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The Turn to Violence in the Kurdish-Turkish conflict
Get PDFThis paper analyses why the protracted conflict between the PKKand the Turkish state started in 1984. It argues that the traditionalfocus on ethnic grievances is insufficient to explain the turn to violencein the Kurdish-Turkish conflict. Using Desrosiers’ framingtheory for identity-based conflicts, this paper shows how the 1980Turkish military coup provided the circumstances for violence toerupt. The Turkish military oppression diminished the influence ofmore moderate Kurdish voices, which led to the acceptance of thePKK’s message that only violent measures could resolve Kurdishoppression. This enabled the mobilization of Kurds in Turkey andthe diaspora and led to the eruption of violence
Mutual Fund Investment Style Consistency and Risk-adjusted Performance
Get PDFWhile it is commonly agreed on that a mutual fund´s investment style influences its returns to investors, academia has not fully explored the relationship between a mutual fund´s consistency with its stated investment style and risk-adjusted performance. The study at hand employs a novel consistency ratio by means of the return-based style analysis for U.S. equity mutual funds to investigate that relationship. Based on their consistency scores, mutual funds are subsequently divided into quintiles and compared for their risk-adjusted performance. Evidence is found that investment style consistency does influence risk-adjusted returns and that the financial crisis had a major impact on that relation. While a convex curve describes the relationship between style consistency and fund performance before the financial crisis, it reversed into a concave curve afterwards. This study contributes to current research by going beyond a linear relationship between mutual fund investment style consistency and risk-adjusted performance, commonly assumed in prior studies
The benefits of being late? – An empirical analysis on the validity of the concept of "Advantages of Backwardness"
Get PDFThe study investigates the validity of the so called concept of "Advantages of Backwardness", which is a controversial theory within the field of Development Economics. It positively frames the opportunities of less developed countries and puts forward arguments reasoning why less developed countries benefit economically from their current status through foreign technology, R&D and foreign markets accessible for trade. This study places this concept into the context of established economic theories, such as the Solow Growth model and the concept of Export-led Growth. Further, it attempts to find empirical support from a multivariable regression analysis on cross-sectional macroeconomic data from developing countries. It was concluded that neither advantages of backwardness nor its weaker version of limited advantages of backwardness could be observed. Nevertheless, globalized nations, which presumable use newest technologies developed in other parts of the world, experience a smaller degree of economic drawbacks. This tendency ultimately follows the notion of “advantages of backwardness” but is not capable to explain “growth miracles”, which have taken place in past decades
Another Piece to the Puzzle: Accounting for the Reminiscence Bump
Get PDFThe reminiscence bump comprises an increase in the recollection of memories from adolescence and early adulthood in older adults and can be elicited by the use of the Crovitz-Shiffman cue word method. Furthermore, the reminiscence bump also comprises less vivid, emotive and significant memories. Multiple accounts provide explanations of this phenomenon, one of which is Fitzgerald’s life-story account. This account entails that the increase in recollected memories is due to the fact that more memories from this period are associated with one’s identity, which starts to develop in adolescence and early adulthood. Secondly, the reminiscence bump can be explained by a life script, which postulates that most of the events that are expected to prevail in one’s life occur during adolescence and early adulthood. Thirdly, an increase in memory encoding during adolescence and early adulthood could explain the increase of recollected memories from this period. Furthermore, based on observed age-related differences in the prefrontal regions and the hippocampus, a new suggestion is put forward to explain the reminiscence bump. To further clarify, advanced age is associated with less episodic memory recall, as reflected by diminished activity in the prefrontal regions. Additionally, a predominantly left-lateralized pattern of activity in the hippocampus with advanced age is associated with the recall of more remote, detailed and emotional memories. Finally, all three accounts and a new suggestion will be discussed in terms of their ability to explain the reminiscence bump. Limitations, implications and suggestions for future research are discussed
Can Mindfulness Beat Alzheimer\u27s Disease?
Get PDFAbstract:The purpose of this paper is to identify to what extent the development of Alzheimer’s disease can be delayed or prevented by the use of mindfulness-based interventions. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease in which accumulation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) plays an important role. This leads to neuronal cell death and synaptic degeneration, especially in the default-mode network (DMN). No current effective treatment is available. Mindfulness has been related to an increase in volume and connectivity of the exact brain areas affected in AD. Therefore, mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs), such as mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), meditation and yoga have been tested in people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). MCI is seen as a transitional state between healthy age-related cognitive decline and AD pathology, hence an open window for early intervention. In this paper it is found that mindfulness has great potential to prevent AD-related pathology of the DMN, hence decreasing cognitive decline in people with MCI
Testing for Multiple Bubbles in Asset Prices
Get PDFDetecting the presence of bubbles in asset prices has become a major interest for policy makers and central banks. By an early identification of a bubble it might be possible for them to intervene and prevent the asset price from collapsing. For this purpose, several econometric tests were invented and some of which summarized by Homm and Breitung (2011). The power of one of the statistics, the sup augmented Dickey- Fuller (SADF) statistic, was improved by Phillips, Shi and Yu (2012). They developed a new recursive strategy and proposed the general SADF statistic.The present thesis approaches the sup Bhargava and the sup DFC statistic similarly and computes the power of all statistics on five different bubble generating processes using Monte Carlo Simulations. It turned out that the modified DFC statistic and the general SADF statistic have highest rejection frequencies on processes that generate multiple bubbles, while the simple sup DFC statistic performed best on processes that do not burst. Application was conducted to the internet currency Bitcoin and the Japanese stock Index Nikkei 225. In both instances, the findings of the power investigation were confirmed. Since both series include bursting bubbles, the simple sup Bhargava and sup DFC statistics were not able to detect a bubble. On the other hand, the modified sup DFC and the general SADF statistics showed clear evidence in favor of the presence of a bubble in both series
The Convergence and Robustness of Cohort Extensions of Mortality Models
Get PDFThe prediction of future of future lifespans of society is known to be very difficult to predict. The most efficient and effective method at the moment of writing is known as the Lee Carter model. However, it has been debated that the intrinsic simplicity of the Lee Carter model and its non-usage of societal trends is not too simple for a complex process such as the average lifespan of currently living people. A strong argument and example can be found in (un)healthy habits of society like smoking and exercise. The simplicity of the Lee Carter model extended with a more abstract form of this structural information gives rise to the cohort extended mortality models. And, although the explanatory power and the underlying rationality might theoretically be valid, in practice it appears that this extension of the model makes the fitting procedure more complex and thus affects the robustness of the model negatively. A possible solution was proposed by Hunt and Villegas (2016) and applied in this paper. Although the theoretical aspect of their solution seems valid, the empirical results show that it is a step in the right direction, but not yet a perfect solution
Job satisfaction and Life satisfaction: An analysis of the influence of socio-demographic factors and industries in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands
Get PDFThis study analyses the reciprocal nature of the relationship between job and life satisfaction as first introduced by Judge and Watanabe (1993). It focuses on the significance of autonomy at work, income satisfaction and industry sectors as predictors of job satisfaction and subjective general health and industry sectors as predictors of life satisfaction. Results are compared between three geographically close countries, namely Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. The significance of these predictors in the three countries is analysed through OLS regression using data from a survey conducted in 2012 provided by the European Social Survey (ESS). In this way, the following conclusions can be drawn: Firstly, the reciprocal relationship holds due to potential spill over between both job and life. Secondly, in all three countries, job satisfaction increases life satisfaction more than vice versa. Thirdly, more autonomy at work will lead to increased job satisfaction levels in all three countries with the effect being highest in the Netherlands. Further, only in Belgium will industry sectors influence both job and life satisfaction directly and indirectly. In contrast, in Germany and the Netherlands income dissatisfaction will lower job satisfaction directly but increase it indirectly. Lastly, a higher subjective general health will increase life satisfaction in these two countries while differences in predictors to Belgium were explained by varying working conditions. The study introduces the importance of comparing industries across countries when looking at job and life satisfaction. Future research might extend the study in this direction, but also attempt at validating these results over time and including ESS-data on several years. Additionally, further predictors as well as more countries or regions should be included to extend the insights delivered by this study.
Symptom Exaggeration and the Risk of Violent Recidivism in Forensic Patients
Get PDFResearch regarding the potential correlates of symptom exaggeration is sparse and can be of great relevance for those working in the forensic field. This study aimed to investigate whether exaggeration of symptoms is related to the risk of violent recidivism in forensic patients. Also, we investigated the link between symptom exaggeration and type of crime, type of drugs that have been used, and reason for dismissal. Forensic in- and outpatients (N = 96) completed the Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology (SIMS), the Feigning Differentiation Scale (FEDS), and The Dissociative Experience Scale (DES). Furthermore, Historical, Clinical and Risk Management (HCR-20) scores at admission and dismissal and data about type of crime, type of drugs that have been used and reason for dismissal were collected. We expected symptom exaggeration to be related to 1. risk of violent recidivism, 2. a history of more serious offenses, 3. withdrawal or dismissal from treatment, and 4. a history of alcohol or hard drug abuse. We did not find any significant results to support our predictions. The biggest limitation of our study was the population of choice. It is suggested that future research should use multiple Symptom Validity Tests (SVTs) to investigate symptom exaggeration and remain cautious when including the newest HCR-20 version in research studies