This thesis investigates the stabilization of divalent germanium using substituted diethanol amine ligands. Germylenes of type RN(CH2CH2OH)2Ge were obtained from N-heterocyclic germylenes and N-alkyl diethanol amines in yields of up to 94%. Single crystal X-ray diffraction confims the presence of a transannular Ge-N dative bond in all cases. In addition, intermolecular dimers containing Ge2O2 rings are formed for R = Me and Et. Reaction of the four germylenes L with nickel carbonyl yielded the respective germylene complexes L2Ni(CO)2 and LNi(CO)3. The germylenes and their complexes were investigated with DFT methods. Only four methods, SVWN, BB1K, MPWB1K and M062x gave acceptable Ge-N distances. Dimerization energies of the germylenes were examined with the thermochemically accurate M062x method. At the M062x/Def2-TZVP level, the dimerization energies of the germylenes are very small (ΔG° ≈ 0 kcal/mol). The experimentally observed dimerization or lack thereof may accordingly be determined by packing effects in the solid state or solvation energies in solution.

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We study the eff ects of stochastic volatility of defaultable bonds using the first -passage structural approach. In this approach Black and Cox (1976) argued that default can happen at any time. This then led to the development of afirst-passage model, in which a rm (company) default occurs when its value falls to a barrier. In the first-passage model the rm debt is considered to be a single pure discount bond and default occurs only if the rm value falls below the face value of the bond at maturity. Here the firm's debt can be viewed as a portfolio composed of a risk-free bond and a short-put option on the value of a rm. The classic Black-Scholes-Merton model only considers a single liability and the solvency is tested at the maturity date, while the extended Black-Scholes-Merton model allows for default at any time before maturity to cater for more complex capital structures and was delivered by Geske, Black-Cox, Leland, Leland and Toft and others. In this work a review of the eff ect of stochastic volatility on defaultable bonds is given. In addition a study from the first-passage structural approach and reduced-form approach is made. We also introduce symmetry analysis to study some of the equations that appear in option-pricing models. This approach is quite recent and has produced successful results. In this work we lay the foundation of this method. Keywords: Stochastic Volatility, Defaultable bonds, Lie Symmetries. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2009.

In the past ten years, there have been 194 hurricane-damaged platforms in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), each with many wells that have not been permanently abandonment. This could lead to disastrous environmental consequence. The wells where their platforms were destroyed by hurricanes cannot be abandoned by conventional methods. Our research showed that barite-weighted epoxy material could be potentially used for well abandonment for those wells in GOM. Shear bond strength tests showed that between two candidates epoxy systems - the bisphenol A system and the bisphenol F system, the latter was less sensitive to barite weighting material. The shear bond strength of besphenol A system was deteriorated as barite increased, while bisphenol F system showed slightly increasing trend when barite was added. The minimum bond strength given by bisphenol A system appears around 68 wt% of barite, which is around 1290 psi. The maximum value of 2200 psi comes at 0 wt% of barite. And the bisphenol F system can stand a minimum of 1010 psi bond strength at 0 wt% of barite, and a maximum of 1160 psi of bond strength with 70 wt% of barite. Moreover, mixing with seawater did influence the shear bond strength between epoxy system and low-carbon steel. The influence that seawater has on the F system is less than that of the A system. The time that the epoxy system needs to fully develop the bond is far longer than curing time determined in our parallel research. Bond strength is lower in both seawater environment and at high temperature.

A Government is an entity of a society exercising authority over its subjects, preferably with their compliance. It is however not always agreed by the citizens that the government is acting in their interest, this making the relation in-between them lacking in legitimacy. This presents problems not only for the stability of a country, but for the expansion of financial markets, limiting the sources of finding finance to invest in development and infrastructure as it limits financing from within.  In this paper I look at Ethiopia where the government is perceived to have a generally low legitimacy, in 2010 they lunched the GERD* bond to finance a hydropower station on the Blue Nile. Ethiopia has a small economy thus the government asked its citizens to purchase savings bonds into the project, as international financing was not an option due to geopolitics. As the GERD is a €3.3 billion project many Ethiopians have inverted one full month salary. The question addressed in this paper it that of the willingness in entering in to this scheme, this due to legitimacy concerns within the country. More precisely the research question is formulated: is there a justifiable concern of legitimacy when rapidly intensifying a bond market in a developing country in which freedom is limited?  To address this field interviews was conducted in Addis Ababa and analysed via Weber’s three types of pure authority this to indicate the correlation of legitimacy dominations in-between the government and the investors. It is found that the GERD has common legitimacy dominations by both actors and as such the expansion of the bond market through the GERD has the preconditions to increase the trust level in the Ethiopian government. This is needed to increase legitimacy in the government, stabilize the country and expand the financial markets further.

This thesis focuses on the seismic performance of unreinforced masonry wall perforated with a door opening representing typical URM walls of many aged masonry buildings in Indonesia. To obtain a test result that will be able to represent the local conditions, the experiments have been conducted in the Research Institute for Human Settlements (RIHS) laboratory in Bandung-Indonesia. Two 75 % unreinforced masonry (URM) walls with a 1½-wythe of solid clay-brick were constructed in Dutch bond configuration and tested until failure under quasi-static-reversed cyclic loading. Both units were loaded vertically by constant loads representing gravity loads on the URM wall’s tributary area. Both models were constructed using local materials and local labours. Two features were taken into account. First, it accommodated the influence of flanged wall and second, the URM wall was built on the stone foundation. The first URM wall represent the plain existing URM building in Indonesia and second strengthened by Kevlar fibre. It was observed from the test results that the URM wall Unit-1 did not behave as a brittle structure. It could dissipate energy without loss of strength and had a post-elastic behaviour in terms of “overall displacement ductility” value of around 8 to 10. As predicted, the masonry material was variable and non homogeneous which caused the hysteresis loop to be non symmetrical between push and pull lateral load directions. It can be summarized that Kevlar fibre strengthening technique is promising and with great ease of installation. Although Kevlar material is more expensive when compared to other fabrics as long as it was applied at the essential locations and in limited volumes, it can significantly increase the in-plane URM wall capacity. With appropriate arrangements of Kevlar fibre, a practicing engineer will be able to obtain a desired rocking mechanism in the masonry structure. Another advantage for the architectural point of view, very thin Kevlar fibres do not reduce the architectural space. Studies have also been undertaken to analyze the in-plane response of plain URM wall before and after retrofiting using the current seismic standard and the Finite Element Method (FEM).

Relatively few research efforts have focused on splice length requirements for reinforced masonry, despite the significant impact of these requirements on the safety, economy, and constructability of masonry walls. The Canadian masonry provisions for splice lengths in CSA S304.1-04 are taken directly from the Canadian concrete design standard, CSA A23.3-04, and thus do not necessarily reflect factors unique to masonry construction. Provisions in American masonry standard TMS 402-13/ACI 530-13/ASCE 5-13 are based on test results of double pullout specimens, but may be overly conservative due to shortcomings of the specimen type chosen. The purpose of this study is to examine the splice lengths needed for flexural masonry elements reinforced with bar sizes typically used in Canadian masonry construction. In this study, 27 wall splice specimens and 12 double pullout specimens were constructed. The wall splice specimens were tested horizontally in four point loading, while the double pullout specimens were tested in direct tension. Results from the double pullout specimen testing suggest that the techniques used at the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) are reasonably similar to those of the National Concrete Masonry Association (NCMA), and are thus adequate to assess current provisions in the American and Canadian standards. A predictive equation for the tensile resistance of spliced reinforcement was developed from the results of the wall splice specimen testing. This predictive equation was then adjusted to incorporate an adequate margin of safety for calculating splice length requirements for design purposes, using a five percent quantile approach. The adjusted predictive equation was then extrapolated to determine the splice lengths corresponding to the nominal yield strength of the reinforcement. These splice lengths were compared to current code provisions. It was found that the current CSA S304.1-04 Class B provisions, used almost exclusively in construction, are conservative for No. 15, 20, and 25 bars. In contrast, the TMS 402-13 provisions were overly conservative for all three bar sizes. Changes to the bar size factors of the current provisions for both codes were recommended to bring better consistency to the requirements of the two codes, and thus ensure the safety, economy, and constructability of masonry walls.

I examine the effects of contemporaneous credit rating and watchlist announcements on the over-the-counter U.S. corporate bond market. I find significant negative daily abnormal returns (-2.91%) over a ten-day window associated with a downgrade announcement with negative watch. The effect is particularly strong over the two-day post-event window (-1.90%), while there is some weak evidence of market timing during the four days preceding a downgrade (-0.58%). Abnormal returns following upgrades with positive watch are weaker both in terms of statistical significance and magnitude. I also observe higher abnormal bond returns following downgrades with negative watch around rating-sensitive boundaries. These results suggest that bond abnormal returns could also be driven by regulation constraints, besides the information content of the ratings. Finally, a multivariate cross-sectional analysis on abnormal returns over the two-day window following downgrades shows that the negative watchlist state is a key determinant of bond market's response even when key control variables are included. / <p>Lic.-avh. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2014</p>

This paper looks at the determinants of bond yields for a select group of Eurozone countries, during the European sovereign debt crisis. In addition to traditional determinants of spreads, which include credit risk, liquidity risk and international risk aversion, this paper looks at the role of credit rating agencies. The movements of countries’ yields during the debt crisis played an integral role in the resulting bailouts by the European Union. Using expected data published by the European Commission, the results of the model were in line with current literature, with the exception of the effect of budget deficits. One interpretation of the conflicting results is that during a debt crisis what market participants care about is growth, not austerity. Including the effect of credit ratings showed that credit ratings have high predictive power.