniques that use only facial features to detect faces (e.g. Viola Jones face detector) are not robust in real world scenarios. Hence, we propose to initially detect pedestrians using deformable part models. The face region is determined using the deformed part locations. Detected pedestrians are tracked using an optical flow based tracker combined with a Kalman filter. The tracker improves the accuracy and also avoids the need to run the object detector on already detected pedestrians. Shadow and skin detector scores are computed over super pixels. Bilattice based logic inference is used to combine multiple likelihood scores and classify the super pixels as ROI, RORI or RONI. The coding mode and QP values of the MB’s are determined using the super pixel labels. The proposed techniques provide a further reduction in bitrate of up to 50.2%.

Abstracts in English, Xhosa and Southern Sotho / This study critically explores the link between internationalisation theories and outward foreign direct investment (FDI) – a linkage which is well documented in the literature. Numerous studies have established that the internationalisation process recognises both firm- and market-specific aspects, which greatly determine the direction of outward FDI in terms of volume and pattern. In this interaction, path dependency is determined by the intensity of overlapping aspects or linkages, from firm-level heterogeneity and host market aspects that direct investment patterns in terms of the latter, to the volumes of firm-level adjustments. Firm-level heterogeneity comprises those traits, which enable an individual firm to make an investment decision, select a market-entry strategy and create the competitive advantages that will sustain its investments. Macro-level or country-specific aspects encompass those traits or characteristics of host markets, which encourage FDI on the part of multinational enterprises (MNEs). Most studies overlook the path dependency of country- and firm-specific aspects, which are crucial to the internationalisation processes of international business, economics and trade. Academic studies either focus on macro- or micro-level aspects, without paying specific attention to the path dependency of expansion strategies. The present study attempts to fill these gaps in the existing body of knowledge, by investigating international business in these contexts. The rationale for undertaking this study was two-fold: first, FDI holds proven benefits for host markets, which include economic growth, industry spillover, human capital development and transitory tacit knowledge. From a firm-level perspective, outward FDI largely enhances the capacity of MNEs, prompting an increase in asset accumulation, market share and human capital development, the more efficient utilisation of resources and return on equity. In this study, an argument is presented for measuring the variables of both firm- and market-specific aspects, since most existing studies in this genre focus either on micro- or macro-level determinants, or totally overlook the importance of linkages. Second, no documented research has investigated the path dependency of expansion strategies, especially in Africa. Crucially, the importance of path dependency of South Africa’s outward investment has not been documented either. Further, existing evidence on the role the path dependency of expansion strategies plays in outward FDI are scarce, with even fewer studies following a sectorial approach. This study attempts to fill these academic research gaps by reflecting both firm- and market-level data from various sources for the period 1995–2015, using panel dynamic regression models. The study found that the linkages between firm heterogeneity (firm-level evidence) and market-level aspects create a path dependency of expansion strategies. MNEs adopt either joint ventures or wholly owned subsidiaries (or both) as market-entry strategies, but the decision is informed by the intensity of those firm heterogeneity aspects that allow them to exploit opportunities and mitigate risk in host markets. Notably, the intensity of path dependency seemingly varies from one industrial segment to the next. The impulse response approach delivered evidence that one standard deviation shock of firm-specific variables led to a moderate improvement in firm-level capacities in the short run, but a significant improvement in the long run. The same result was recorded for market-level aspects, with the intensity of the results varying from one industry to the next. The causality test attempted to explore the causal relationship between the study variables in both firm- and market-level aspects. Empirical evidence from the study indicates that the size of the firm and its capacity to utilise its resources efficiently, influence their investment in host markets. As regards market-specific aspects, the size of the economy, levels of industry and trade openness were found to have a causal effect on the inflow of FDI in host markets. The intensity of causal aspects was also found to vary from one industry to the next, due to variations in firm-level heterogeneity and their linkage in terms of aspects related to the host market. In sum, this study complements existing material on the subject of international business. / Olu phononongo luphicotha ikhonkco phakathi kweengcingane zamazwe ngamazwe kunye notyalo-mali ngokuthe ngqo oluphuma ngaphandle kumazwe asemzini (i-FDI) –indibaniselo ebhalwe kakuhle kwimiqulu yoncwadi. Izifundo ezininzi ezenziweyo ziye zaqinisekisa ukuba inkqubo yamazwe ngamazwe iyazamkela zombini inkampani- kunye nemiba ekhethekileyo yemarike, ezihlola kakhulukazi imikhombandlela (izikhokelo) ye-FDI yangaphandle ngokomthamo kunye nephatheni. Kule ntsebenziswano, indlela yokuxhomekeka ifunyanwa ngobungakanani bezinto ezisebenzelelanayo/ezingenanayo okanye izenzo zokuhlangana, ukusuka kwiintlobo-ntlobo zamanqanaba enkampani kunye neemfuno zabasingathe imicimbi yeendawo zokuthengisa (iimarike) iimpahla ezilawula iiphatheni zotyalo-imali ngokweyokugqibela, kwimilinganiselo yokulungelelaniswa kwenqanaba lwenkampani. Iintlobo-ntlobo zamanqanaba enkampani ziquka ezo mpawu, ezenza inkampani nganye yenze isigqibo sotyalo-mali, ikhethe isicwangciso sokungeniswa kwimarike kwaye siyile amathuba amahle okhuphiswano aya kugcina utyalo-mali. Inqanaba eliphezulu okanye iinkalo ezithile zelizwe zibandakanya ezo zimo okanye iimpawu zeemarike ezamkelekileyo, ezikhuthaza i-FDI kwiinkampani zamazwe ngamazwe (i-MNEs). Uninzi lwezifundo aziyiniki ngqalelo indlela yokuxhomekeka yelizwe kwimicimbi ekhethekileyo nebalulekileyo yenkampani kwiinkqubo zangokwamazwe oshishino lwamazwe ngamazwe, uqoqosho norhwebo. Uphando lwemfundo ephakamileyo lugxininisa kwiinkcukacha ezikwinqanaba eliphezulu okanye eliphantsi ngokunganiki ngqalelo kwindlela yokuxhomekeka yeendlela zokwandisa. Uphononongo lwangoku luzama ukuvala izikhewu/izikroba kulwazi olukhoyo., ngokuphanda ishishini lwamazwe ngamazwe kule meko. Ingqiqo ekwenzeni olu phando yahlulwe kubini: okokuqala, i-FDI inenzuzo eqinisekisiweyo kwabasingethe iimarike, ezibandakanya ukukhula koqoqosho, ukuchuma kwamashishini, ukuphuhliswa kwezakhono zabantu kunye nolwazi oludlulileyo lwezakhono. Ngakwicala lenqanaba lenkampani, i-FDI yangaphandle iphakamisa amandla e-MNE, ikhawulezisa ukunyusa uqokelelo lwempahla, isabelo semarike kunye nophuhliso lwabantu, ukusetyenziswa ngokufanelekileyo kwezixhobo kunye nokubuyela kubulungisa bokulingana. Kolu phononongo, impikiswano inikezelwe ukulinganisa iinguqu zombini yenkampani- kunye nemimiselo ethile yemarike, njengoko olunye uphando oluninzi olwenziweyo kolu hlobo lugxininisa koonobangela abakwizinga elisezantsi okanye eliphezulu, okanye kunganikwa ngqalelo tu kukubaluleka kwezenzo zokudibana / zokunxibelelana. Okwesibini, akukho phando lubhaliweyo oluphande indlela yokuxhomekeka kweendlela zokwandisa, ngakumbi e-Afrika. Ngokusesikweni, ukubaluleka kwendlela yokuxhomekeka yotyalo-mali lwangaphandle eMzantsi Afrika alukaze nalo lubhalwe phantsi. Ukongezelela, ubungqina obukhoyo kwindima yendlela yokuxhomekeka yeendlela zokwandisa kwi-FDI yangaphandle zinqabile, kwakunye nezifundo ezimbalwa ezilandela indlela yamacandelo. Olu phononongo luzama ukuzalisa izikroba zophando zemfundo ephakamileyo ngokuzibonakalisa zombini inkampani- kunye nedatha yamanqanaba emarike avela kwimithombo eyahlukeneyo yexesha lowe-1995-2015, usebenzisa iimodeli zepaneli ezinamandla zokubuy’umva. Uphononongo lufumanise ukuba ukudibana phakathi kweentlobo-ntlobo zenkampani (ubungqina bezinga lenkampani) kunye nemilinganiselo yezinga lemarike zidala indlela yoxhomekeko yeendlela zokukhula. Ii-MNE zamkela intsebenziswano ngokuhlangeneyo okanye bazibambele ngokwabo ngokupheleleyo (okanye zombini) njengeendlela zokungena kwimarike, kodwa isigqibo siphenjelelwa bubungakanani beentlobo-ntlobo zemicimbi yenkampani evumela ukuba baxhaphaze amathuba kwaye banciphise umngcipheko kwiimarike zenkampani. Ngokuphawulekayo, ubukhulu bokuxhomekeka wendlela yokuxhomekeka kukhangeleka kusahluka ukusuka kwicandelo elinye lozoshishino ukuya kwelinye elilandelayo. Indlela yokuphendula ngokungxama inikezele ubungqina bokuba ukuphazamiseka okusesikweni kwizinto eziguquguqukayo zenkampani ezikhethekileyo zikhokelele ekuphuculeni okusezingeni eliphakathi kwinqanaba kubungakanani benqanaba lenkampani ngexeshana, kodwa ukuphuculwa okubonakalayo nokubalulekileyo ekuhambeni kwexesha. Isiphumo esifanayo sabhalwa phantsi kwiinkalo zemarike, nobukhulu beziphumo zohluka ukusuka kwelinye ishishini ukuya kwelinye. Uvavanyo lwamaxesha athile luzame ukuphonononga ubudlelwane bamaxesha athile phakathi kwezifundo zezinto eziguquguqukayo kwiinkalo zombini inkampani –kunye nenqanaba lemarike/ neemeko zemarike. Ubungqina bamava obuvela kuphando lubonisa ukuba ubungakanani benkampani kunye namandla okusebenzisa uvimba wezixhobo ngokufanelekileyo, ziphembelela utyalo-mali kwiimarike zenkampani. Ngokubhekiselele kwimimandla ethile yemarike, ubungakanani boqoqosho, amazinga oshishino kunye nokuvuleka kwezorhwebo kufunyaniswe ukuba kunefuthe elenzekayo ngamaxesha athile ekungeneni kwe-FDI kubasingathi beemarike. Ubungakanani bemicimbi eyenzeka ngamaxesha athile yafunyanwa kwakhona ukuba yohlukile ukusuka kwelinye ishishini ukuya kwelinye, ngenxa yeenguqu kwiintlobo-ntlobo zeamanqanaba enkampani kunye nokudibana kwabo ngokwemiba enxulumene nabasingethe imarike. Kafutshane esi sifundo, sigcwalisa izixhobo ezikhoyo kwisihloko sezoshishino lamazwe ngamazwe. / Dinyakišišo tše di utolla ka tsinkelo kgokagano gareng ga diteori tša peyomaemong a boditšhabatšhaba le peeletšothwii ye e tšwago dinageng tša ka ntle (FDI) – e lego kgokagano yeo go ngwadilwego ka yona kudu ka dingwalweng. Dinyakišišo tše mmalwa di utollotše gore tshepedišo ya go bea maemong a boditšhabatšhaba e lemoga bobedi dilo tša difeme le tše di amanago le difeme, tšeo di laolago kudu fao FDI ya dinaga tša ka ntle e lebilego gona mabapi le bontši le mokgwa. Ka tirišanong ye, go tšea diphetho go ya ka maemo go laolwa ke bontši bja dilo tšeo di dirwago ka nako e tee goba dikamano, go tloga go go farologanya ditšweletšwa ka femeng le dilo tša mmaraka wa ka nageng tšeo di laolago mekgwa ya dipeeletšo mabapi le go ya ka mmaraka wa ka nageng, go ya go mehuta ye mentši ya dipeakanyo tša ka femeng. Go farologanya ditšweletšwa ka femeng go bopilwe ke diphetogo tše, tšeo di kgontšhago feme ye itšego go tšea sephetho sa mabapi le peeletšo, go kgetha maano a go tsena ka mmarakeng le go hlama menyetla ye mekaone yeo e tlago tšwetša pele peeletšo ya yona. Dikokwane tša ekonomi ye kgolo goba tša ka nageng di akaretša diphetogo tšeo goba dipharologantšhi tša mebaraka ya ka nageng, tšeo di hlohleletšago FDI ka karolong ya dikgwebo tša dinaga tša ka ntle (di-MNE). Dinyakišišo tše ntši di hlokomologile go tšea diphetho go ya ka maemo ga naga le ga dilo tša ka femeng ye itšego, tšeo di lego bohlokwa go tshepedišo ya peyomaemong a boditšhabatšhaba ya dikgwebo tša boditšhabatšhaba, diekonomi le kgwebišano. Dinyakišišo tša dirutegi di ka be di lebeletše kudu dilo tša ekonomi ye kgolo goba tša ye nnyane, ka ntle le go lebiša šedi ye kgolo go go tšea diphetho go ya ka maemo a boditšhabatšhaba ga maano a katološo. Dinyakišišo tše di leka go tlatša dikgoba tše ka tsebo ye e lego gona, ka go nyakišiša dikgwebo tša boditšhabatšhaba ka maemong a. Maikemišetšo a go dira dinyakišišo tše e bile a mabedi: sa mathomo, FDI e na le dikholego tšeo di tiišeditšwego go mebaraka ya ka dinageng, tšeo di akaretšago kgolo ya ekonomi, khuetšano ya diintasteri, tlhabollo ya bokgoni bja bašomi le phetišetšo ya tsebo ye e lego nyanyeng. Go ya ka maemong a difeme, FDI ye e tšwago dinageng tša ka ntle e godiša bokgoni bja di- MNE, ya hlohleletša koketšego ya khwetšo ya dithoto, ya kabelano ya mmaraka le ya tlhabollo ya bokgoni bja bašomi, tšhomišo ye kaone kudu ya methopo le go hwetša poelo go dikabelano. Ka mo dinyakišišong tše, go hlagišwa ntlha ya go ela diphapano tša bobedi dilo tša ka femeng le tša ka mmarakeng, ka ge bontši bja dinyakišišo tše di lego gona ka mo lekaleng le la dinyakišišo di lebeletše kudu tšeo di laolago ekonomi ye nnyane goba ye kgolo goba tšeo di hlokomologago ka botlalo bohlokwa bja dikgokagano. Sa bobedi, ga go dinyakišišo tšeo di ngwadilwego tšeo di nyakišišitšego go tšea diphetho go ya ka maemo ga maano a katološo, kudukudu ka Afrika. Se bohlokwa ke gore, bohlokwa bja go tšea diphetho go ya ka maemo ga peeletšo ya Afrika Borwa ya dinaga tša ka ntle ga se gwa ngwalwa le ge go le bjale. Godimo ga fao, bohlatse bjo bo lego gona ka ga mošomo wa go tšea diphetho go ya ka maemo fao go ralokago ka ga maano a katološo ka go FDI ya dinaga tša ka ntle e se bjo bontši, gomme go na le dinyakišišo tše mmalwa go latela mokgwa wo o lebeletšego makala. Dinyakišišo tše di leka go tlatša dikgoba tše tša dinyakišišo tša dirutegi ka go laetša tshedimošo ya bobedi ka maemong a difeme le ka mebarakeng go tšwa methopong ya mehutahuta go tloga ka mengwaga ya 1995–2015, ka go šomiša mekgwa ya kakanyo ya dikamano ye e fetogago. Dinyakišišo di hweditše gore dikamano gareng ga go farologanya ditšweletšwa (bohlatse bja ka maemong a difeme) le dilo tša maemo a ka mmarakeng di hlola go tšea diphetho go ya ka maemo ga maano a katološo. Di-MNE di šomiša masolo a mohlakanelwa goba dikhamphani tša ka fasana tšeo di laolwago ka botlalo (goba ka bobedi) bjalo ka maano a go tsena ka mmarakeng, eupša sephetho se laolwa ke bontši bja dilo tšeo tša go farologanya ditšweletšwa tšeo di di dumelelago go nyaka dibaka le go fokotša kotsi ka mebarakeng ya ka nageng. Seo se lemogilwego ke gore, bontši bja go tšea diphetho go ya ka maemo go bonala go fapane go ya ka karolo ya intasteri go ya go ye nngwe. Mokgwa wa go arabela kgoketšo wo o hlagišitšwego ka bohlatseng bja gore phapogo ya tlwaelo ya diphapano tša ka femeng e feleleditše ka kaonafalo ya magareng ya bokgoni bja difeme lebakeng le lekopana, eupša ka kaonafalo ye kgolo mo lebakeng le letelele. Dipoelo tše di swanago di begilwe ka go dilo tša maemo a ka mmarakeng, gomme bontši bja dipoelo tša fapana go ya ka diintasteri. Teko ya mathata yeo e bego e leka go utolla kamano ya tšeo di bakago se gareng ga phapano ya dinyakišišo ka go bobedi ka dilo tša ka femeng le tša ka mmarakeng. Bohlatse bja maitemogelo go tšwa ka mo dinyakišišong bo laetša gore bogolo bja feme le bokgoni bja yona bja go šomiša methopo ya yona gabotse ntle le mathata, di huetša peeletšo ya yona ka mebarakeng ya ka nageng. Mabapi le dilo tša ka mmarakeng, bogolo bja ekonomi, maemo a intasteri le go hloka sephiri ka kgwebišanong di bonwe di na le seabe sa go baka seemo go tseneng ga FDI ka mebarakeng ya ka nageng. Bontši bja dilo tše di bakago maemo go hweditšwe gape gore go fapana go ya ka diintasteri, ka lebaka la diphapano ka go farologanyo ya ditšweletšwa ka difemeng le kamano ya tšona mabapi le dilo tšeo di amanago le mmaraka wa ka nageng. Bjalo ka kakaretšo, dinyakišišo tše di tlaleletša dingwalwa tšeo di lego gona ka ga hlogotaba ya dikgwebo tša boditšhabatšhaba. / Business Management / D. Phil. (Business Management)

The topic of this thesis is an audio recording classification with 15 different acoustic scene classes that represent common scenes and places where people are situated on a regular basis. The thesis describes 2 approaches based on GMM and i-vectors and a fusion of the both approaches. The score of the best GMM system which was evaluated on the evaluation dataset of the DCASE Challenge is 60.4%. The best i-vector system's score is 68.4%. The fusion of the GMM system and the best i-vector system achieves score of 69.3%, which would lead to the 20th place in the all systems ranking of the DCASE 2017 Challenge (among 98 submitted systems from all over the world).

The thesis is focused on the emotional states classification in the Matlab program, using neural networks and the classifier which is based on a combination of Gaussian density functions. It deals with the speech signal processing; the prosodic and spectral signs and the MFCC coefficients were extracted from the signal. The work also deals with the quality evaluation of individual signs of which the most suitable were chosen in order to provide the correct classification of emotional states. In order to identify the emotional states, two different methods were used. The first method of classification was the use of neural networks with differently selected parameters, and the second method was the use of the Gaussian mixture model (GMM). In both methods, a database of emotional utterances was divided into the training group and the test group. The testing was based on a method independent of the speaker. The work also includes the comparison of individual analyzed methods as well as the representation and comparison of the results. The conclusion comprises a proposition for the best parameters and the best classifier for the recognition of the speaker’s emotional state.

This thesis inquires the existing methods on the field of image recognition with regards to gesture recognition. Some methods have been chosen for deeper study and these are to be discussed later on. The second part goes in for the concenpt of an algorithm that would be able of robust gesture recognition based on data acquired within the AMI and M4 projects. A new ways to achieve precise information on participants position are suggested along with dynamic data processing approaches toward recognition. As an alternative, recognition using Gaussian Mixture Models and periodicity analysis are brought in. The gesture class in focus are speech supporting gestures. The last part demonstrates the results and discusses future work.