Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2006.

I tested the ability of the Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio) to solve multiple predator conflict. Nesting shrikes were exposed to two predators presented simultaneously. The Red-backed Shrike is able to solve this conflict by deciding which of the presented predators is the more dangerous and opting for the appropriate defence of its nest.

I tested the ability of the Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio) to solve multiple predator conflict. Nesting shrikes were exposed to two predators presented simultaneously. The Red-backed Shrike is able to solve this conflict by deciding which of the presented predators is the more dangerous and opting for the appropriate defence of its nest.

The feeding ecology, general behaviour, size of groups and use of habitat of the golden-backed uacari, Cacajao melanocephalus ouakary, was monitored for 14 of a 19-month period in Jaú National Park, Amazonian Brazil between October 2006 and April 2008. The botanical composition and phenology of the habitats was also studied. The diet is dominated by seeds of immature hard-husked fruits. Leaves, flowers and pith served as fall-back foods. The diet items eaten were the most abundant at the moment, with items previously ignored incorporated when the abundance of other foods dropped relative to them. Most feeding occurred in the forests upper strata, but with occasional visits to the ground and low bushes when little food was available elsewhere. Feeding bouts were short, with uacaris generally spending less than three minutes in a feeding patch before moving to the next. Individual adults generally foraged one-per-patch, though up to five animals might forage simultaneously in canopies of very large trees. Uacaris were recorded feeding on 136 plant species. Micropholis venulosa, Echweilera tenuifolia, Buchenavia ochrograma, Pouteria elegans and Mabea nitida were the most abundant species in the diet, and were eaten for both leaves and seeds. Flowers of E. tenuifolia were also eaten. The most important diet families were Sapotaceae, Fabaceae and Lecythidaceae. Invertebrates represented less than 2% of the diet, and were mostly ants, termites and caterpillars. Many were free-ranging, but shoot-boring larvae were also extracted and eaten. Additionally, fruits of five species were recorded being eaten with insect larvae still living inside them. ii Uacaris use two habitats, terra firme (a never-flooded mosaic of several forest sub-types) and igapó (a seasonally-flooded forest that occurs between terra firme and the open river). Igapó’s fruiting season match the flood pulse and so are strongly condensed. Those of terra firme are less so. In 14 month, uacaris were seen exclusively in terra firme during 3 months, only in igapó during 9 months and in both during 2 months. Movement between the habitats appears to follow fruit availability. When there is little fruit in either, uacaris remain in the igapó and feed (mostly) on new leaves. The activity budget was dominated by moving, paused feeding and feeding-while-moving. Very little resting was observed and almost no physical social interactions such as aggression or grooming. Adult C. m. ouakary were rarely seen closer than 6m apart, and groups were often diffuse, spreading over several hundred meters. Reproduction appears to occur twice a year, very young animals being seen in December and May. Observed group size varied between 2 and 51. Groups of 6-15 were most commonly seen. Group size varied with the season and habitat, being largest (30-51) in never-flooded rainforest and smallest (4-6) in the igapó when little fruit was available and fall-back foods dominated the diet. At least 10 of the species in the C. m. ouakary diet are used as timber in Amazonia. While this is not a cause of conflict in Jaú National Park, it might be so elsewhere in the animal’s range. This has been the first long-term study of the ecology of golden-backed uacaris in Brazil and suggestions are made for future research.

This dissertation consists of three essays on the topic of commercial mortgages. The first paper contributes to the commercial mortgage literature and the multiple factor asset-pricing literature by creating a model for commercial mortgage returns. The result of an initial analysis using the five Fama and French (1993) factors is that the sensitivities of commercial mortgage returns and corporate bond returns to all factors are statistically indistinguishable. However, further analysis was performed using factors associated with real estate returns, and the result is that unlike corporate bonds, commercial mortgage returns are sensitive to the factor that measures growth in personal consumption. In the second paper, I investigate the two potential outcomes that can eventually arise when a commercial mortgage borrower fails to make a scheduled payment. Either the borrower reinstates the loan and resumes payment or the lender forecloses on the property. The following question arises: under which situation does each outcome occ.ur? I investigate this using a game-theoretic model and multinomial logit empirical tests on a disaggregate dataset. My key finding is that the outcome is based on the relative values of variables that include the borrower's equity in the secured property and the rate of property appreciation. Empirical tests confirm that the characteristics of real estate loans across delinquency outcomes are distinguishable. The third paper investigates the role of commercial mortgage guarantees in default. Childs, Ott and Riddiough (1996) use an options-based theoretical model to show that recourse should reduce the likelihood of default. This paper tests that prediction empirically using a database from a Canadian lender. The advantage of using a Canadian dataset is the prevalence of recourse lending not seen in the U.S. I find a negative relationship between default and the presence of a guarantee, supporting the Childs, Ott and Riddiough (1996) prediction. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

This paper investigates differences in returns between the ETF price, Net Asset Value, and Benchmark Asset Baskets for five popular futures-backed ETFs. We decompose tracking difference to examine the relative size of tracking differences attributable to managers versus the arbitrage process. Tracking differences attributable to managers is found to be significantly smaller than that attributable to the arbitrage process. We then test for average Tracking Differences using the Mincer-Zarnowitz Equation. We find evidence of bias in returns for multiple ETFs and demonstrate the usefulness of the decomposition. Furthermore, we investigate the dynamics of Tracking Error using a GARCH methodology. We find support that the volatility of the ETF effects Tracking Error but find no evidence that rolling futures contracts influences Tracking Error. / Master of Science / This research focuses on futures-backed commodity ETFs. ETFs are exchange-traded instruments and are a convenient way for investors to gain commodity exposure without having to have access to a margin account, deal with futures contract expiration, or the large size of futures contracts. We investigate the ability of these instruments to achieve their investment goals: namely to perfectly replicate the exposure of a benchmark of futures contracts. We find that differences in the returns of the benchmark and ETF exist on average and that the bulk of these differences are attributable to the Creation and Redemption process rather than the ETF manager. Finally, we find that market volatility effects the volatility of these differences, but roll dates have no effect.

No description available.

This paper is an evaluation of the efficiency of the Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA) mortgage-backed securities market. GNMA securities represent a $702 billion market. Despite this size, the securities do not trade on an organized exchange. Trading on an organized exchange implies that a maximum amount of available information is incorporated into prices. Consequently, can the GNMA market be efficient? An efficient market, as posited by Eugene Fama and others, is one where all of the information available in a market is incorporated in the prices in that market. There are various levels of efficiency ranging from the use of all publicly available information to the use of that information plus information not generally available (i.e. proprietary and "insider" information".) This paper considers the more general case of information available in period t not being used in that period but rather being incorporated in the prices of period t+n. The analysis uses monte carlo simulation to generate paths of discount rates based on the yield curve for U.S. Treasury securities. These periodic rates along with a common spread are used to discount the estimated cash flows on the GNMA securities. The common spread is termed the Option Adjusted Spread ("OAS") and is postulated to incorporate all of the market information over and above that is used in setting prices (and their corollary, yields) in the Treasury market. The test of market efficiency is whether or not the prices in period t are correlated with the OAS of a subsequent period. / Master of Arts

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Owners of directly held, large commercial properties mostly face problems regarding liquidity and sometimes higher-risk exposure due to large properties dominating their property portfolio. • Exit vehicles in the listed property sector on the JSE are gaining momentum but are, however, still facing the negative impact of overall bear market conditions. • An exit vehicle in the bond market can serve as an alternative, where a Limited Purpose Company/Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) acquires a rental income stream from a portfolio of properties and issues bonds. The funds raised from bond investors, who focus on the credit rating of the income stream and not the properties, are then used to acquire the property assets. • Current market conditions, favour an asset-backed securitisation of property leases. Low interest rates and other factors in the current market, as discussed in this document, ensure lower costs of debt and easier access to capital when funds are raised on the bond market, relative to the equity markets, with highly geared structures not necessarily causing a negative impact on the credit rating (80% - 90% gearing possible with A - AA local credit rating). • Usually a promoter, a Merchant Bank and a few institutions/ pension funds are involved. Example: Institution X will be requested to take up an equity stake in the fund by selling some properties or stakes therein (Institution X buildings) and receiving payment in a combination of cash, junior bonds and equity. The benefits to Institution X are discussed on page 39. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Eienaars van groot kommersiële eiendomme wat direk besit word, ondervind normaalweg probleme rakende likiditeit en verhoogde risiko a.g.v. die groot eiendomme wat hulle portefeulje domineer. • JEB (Johannesburgse Aandelebeurs) genoteerde maatskappye, as uitgangstrategie vir die verkoop van eiendom, is 'n oplossing, maar beer mark toestande verlaag die moontlikheid. • 'n Maatskappy genoteer op BESA (Effektemark) kan as uitgang- strategie dien, waar die voormelde maatskappy met beperkte aanspreeklikheid die huurinkomstestroom van 'n portefeulje van eiendom aankoop en effekte uitgee vir die finansiering van die transaksie. Die beleggers wie die effekte koop, fokus op die kredietgradering van die effekte en nie die eiendom as onderliggende bate nie. • Huidige mark omstandighede verbeter die moontlikheid van 'n bategesekureerde sekuritusasie van eiendomshuurkontrakte. Lae rentekoerse en ander faktore wat in hierdie dokument bespreek word, verseker laer koste van kapitaal en makliker toegang tot fondse relatief tot die aandelemarkte. Hoë hefboom-finansiering is moontlik sonder te groot impak op die kredietgradering. (A-AA kredietgradering moontlik met 80%-90% skuld) • Normaalweg is 'n promoter, 'n beleggingsbank en 'n paar institusies/ pensioenfondse betrokke. Bv. Institusie X word versoek om aandeelhouding op te neem in 'n maatskappy deur eiendomme te verkoop aan die voormelde maatskappy en betaling te ontvang in die vorm van 'n kombinasie van kontant, junior effekte en aandele. Die voordele vir Institusie X word bepreek op bl. 39

by Lo Chi Wai. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54). / ABSTRACT --- p.II / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.III / LIST OF TABLES/CHARTS --- p.VI / PREFACE --- p.VI / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Structure of the Paper --- p.2 / Chapter II. --- HONG KONG PROPERTY MARKET --- p.3 / The Property Market during 1990's --- p.3 / Supply of Residential Property --- p.4 / The future property price --- p.4 / Mortgage Pool --- p.7 / Chapter III --- MORTGAGE CORPORATION --- p.10 / The Player in Securitization --- p.10 / Mortgage Corporation in U.S --- p.10 / The different between U.S. situation and Hong Kong situation --- p.11 / HONG KONG MORTGAGE CORPORATION --- p.12 / HKMC's share in the residential mortgage market --- p.13 / HKMC's mortgage portfolio --- p.13 / HKMC's Benefit --- p.13 / Originator's and investor's Perspective --- p.16 / Chapter IV. --- THE PROGRESS OF HKMC --- p.20 / Fixed rate mortgage Pilot Scheme --- p.20 / The debt program --- p.21 / Mortgage Guarantee Scheme --- p.23 / Chapter V. --- DIFFICULT OF MBS PRICING --- p.27 / RISK --- p.28 / The Financial institution might find MBS unattractive? --- p.34 / Chapter VI. --- PROSPECT --- p.35 / Fully-fledged credit reference agency --- p.35 / Fixed rate Mortgage promotion --- p.35 / US dollar/Hong Kong dollar Swap --- p.36 / Mortgage lending rate war --- p.36 / Debt Market --- p.37 / Standardization --- p.37 / Credit Rating --- p.38 / Don't let the history repeat itself --- p.38 / CONCLUSION --- p.39 / APPENDIX --- p.40 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.54