Sample records for complex financial instruments

  1. Using derivatives to hedge against the unexpected.

    PubMed

    Aderholt, J M; Rasmussen, R H

    1996-02-01

    Derivatives--financial instruments with a rate of return derived from an underlying asset--have been used as investment instruments for decades. Many derivative products originally were created explicitly for the purpose of reducing financial risks and have become more widely used and more complex in recent years. Healthcare financial managers should have a basic understanding of derivatives as well as the ability to apply general guidelines for their appropriate use in healthcare financial management.

  2. Financial Capacity Following Traumatic Brain Injury: A Six-Month Longitudinal Study

    PubMed Central

    Dreer, Laura E.; DeVivo, Michael J.; Novack, Thomas A.; Marson, Daniel C.

    2015-01-01

    Objective To longitudinally investigate financial capacity (FC) following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Design Longitudinal study comparing FC in cognitively healthy adults and persons with moderate to severe TBI at time of acute hospitalization (Time 1) and at six months post injury (Time 2). Setting Inpatient brain injury rehabilitation unit. Participants Twenty healthy adult controls and 24 adult persons with moderate to severe TBI. Main Outcome Measures Participants were administered the Financial Capacity Instrument (FCI-9), a standardized instrument that measures performance on eighteen financial tasks, nine domains, and two global scores. Between and within group differences were examined for each FCI-9 domain and global scores. Using control group referenced cut scores, participants with TBI were also assigned an impairment rating (intact, marginal, or impaired) on each domain and global score. Results At Time 1, participants with TBI performed significantly below controls on the majority of financial variables tested. At Time 2, participants with TBI demonstrated within group improvement on both simple and complex financial skills, but continued to perform below adult controls on complex financial skills and both global scores. Group by time interactions were significant for five domains and both global scores. At Time 1, high percentages of participants with TBI were assigned either ‘marginal’ or ‘impaired’ ratings on the domains and global scores, with significant percentage increases of ‘intact’ ratings at Time 2. Conclusions Immediately following acute injury, persons with moderate to severe TBI show global impairment of FC. Findings indicate improvement of both simple and complex financial skills over a six month period, but continued impairment on more complex financial skills. Future studies should examine loss and recovery of FC following TBI over longer time periods and a wider range of injury severity. PMID:22369113

  3. Credit market Jitters in the course of the financial crisis: A permutation entropy approach in measuring informational efficiency in financial assets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Siokis, Fotios M.

    2018-06-01

    We explore the evolution of the informational efficiency for specific instruments of the U.S. money, bond and stock exchange markets, prior and after the outbreak of the Great Recession. We utilize the permutation entropy and the complexity-entropy causality plane to rank the time series and measure the degree of informational efficiency. We find that after the credit crunch and the collapse of Lehman Brothers the efficiency level of specific money market instruments' yield falls considerably. This is an evidence of less uncertainty included in predicting the related yields throughout the financial disarray. Similar trend is depicted in the indices of the stock exchange markets but efficiency remains in much higher levels. On the other hand, bond market instruments maintained their efficiency levels even after the outbreak of the crisis, which could be interpreted into greater randomness and less predictability of their yields.

  4. Measuring financial strain in the lives of survivors of intimate partner violence.

    PubMed

    Hetling, Andrea; Stylianou, Amanda Mathisen; Postmus, Judy L

    2015-03-01

    Agencies serving survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) often include economic empowerment programs and approaches as a way to assist survivors struggling with avoiding poverty and gaining financial independence. Understanding and addressing the economic needs of IPV survivors are more complex than just knowing their income. Indeed, survivors' ability to manage their finances and any financial stress or strain should also be assessed to fully understand their needs. The Financial Strain Survey (FSS) provides a useful tool for screening and understanding survivors' complex financial needs. Using data from 457 IPV survivors from seven U.S. states and Puerto Rico, the current study evaluates the factor structure, reliability, and validity of using the FSS with IPV survivors. Findings indicate that the FSS is a reliable instrument for use with IPV survivors. The conclusion discusses the FSS as a practical tool for both practice and research with this population. © The Author(s) 2014.

  5. A practical approach to instrument selection, evaluation, basic financial management and implementation in pathology and research.

    PubMed

    Mina, Ashraf; Favaloro, Emmanuel J; Koutts, Jerry

    2008-01-01

    In response to increasingly complex demands in terms of productivity and budgets, there is a critical need to avoid mistakes during instrument selection that will be financially costly, and adversely affect customers, staff, productivity and test turnaround time. As there is no "one size fits all", guidelines must be appropriate to permit informed decision making. A Medline search was conducted to assess background knowledge in this area, using the terms "laboratory instrument selection" and "laboratory instrument evaluation". Searches returned over 800 articles, of which only seven were directly related to the topic of the search, with most outdated, and suggesting a paucity of appropriate information. Additional resources used included the American Association of Clinical Chemistry (AACC) website and the Internet. Appropriate criteria for instrument selection were established in the current report based on subjective and objective (technical) evaluations. Additionally, a sound and simple financial approach is also suggested to help in making informed decisions and avoid costly mistakes. We propose that such a process as outlined in our report will protect laboratories from making costly and avoidable mistakes in the acquisition of major equipment.

  6. Financial literacy: Do people know the ABCs of finance?

    PubMed

    Lusardi, Annamaria

    2015-04-01

    Increasingly, individuals are in charge of their own financial security and are confronted with ever more complex financial instruments. However, there is evidence that many individuals are not well-equipped to make sound saving decisions. This article looks at financial literacy, which is defined as the ability to process economic information and make informed decisions about financial planning, wealth accumulation, debt, and pensions. Failure to plan for retirement, lack of participation in the stock market, and poor borrowing behavior can all be linked to ignorance of basic financial concepts. Financial literacy impacts financial decision making, with implications that apply to individuals, communities, countries, and society as a whole. Given the lack of financial literacy among the population, it may be important to remedy it by adding financial literacy to the school curriculum. © The Author(s) 2015.

  7. Age and education corrected older adult normative data for a short form version of the Financial Capacity Instrument.

    PubMed

    Gerstenecker, Adam; Eakin, Amanda; Triebel, Kristen; Martin, Roy; Swenson-Dravis, Dana; Petersen, Ronald C; Marson, Daniel

    2016-06-01

    Financial capacity is an instrumental activity of daily living (IADL) that comprises multiple abilities and is critical to independence and autonomy in older adults. Because of its cognitive complexity, financial capacity is often the first IADL to show decline in prodromal and clinical Alzheimer's disease and related disorders. Despite its importance, few standardized assessment measures of financial capacity exist and there is little, if any, normative data available to evaluate financial skills in the elderly. The Financial Capacity Instrument-Short Form (FCI-SF) is a brief measure of financial skills designed to evaluate financial skills in older adults with cognitive impairment. In the current study, we present age- and education-adjusted normative data for FCI-SF variables in a sample of 1344 cognitively normal, community-dwelling older adults participating in the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging (MCSA) in Olmsted County, Minnesota. Individual FCI-SF raw scores were first converted to age-corrected scaled scores based on position within a cumulative frequency distribution and then grouped within 4 empirically supported and overlapping age ranges. These age-corrected scaled scores were then converted to age- and education-corrected scaled scores using the same methodology. This study has the potential to substantially enhance financial capacity evaluations of older adults through the introduction of age- and education-corrected normative data for the FCI-SF by allowing clinicians to: (a) compare an individual's performance to that of a sample of similar age and education peers, (b) interpret various aspects of financial capacity relative to a normative sample, and (c) make comparisons between these aspects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  8. Systemic risk in banking ecosystems.

    PubMed

    Haldane, Andrew G; May, Robert M

    2011-01-20

    In the run-up to the recent financial crisis, an increasingly elaborate set of financial instruments emerged, intended to optimize returns to individual institutions with seemingly minimal risk. Essentially no attention was given to their possible effects on the stability of the system as a whole. Drawing analogies with the dynamics of ecological food webs and with networks within which infectious diseases spread, we explore the interplay between complexity and stability in deliberately simplified models of financial networks. We suggest some policy lessons that can be drawn from such models, with the explicit aim of minimizing systemic risk.

  9. 30 CFR 243.5 - May another person post a bond or other surety instrument or demonstrate financial solvency on my...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... instrument or demonstrate financial solvency on my behalf? 243.5 Section 243.5 Mineral Resources MINERALS... surety instrument or demonstrate financial solvency on my behalf? Any other person, including a designee, payor, or affiliate, may post a bond or other surety instrument or demonstrate financial solvency under...

  10. Financial capacity in dementia: a systematic review.

    PubMed

    Sudo, Felipe Kenji; Laks, Jerson

    2017-07-01

    Financial capacity (FC) refers to a set of cognitively mediated abilities related to one's competency to manage propriety and income. Identifying intact from impaired FC in older persons with dementia is a growing concern in geriatric practice, but the best methods to assess this function still need to be determined. This study aims to review data on FC in dementia and on instruments used to assess this domain of capacity. Database search was performed in Medline, ISI Web of Knowledge, LILACS and PsycINFO. Studies that objectively assessed FC in dementia of any etiology were included. Of a total of 125 articles, 10 were included. Mild Alzheimer's Disease (AD) was associated with impaired complex FC abilities, namely checkbook management, bank statement management and financial judgment, but simple FC skills were preserved. Moderate AD was associated with impairment in all domains of FC. The Financial Capacity Instrument (FCI) was applied in most of the selected studies and correlated with neuropsychological and neuroimaging variables. Early dementia is associated with partially preserved FC. More validation studies using objective and evidence-based FC assessment tools, such as the FCI, are still needed.

  11. Psychometric testing of the clinical nurse leader staff satisfaction instrument.

    PubMed

    Spiva, LeeAnna; Hart, Patricia L; Wesley, Mary Lou; Gallagher, Erin; McVay, Frank; Waggoner, Jessica; Jarrell, Nicole; Threatt, Jamie L

    2014-01-01

    Patient care is changing rapidly with increased complexity of care, patient volumes, and financial constraints with rising health care costs and limited reimbursements. In response, the clinical nurse leader (CNL) role was developed. No appropriate instrument exists to measure staff satisfaction with the CNL role. This study describes the development and testing of an instrument designed to measure staff satisfaction with implementation of the CNL role. The psychometric properties and factor structure of the Clinical Nurse Leader Staff Satisfaction (CNLSS) instrument was examined. A 2-factor solution was discovered for the CNLSS. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were acceptable for the subscales and instrument. The CNLSS is a valid and reliable instrument. Future research should focus on establishing test-retest reliability and construct validity.

  12. Financial instability from local market measures

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bardoscia, Marco; Livan, Giacomo; Marsili, Matteo

    2012-08-01

    We study the emergence of instabilities in a stylized model of a financial market, when different market actors calculate prices according to different (local) market measures. We derive typical properties for ensembles of large random markets using techniques borrowed from statistical mechanics of disordered systems. We show that, depending on the number of financial instruments available and on the heterogeneity of local measures, the market moves from an arbitrage-free phase to an unstable one, where the complexity of the market—as measured by the diversity of financial instruments—increases, and arbitrage opportunities arise. A sharp transition separates the two phases. Focusing on two different classes of local measures inspired by real market strategies, we are able to analytically compute the critical lines, corroborating our findings with numerical simulations.

  13. The Growing Problems with Spreadsheet Budgeting

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Solomon, Jeff; Johnson, Stella; Wilcox, Leon; Olson, Tom

    2010-01-01

    The ubiquitous spreadsheet in some version has been the sole and unrivaled instrument of financial management for decades. And it has served well. The spreadsheet provides the flexibility to design a unique business process. It allows users to create formulas that execute complex calculations, and it is available in the globally standardized Excel…

  14. Identifying instruments to quantify financial management skills in adults with acquired cognitive impairments.

    PubMed

    Engel, Lisa; Bar, Yael; Beaton, Dorcas E; Green, Robin E; Dawson, Deirdre R

    2016-01-01

    Financial management skills-that is, the skills needed to handle personal finances such as banking and paying bills-are essential to a person's autonomy, independence, and community living. To date, no comprehensive review of financial management skills instruments exists, making it difficult for clinicians and researchers to choose relevant instruments. The objectives of this review are to: (a) identify all available instruments containing financial management skill items that have been used with adults with acquired cognitive impairments; (b) categorize the instruments by source (i.e., observation based, self-report, proxy report); and (c) describe observation-based performance instruments by populations, overarching concepts measured, and comprehensiveness of financial management items. Objective (c) focuses on observation-based performance instruments as these measures can aid in situations where the person with cognitive impairment has poor self-awareness or where the proxy has poor knowledge of the person's current abilities. Two reviewers completed two systematic searches of five databases. Instruments were categorized by reviewing published literature, copies of the instruments, and/or communication with instrument authors. Comprehensiveness of items was based on nine key domains of financial management skills developed by the authors. A total of 88 discrete instruments were identified. Of these, 44 were categorized as observation-based performance and 44 as self- and/or proxy-reports. Of the 44 observation-based performance instruments, 8 had been developed for acquired brain injury populations and 24 for aging and dementia populations. Only 7 of the observation-based performance instruments had items spanning 6 or more of the 9 financial management skills domains. The majority of instruments were developed for aging and dementia populations, and few were comprehensive. This review provides foundation for future instrument psychometric and clinimetric reviews. It a necessary first step in providing information to support decision making for clinicians and researchers selecting financial management skills instruments.

  15. Financial Responsibilities for Underground Injection Well Owners or Operators

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    This page provides information on UIC financial responsibility requirements, qualifying financial instrumentsRoles and responsibilities for operators and UIC Directors UIC Director’s and review procedures for financial responsibility instruments.

  16. 26 CFR 1.988-1 - Certain definitions and special rules.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... contract, futures contract, option, warrant, or similar financial instrument. (A) Limitation for certain derivative instruments. A forward contract, futures contract, option, warrant, or similar financial..., futures contract, option contract, or similar financial instrument. Except as otherwise provided in this...

  17. 30 CFR 243.10 - When will MMS collect against a bond or other surety instrument or a person demonstrating...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... surety instrument or a person demonstrating financial solvency? 243.10 Section 243.10 Mineral Resources... a bond or other surety instrument or a person demonstrating financial solvency? (a) This section... surety instrument on your own behalf or for another person; or (2) Have demonstrated financial solvency...

  18. 75 FR 4255 - Reporting of Fraudulent Financial Instruments

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-01-27

    ... other words, if a decision to purchase or sell would have been different had the regulated entity... FHFA upon discovery that it has purchased or sold a fraudulent loan or financial instrument, or suspects a possible fraud relating to the purchase or sale of any loan or financial instrument. The final...

  19. Financial Resource Allocation in Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ušpuriene, Ana; Sakalauskas, Leonidas; Dumskis, Valerijonas

    2017-01-01

    The paper considers a problem of financial resource allocation in a higher education institution. The basic financial management instruments and the multi-stage cost minimization model created are described involving financial instruments to constraints. Both societal and institutional factors that determine the costs of educating students are…

  20. Global Financial Crisis and Educational Restructuring

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peters, Michael A.; Besley, Tina; Paraskeva, João M.

    2015-01-01

    "Financialisation" is a term that describes an economic system or process that attempts to reduce all value that is exchanged (whether tangible, intangible, future, or present promises, etc.) either into a financial instrument or a derivative of a financial instrument. The original intent of financialization is to be able to reduce any…

  1. Financial and testamentary capacity evaluations: procedures and assessment instruments underneath a functional approach.

    PubMed

    Sousa, Liliana B; Simões, Mário R; Firmino, Horácio; Peisah, Carmelle

    2014-02-01

    Mental health professionals are frequently involved in mental capacity determinations. However, there is a lack of specific measures and well-defined procedures for these evaluations. The main purpose of this paper is to provide a review of financial and testamentary capacity evaluation procedures, including not only the traditional neuropsychological and functional assessment but also the more recently developed forensic assessment instruments (FAIs), which have been developed to provide a specialized answer to legal systems regarding civil competencies. Here the main guidelines, papers, and other references are reviewed in order to achieve a complete and comprehensive selection of instruments used in the assessment of financial and testamentary capacity. Although some specific measures for financial abilities have been developed recently, the same is not true for testamentary capacity. Here are presented several instruments or methodologies for assessing financial and testamentary capacity, including neuropsychological assessment, functional assessment scales, performance based functional assessment instruments, and specific FAIs. FAIs are the only specific instruments intended to provide a specific and direct answer to the assessment of financial capacity based on legal systems. Considering the need to move from a diagnostic to a functional approach in financial and testamentary capacity evaluations, it is essential to consider both general functional examination as well as cognitive functioning.

  2. 40 CFR 267.151 - Wording of the instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... PERMIT Financial Requirements § 267.151 Wording of the instruments. (a) The chief financial officer of an owner or operator of a facility with a standardized permit who uses a financial test to demonstrate financial assurance for that facility must complete a letter as specified in § 267.143(f) of this chapter...

  3. 75 FR 6753 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; Chicago Board Options Exchange, Incorporated, International...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-02-10

    ..., repurchase agreements and reverse purchase agreements (the ``Financial Instruments''), and money market instruments, including, but not limited to, U.S. government securities and repurchase agreements (the ``Money... portfolios of securities and/or Financial Instruments and Money Market Instruments (or that hold securities...

  4. 75 FR 6773 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; Chicago Board Options Exchange, Incorporated, International...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-02-10

    ..., repurchase agreements and reverse purchase agreements (the ``Financial Instruments''), and money market instruments, including, but not limited to, U.S. government securities and repurchase agreements (the ``Money... portfolios of securities and/or Financial Instruments and Money Market Instruments (or that hold securities...

  5. 76 FR 51114 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC; Notice of Filing and Immediate...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-08-17

    ... reverse repurchase agreements (the ``Financial Instruments''), and money market instruments, including, but not limited to, U.S. government securities and repurchase agreements (the ``Money Market... securities and/or Financial Instruments and Money Market Instruments, or (ii) represent commodity pool...

  6. 75 FR 25005 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE Arca, Inc.; Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule Change Amending...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-05-06

    ..., repurchase agreements and reverse purchase agreements (the ``Financial Instruments''), and money market instruments, including, but not limited to, U.S. government securities and repurchase agreements (the ``Money... portfolios of securities and/or Financial Instruments and Money Market Instruments (or that hold securities...

  7. 10 CFR 600.5 - Selection of award instrument.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... instrument, the DOE decision as to whether the relationship is principally one of procurement or financial... financial assistance instrument, DOE shall limit involvement between itself and the recipient in the... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Selection of award instrument. 600.5 Section 600.5 Energy...

  8. Derivative financial instruments and nonprofit health care providers.

    PubMed

    Stewart, Louis J; Owhoso, Vincent

    2004-01-01

    This article examines the extent of derivative financial instrument use among US nonprofit health systems and the impact of these financial instruments on their cash flows, reported operating results, and financial risks. Our examination is conducted through a case study of New Jersey hospitals and health systems. We review the existing literature on interest rate derivative instruments and US hospitals and health systems. This literature describes the design of these derivative financial instruments and the theoretical benefits of their use by large health care provider organizations. Our contribution to the literature is to provide an empirical evaluation of derivative financial instruments usage among a geographically limited sample of US nonprofit health systems. We reviewed the audited financial statements of the 49 community hospitals and multi-hospital health systems operating in the state of New Jersey. We found that 8 percent of New Jersey's nonprofit health providers utilized interest rate derivatives with an aggregate principle value of $229 million. These derivative users combine interest rate swaps and caps to lower the effective interest costs of their long-term debt while limiting their exposure to future interest rate increases. In addition, while derivative assets and liabilities have an immaterial balance sheet impact, derivative related gains and losses are a material component of their reported operating results. We also found that derivative usage among these four health systems was responsible for generating positive cash flows in the range of 1 percent to 2 percent of their total 2001 cash flows from operations. As a result of our admittedly limited samples we conclude that interest rate swaps and caps are effective risk management tools. However, we also found that while these derivative financial instruments are useful hedges against the risks of issuing long-term financing instruments, they also expose derivative users to credit, contract termination and interest rate volatility risks. In conclusion, we find that these financial instruments can also generate negative as well as positive cash flows and have both a positive and negative impact on reported operating results.

  9. 17 CFR 210.4-08 - General notes to financial statements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ..., options, and other financial instruments with similar characteristics. (ii) Derivative commodity... futures, commodity forwards, commodity swaps, commodity options, and other commodity instruments with... policies for certain derivative instruments. Disclosures regarding accounting policies shall include...

  10. 76 FR 51116 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; NASDAQ OMX PHLX LLC; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-08-17

    ... ``Financial Instruments''), and money market instruments, including, but not limited to, U.S. government securities and repurchase agreements (the ``Money Market Instruments'') constituting or otherwise based on or representing an investment in an index or portfolio of securities and/or Financial Instruments and Money Market...

  11. Eroding market stability by proliferation of financial instruments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Caccioli, F.; Marsili, M.; Vivo, P.

    2009-10-01

    We contrast Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT), the theoretical basis for the development of financial instruments, with a dynamical picture of an interacting market, in a simple setting. The proliferation of financial instruments apparently provides more means for risk diversification, making the market more efficient and complete. In the simple market of interacting traders discussed here, the proliferation of financial instruments erodes systemic stability and it drives the market to a critical state characterized by large susceptibility, strong fluctuations and enhanced correlations among risks. This suggests that the hypothesis of APT may not be compatible with a stable market dynamics. In this perspective, market stability acquires the properties of a common good, which suggests that appropriate measures should be introduced in derivative markets, to preserve stability. in here

  12. 36 CFR 228.109 - Bonds.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... authorized Forest officer determines the financial instrument held by the Bureau of Land Management is not... give the operator the option of either increasing the financial instrument held by the Bureau of Land Management or filing a separate instrument with the Forest Service in the amount deemed adequate by the...

  13. 78 FR 72393 - Net Investment Income Tax

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-12-02

    ...) a trade or business of trading in financial instruments or commodities (as defined in section 475(e... trading in financial instruments or commodities. Multiple commentators suggested that the final...

  14. 22 CFR 72.25 - Transfer of personal estate to Department of State.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... financial instruments, jewelry, heirlooms, and other articles of obvious sentimental value) in the same... custody of the Department the proceeds of any sale, together with all financial instruments (including... instruments of indebtedness payable to the estate for the benefit thereof, and may take such other action as...

  15. Integrating physical and financial approaches to manage environmental financial risk

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Characklis, Gregory; Meyer, Eliot; Foster, Benjamin

    2017-04-01

    Physical and/or engineered solutions have long been used to manage risks associated with adverse environmental events. Examples include reservoirs as a tool for mitigating drought-related supply risk, levees for managing flood risk and dredging of inland waterways to ensure navigability during low flow periods. These measures can reduce many types of risk (e.g., loss of life), but are often employed as a means of protecting against financial losses. When the focus is on managing environmental financial risk, physical solutions can be effective, but also costly. In many cases, non-physical tools can provide a less expensive means of managing financial risk, with these often taking the form of financial instruments such as hedging contracts, contingency funds or insurance. Some of these instruments, such as flood insurance, are widely available, but historically many environmental financial risks have been managed primarily (or solely) via physical solutions without much consideration of alternatives, thereby opening opportunities for innovation in developing financial solutions. Recent research has demonstrated that financial instruments can play a significant role in managing drought-related financial risk in sectors as diverse as water utilities, energy generation and inland navigation. Nonetheless, this work has largely considered the use of these instruments within systems in which physical solutions are already in place (but failing to achieve desired performance). The next step in the evolution of managing environmental financial risk involves developing methods for designing risk management strategies that do not assume an established physical system. Here the goal is to identify the relative role that physical solutions and financial instruments should play as they are integrated into a comprehensive risk management strategy. This is not a straightforward challenge as one approach reduces the risk of financial losses and the other redistributes those losses, thereby making a direct comparison difficult. This discussion will focus on a conceptual approach to considering questions such as what proportion of the drought-related financial risk faced by inland shipping should be managed via "hedging" versus "dredging". Examples from other sectors will be discussed as well.

  16. 75 FR 18558 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE Arca, Inc.; Order Granting Accelerated Approval of a Proposed...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-04-12

    .... Information regarding the market price and trading volume of the Shares will be continually available on a... trading volume information for the Shares will be published daily in the financial sections of newspapers...), name of security or financial instrument, number of shares or dollar value of financial instruments...

  17. Dynamic multifactor clustering of financial networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ross, Gordon J.

    2014-02-01

    We investigate the tendency for financial instruments to form clusters when there are multiple factors influencing the correlation structure. Specifically, we consider a stock portfolio which contains companies from different industrial sectors, located in several different countries. Both sector membership and geography combine to create a complex clustering structure where companies seem to first be divided based on sector, with geographical subclusters emerging within each industrial sector. We argue that standard techniques for detecting overlapping clusters and communities are not able to capture this type of structure and show how robust regression techniques can instead be used to remove the influence of both sector and geography from the correlation matrix separately. Our analysis reveals that prior to the 2008 financial crisis, companies did not tend to form clusters based on geography. This changed immediately following the crisis, with geography becoming a more important determinant of clustering structure.

  18. Measuring Financial Literacy: Developing and Testing a Measurement Instrument with a Selected Group of South African Military Officers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schwella, E.; van Nieuwenhuyzen, Bernard J.

    2014-01-01

    Are South Africans financially literate, and how can this be measured? Until 2009 there was no South African financial literacy measure and, therefore, the aim was to develop a South African measurement instrument that is scientific, socially acceptable, valid and reliable. To achieve this aim a contextual and conceptual analysis of financial…

  19. Invited Commentary: Using Financial Credits as Instrumental Variables for Estimating the Causal Relationship Between Income and Health.

    PubMed

    Pega, Frank

    2016-05-01

    Social epidemiologists are interested in determining the causal relationship between income and health. Natural experiments in which individuals or groups receive income randomly or quasi-randomly from financial credits (e.g., tax credits or cash transfers) are increasingly being analyzed using instrumental variable analysis. For example, in this issue of the Journal, Hamad and Rehkopf (Am J Epidemiol. 2016;183(9):775-784) used an in-work tax credit called the Earned Income Tax Credit as an instrument to estimate the association between income and child development. However, under certain conditions, the use of financial credits as instruments could violate 2 key instrumental variable analytic assumptions. First, some financial credits may directly influence health, for example, through increasing a psychological sense of welfare security. Second, financial credits and health may have several unmeasured common causes, such as politics, other social policies, and the motivation to maximize the credit. If epidemiologists pursue such instrumental variable analyses, using the amount of an unconditional, universal credit that an individual or group has received as the instrument may produce the most conceptually convincing and generalizable evidence. However, other natural income experiments (e.g., lottery winnings) and other methods that allow better adjustment for confounding might be more promising approaches for estimating the causal relationship between income and health. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  20. 10 CFR 600.3 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... stimulation authorized by Federal statute. For purposes of this part, financial assistance instruments are... with senior management authority for the award and administration of financial assistance instruments... commercial organizations. “Research” is defined as a systematic study directed toward fuller scientific...

  1. 10 CFR 600.3 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... stimulation authorized by Federal statute. For purposes of this part, financial assistance instruments are... with senior management authority for the award and administration of financial assistance instruments... commercial organizations. “Research” is defined as a systematic study directed toward fuller scientific...

  2. Financial Crisis: A New Measure for Risk of Pension Fund Portfolios

    PubMed Central

    Cadoni, Marinella; Melis, Roberta; Trudda, Alessandro

    2015-01-01

    It has been argued that pension funds should have limitations on their asset allocation, based on the risk profile of the different financial instruments available on the financial markets. This issue proves to be highly relevant at times of market crisis, when a regulation establishing limits to risk taking for pension funds could prevent defaults. In this paper we present a framework for evaluating the risk level of a single financial instrument or a portfolio. By assuming that the log asset returns can be described by a multifractional Brownian motion, we evaluate the risk using the time dependent Hurst parameter H(t) which models volatility. To provide a measure of the risk, we model the Hurst parameter with a random variable with mixture of beta distribution. We prove the efficacy of the methodology by implementing it on different risk level financial instruments and portfolios. PMID:26086529

  3. Financial Crisis: A New Measure for Risk of Pension Fund Portfolios.

    PubMed

    Cadoni, Marinella; Melis, Roberta; Trudda, Alessandro

    2015-01-01

    It has been argued that pension funds should have limitations on their asset allocation, based on the risk profile of the different financial instruments available on the financial markets. This issue proves to be highly relevant at times of market crisis, when a regulation establishing limits to risk taking for pension funds could prevent defaults. In this paper we present a framework for evaluating the risk level of a single financial instrument or a portfolio. By assuming that the log asset returns can be described by a multifractional Brownian motion, we evaluate the risk using the time dependent Hurst parameter H(t) which models volatility. To provide a measure of the risk, we model the Hurst parameter with a random variable with mixture of beta distribution. We prove the efficacy of the methodology by implementing it on different risk level financial instruments and portfolios.

  4. 40 CFR 146.85 - Financial responsibility.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ....e., Financial Test and Corporate Guarantee). (vi) Escrow Account. (vii) Any other instrument(s... requirements of § 146.92); (iii) Post injection site care and site closure (that meets the requirements of...), for example trust funds, surety bonds guaranteeing payment into a trust fund, letters of credit...

  5. 40 CFR 146.85 - Financial responsibility.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ....e., Financial Test and Corporate Guarantee). (vi) Escrow Account. (vii) Any other instrument(s... requirements of § 146.92); (iii) Post injection site care and site closure (that meets the requirements of...), for example trust funds, surety bonds guaranteeing payment into a trust fund, letters of credit...

  6. Costa Rican environmental service payments: The use of a financial instrument in participatory forest management.

    PubMed

    Miranda, Miriam; Dieperink, Carel; Glasbergen, Pieter

    2006-10-01

    The core element of the Costa Rican forestry policy is a financial instrument called the environmental service payment. This instrument rewards forest owners for the environmental services (the mitigation of greenhouse gases, the protection of watersheds and scenic beauty, and the development of biodiversity) their forests provide. In this article, the experiences with this new instrument are analyzed by focusing on the way interests are represented and access is granted, the openness of information exchange, whether social learning occurred, and whether decision-making authority is shared. The analysis is based on a survey conducted in the Huetar Norte Region and on in-depth interviews with the major stakeholders. The Costa Rican case indicates that financial instruments can be used to share responsibilities and that stakeholders can successfully cooperate on forest issues. It also shows that such a participatory approach is only promising if certain cultural, economic, organizational, and political conditions are met.

  7. Managing the Financial Risks of Water Scarcity

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Characklis, Greg; Foster, Ben; Kern, Jordan; Meyer, Eliot; Zeff, Harrison

    2015-04-01

    Environmental uncertainty poses a growing number of financial risks to society, with droughts, floods, extreme temperatures and violent storms imposing costs that approach 500 billion per year. While structural forms of mitigation (i.e. levees, dams) will certainly play a role in limiting financial impacts, these are large investments whose full value is only rarely realized. Furthermore, the value of such long-lived measures becomes increasingly uncertain in a changing climate, raising the issue of whether they will be effective 20-30 years hence. Financial instruments, such as index insurance, can provide increased flexibility by providing compensation for losses only when they occur, and limited contract periods allow terms to be periodically rewritten in response to changing conditions. Financial instruments can also be effectively combined with other economic tools and infrastructure to create integrated solutions in which infrastructure mitigates losses from moderate events, while financial products compensate for more rare, but extreme, events. There is a long history of environmentally-related insurance and hedging instruments, but to date the actuarial analyses that underlie contract structure and pricing have been based on straightforward observations, such as cumulative rainfall. More recently, simple correlations between two time series have been used to develop index-based contracts. Links between temperature and electricity demand, for example, provide a basis for contracts that are used to limit the financial exposure of power generators to low revenues during unseasonably warm winters or cool summers. Unfortunately, few environmental risks can be so quickly and easily linked to a financial impact. However, with a more advanced understanding of the environmental systems that give rise to financial losses, opportunities exist to develop innovative contracts for a range of new applications. Recent research describes the characterization and mitigation of financial losses experienced by such entities as water utilities, hydropower producers and inland shipping firms as a result of water scarcity, all of which suggest a growing role for financial instruments in managing environmental risk.

  8. Evaluation Strategies in Financial Education: Evaluation with Imperfect Instruments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Robinson, Lauren; Dudensing, Rebekka; Granovsky, Nancy L.

    2016-01-01

    Program evaluation often suffers due to time constraints, imperfect instruments, incomplete data, and the need to report standardized metrics. This article about the evaluation process for the Wi$eUp financial education program showcases the difficulties inherent in evaluation and suggests best practices for assessing program effectiveness. We…

  9. Declining Financial Capacity in Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Six-Year Longitudinal Study.

    PubMed

    Martin, Roy C; Gerstenecker, Adam; Triebel, Kristen L; Falola, Michael; McPherson, Tarrant; Cutter, Gary; Marson, Daniel C

    2018-03-31

    To investigate financial skill decline over a 6-year period in persons with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) presumed due to Alzheimer's disease (AD). Study participants were cognitively normal (CN) older adults (n = 82) and adults with MCI (n = 91) based on consensus conference diagnosis. Participants completed baseline and up to six annual follow-up assessments that included standardized financial skills measurement (Financial Capacity Instrument; FCI; nine FCI domain and two global scores). We examined FCI change over time using mixed-model repeated measures analysis adjusted for baseline age and follow-up duration. At baseline, the CN group performed better than the MCI group across both global and seven domain scores. Group × Time interaction effects (all p's <.02) were found for all global and domain scores. The largest interaction effects were observed for complex domains of Financial Conceptual Knowledge, Checkbook Management, Bank Statement Management, and Bill Payment (all p's <.0001). Annualized decline in the MCI group's global scores, calculated in relation to CN group performance, was 10-17% over the initial 3-year time span and 22-24% at 6 years. Decline in FCI domain scores ranged from 6% (Knowledge of Assets/Estate) to 22% (Investment Decision-Making) at 3 year follow-up, and from 15% (Basic Monetary Skills) to 37% (Financial Judgment) at 6 year follow-up. Over a 6-year period, persons with MCI demonstrated significant declines in multiple financial skills and in particular financial judgment. The findings highlight the importance of ongoing oversight by family members and clinicians of financial skills and activities in persons with MCI.

  10. 30 CFR 285.521 - Do my financial assurance requirements change as activities progress on my limited lease or grant?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... separate decommissioning bond or other financial assurance instrument must meet the requirements specified... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Do my financial assurance requirements change... EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Payments and Financial Assurance Requirements Financial...

  11. Islamic Banking: Financing Terrorism or Meeting Economic Demand

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2007-12-01

    feared financial shenanigans practiced by its countries’ government-controlled state banks. Kepel contends that the radical Islamists viewed these...10 B. THE BEGINNING OF AN ISLAMIC FINANCIAL SYSTEM................14 C. THE CREATION OF ISLAMIC FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS...19 D. ISLAMIC FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS..................................................26 1. Musharaka

  12. 7 CFR 246.25 - Records and reports.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ..., Program or financial analysis, or an audit, that a State agency is not meeting the objectives set forth in..., information pertaining to financial operations, food delivery systems, food instrument issuance and redemption...) Financial and participation reports—(1) Monthly reports. (i) State agencies must submit financial and...

  13. On the efficiency of sovereign bond markets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zunino, Luciano; Fernández Bariviera, Aurelio; Guercio, M. Belén; Martinez, Lisana B.; Rosso, Osvaldo A.

    2012-09-01

    The existence of memory in financial time series has been extensively studied for several stock markets around the world by means of different approaches. However, fixed income markets, i.e. those where corporate and sovereign bonds are traded, have been much less studied. We believe that, given the relevance of these markets, not only from the investors', but also from the issuers' point of view (government and firms), it is necessary to fill this gap in the literature. In this paper, we study the sovereign market efficiency of thirty bond indices of both developed and emerging countries, using an innovative statistical tool in the financial literature: the complexity-entropy causality plane. This representation space allows us to establish an efficiency ranking of different markets and distinguish different bond market dynamics. We conclude that the classification derived from the complexity-entropy causality plane is consistent with the qualifications assigned by major rating companies to the sovereign instruments. Additionally, we find a correlation between permutation entropy, economic development and market size that could be of interest for policy makers and investors.

  14. Computational methods in the pricing and risk management of modern financial derivatives

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Deutsch, Hans-Peter

    1999-09-01

    In the last 20 years modern finance has developed into a complex mathematically challenging field. Very complicated risks exist in financial markets which need very advanced methods to measure and/or model them. The financial instruments invented by the market participants to trade these risk, the so called derivatives are usually even more complicated than the risks themselves and also sometimes generate new riks. Topics like random walks, stochastic differential equations, martingale measures, time series analysis, implied correlations, etc. are of common use in the field. This is why more and more people with a science background, such as physicists, mathematicians, or computer scientists, are entering the field of finance. The measurement and management of all theses risks is the key to the continuing success of banks. This talk gives insight into today's common methods of modern market risk management such as variance-covariance, historical simulation, Monte Carlo, “Greek” ratios, etc., including the statistical concepts on which they are based. Derivatives are at the same time the main reason for and the most effective means of conducting risk management. As such, they stand at the beginning and end of risk management. The valuation of derivatives and structured financial instruments is therefore the prerequisite, the condition sine qua non, for all risk management. This talk introduces some of the important valuation methods used in modern derivatives pricing such as present value, Black-Scholes, binomial trees, Monte Carlo, etc. In summary this talk highlights an area outside physics where there is a lot of interesting work to do, especially for physicists. Or as one of our consultants said: The fascinating thing about this job is that Arthur Andersen hired me not ALTHOUGH I am a physicist but BECAUSE I am a physicist.

  15. Understanding Financial Innovation: An Introduction to Derivative Financial Products.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Robinson, J. N.

    1992-01-01

    Explains the use of forwards, futures, swaps, and options in international currency trading. Argues that pricing options are based on the same basic principles as pricing other financial instruments. Concludes that, although financial markets have developed several new products, hedging and speculation involve similar processes. (CFR)

  16. 76 FR 9787 - Proposed Information Collection Activity; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-02-22

    ... the Administration for Children and Families is conducting a descriptive study of Financial Education... participants. The data collection will be collected once through two instruments: The Survey of Financial Education Practices of AFI Grantees and the AFI Financial Education Cost Data Form. The Survey of Financial...

  17. College Financial Management: Basics for Administrators.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carter, E. Eugene

    Basic economic concepts applicable for college financial management are considered, along with the characteristics of financial instruments available to universities that have money to invest for short-term or long-term purposes. A discussion of various financial securities provides information for the endowment manager who has to select among…

  18. Kernel methods and flexible inference for complex stochastic dynamics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Capobianco, Enrico

    2008-07-01

    Approximation theory suggests that series expansions and projections represent standard tools for random process applications from both numerical and statistical standpoints. Such instruments emphasize the role of both sparsity and smoothness for compression purposes, the decorrelation power achieved in the expansion coefficients space compared to the signal space, and the reproducing kernel property when some special conditions are met. We consider these three aspects central to the discussion in this paper, and attempt to analyze the characteristics of some known approximation instruments employed in a complex application domain such as financial market time series. Volatility models are often built ad hoc, parametrically and through very sophisticated methodologies. But they can hardly deal with stochastic processes with regard to non-Gaussianity, covariance non-stationarity or complex dependence without paying a big price in terms of either model mis-specification or computational efficiency. It is thus a good idea to look at other more flexible inference tools; hence the strategy of combining greedy approximation and space dimensionality reduction techniques, which are less dependent on distributional assumptions and more targeted to achieve computationally efficient performances. Advantages and limitations of their use will be evaluated by looking at algorithmic and model building strategies, and by reporting statistical diagnostics.

  19. 12 CFR 225.142 - Statement of policy concerning bank holding companies engaging in futures, forward and options...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... guidelines for banks that engage in financial contract activities. Since the Financial Accounting Standards... (REGULATION Y) Regulations Financial Holding Companies Interpretations § 225.142 Statement of policy... agency securities and money market instruments. (a) Purpose of financial contract positions. In...

  20. 76 FR 33767 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-09

    ... conducting a descriptive study of Financial Education Practices among Assets for Independence (AFI) grantees... once through two instruments: The Survey of Financial Education Practices of AFI Grantees and the AFI Financial Education Cost Data Form. The Survey of Financial Education Practices of AFI Grantees will be a...

  1. 7 CFR 735.14 - Bonding and other financial assurance requirements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... for, or renew, a bond or a financial assurance instrument will result in the immediate and automatic... 7 Agriculture 7 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Bonding and other financial assurance requirements... WAREHOUSE ACT General Provisions § 735.14 Bonding and other financial assurance requirements. (a) As a...

  2. 30 CFR 285.522-285.524 - [Reserved

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... ENERGY ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Payments and Financial Assurance Requirements Financial Assurance for Limited Leases, Row Grants, and Rue Grants §§ 285.522-285.524 [Reserved] Requirements for Financial Assurance Instruments ...

  3. 30 CFR 243.7 - What must a person do when posting a bond or other surety instrument or demonstrating financial...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ....7 Mineral Resources MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MINERALS REVENUE... instrument or demonstrate financial solvency under § 243.5, you: (a) Must notify MMS in writing at the address specified in § 243.200(a) that you are assuming the appellant's responsibility under this part; (b...

  4. 30 CFR 285.526 - What instruments other than a surety bond may I use to meet the financial assurance requirement?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... a bank or financial institution organized or authorized to transact business in the United States... use to meet the financial assurance requirement? 285.526 Section 285.526 Mineral Resources MINERALS... FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Payments and Financial Assurance Requirements Requirements for...

  5. 30 CFR 585.527 - May I demonstrate financial strength and reliability to meet the financial assurance requirement...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY... generation of renewable energy on the OCS or onshore; (3) Evidence that shows reliability in meeting... new financial assurance instrument within 90 days after we terminate your use of financial strength...

  6. 30 CFR 585.527 - May I demonstrate financial strength and reliability to meet the financial assurance requirement...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY... generation of renewable energy on the OCS or onshore; (3) Evidence that shows reliability in meeting... new financial assurance instrument within 90 days after we terminate your use of financial strength...

  7. 30 CFR 585.527 - May I demonstrate financial strength and reliability to meet the financial assurance requirement...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... Mineral Resources BUREAU OF OCEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY... generation of renewable energy on the OCS or onshore; (3) Evidence that shows reliability in meeting... new financial assurance instrument within 90 days after we terminate your use of financial strength...

  8. 30 CFR 285.527 - May I demonstrate financial strength and reliability to meet the financial assurance requirement...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... Mineral Resources MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY... generation of renewable energy on the OCS or onshore; (3) Evidence that shows reliability in meeting... new financial assurance instrument within 90 days after we terminate your use of financial strength...

  9. 30 CFR 285.529 - Can I use a lease- or grant-specific decommissioning account to meet the financial assurance...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... ENERGY ALTERNATE USES OF EXISTING FACILITIES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF Payments and Financial Assurance Requirements Requirements for Financial Assurance Instruments § 285.529 Can I use a lease- or... decommissioning account to meet the financial assurance requirements related to decommissioning? 285.529 Section...

  10. Information-theoretic approach to lead-lag effect on financial markets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fiedor, Paweł

    2014-08-01

    Recently the interest of researchers has shifted from the analysis of synchronous relationships of financial instruments to the analysis of more meaningful asynchronous relationships. Both types of analysis are concentrated mostly on Pearson's correlation coefficient and consequently intraday lead-lag relationships (where one of the variables in a pair is time-lagged) are also associated with them. Under the Efficient-Market Hypothesis such relationships are not possible as all information is embedded in the prices, but in real markets we find such dependencies. In this paper we analyse lead-lag relationships of financial instruments and extend known methodology by using mutual information instead of Pearson's correlation coefficient. Mutual information is not only a more general measure, sensitive to non-linear dependencies, but also can lead to a simpler procedure of statistical validation of links between financial instruments. We analyse lagged relationships using New York Stock Exchange 100 data not only on an intraday level, but also for daily stock returns, which have usually been ignored.

  11. Reliability and Validity of the Lichtenberg Financial Decision Screening Scale.

    PubMed

    Lichtenberg, Peter A; Teresi, Jeanne A; Ocepek-Welikson, Katja; Eimicke, Joseph P

    2017-03-01

    The scarcity of empirically validated assessment instruments continues to impede the work of professionals in a number of fields, including medicine, finance, and estate planning; adult protective services; and criminal justice-and, more importantly, it impedes their ability to effectively assist and, in some case, protect their clients. Other professionals (e.g. legal, financial, medical, mental health services) are in a position to prevent financial exploitation and would benefit from access to new instruments. The Lichtenberg Financial Decision Screening Scale (LFDSS) was introduced in 2016, along with evidence for its convergent validity (Lichtenberg et al., 2016). Using a sample of 213 participants, this study investigated the internal consistency of the LFDSS and its criterion validity based on ratings by professionals using the scale. Results demonstrate that the LFDSS has excellent internal consistency and clinical utility properties. This paper provides support for use of the LFDSS as a reliable and valid instrument. The LFDSS and instructions for its use are included in the article, along with information about online tools and support.

  12. 12 CFR 1805.402 - Assistance limits.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... Banks and Banking COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS FUND, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS PROGRAM Investment Instruments § 1805.402 Assistance limits. (a..., more than $5 million, in the aggregate, in financial and technical assistance to an Awardee and its...

  13. Research Instrument Sharing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coulter, Charles L.

    1978-01-01

    Discusses the scientific and financial aspects of large instrument sharing in natural science areas from the point of view of instrument centers, users and funding agencies. Concludes that effective actions, with well-defined goals, must be implemented to solve the problems of instrument sharing. (GA)

  14. [Financing problems of capital goods: part 1: leasing as a solution?].

    PubMed

    Clausen, C C; Bauer, M; Saleh, A; Picker, O

    2008-06-01

    The provision of financial support of hospitals by States for buying capital goods is becoming increasingly more limited. In order to still make investments, alternative forms of financing such as leasing must be considered in hospitals. However, the change from the classical form of dual financing and the decision to opt for a leasing model involves much more than just a question of costs. Leasing results in easily manageable expenditure, flexibility and adaptability for the choice of model but the leasing installments must be directly financed by the turnover from diagnosis-related groups and so lead to a reduction in the annual profit. In this article the authors try to give the reader an overview of the complex and sometimes counter-productive effect of financial instruments for investments in hospitals using leasing financing as an example. In the follow-up article the decision-making procedure using dynamic investment calculations will be demonstrated using a concrete example.

  15. 7 CFR 1782.17 - Parity lien.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... financial viability of the borrower; (6) The borrower's current relationship with the Agency (i.e. no... of security instrument; name and address of financial institution requesting the transaction; and... financial statements or an audit, if available or determined necessary by the servicing official. (3) An...

  16. OFHEO S RISKBASED CAPITAL STRESS TEST: Incorporating New Business Is Not Advisable

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2002-06-01

    periods of losses and capital erosion can occur. Enterprise management can use callable debt12 and other financial instruments or strategies to mitigate...12Callable debt refers to financial debt instruments, such as bonds ... Bonds are usually called when interest rates fall so significantly that the issuer can save money by floating new bonds at lower rates. 13The act

  17. Systematic Review of Measurement Property Evidence for 8 Financial Management Instruments in Populations With Acquired Cognitive Impairment.

    PubMed

    Engel, Lisa; Chui, Adora; Beaton, Dorcas E; Green, Robin E; Dawson, Deirdre R

    2018-03-07

    To critically appraise the measurement property evidence (ie, psychometric) for 8 observation-based financial management assessment instruments. Seven databases were searched in May 2015. Two reviewers used an independent decision-agreement process to select studies of measurement property evidence relevant to populations with adulthood acquired cognitive impairment, appraise the quality of the evidence, and extract data. Twenty-one articles were selected. This review used the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement Instruments review guidelines and 4-point tool to appraise evidence. After appraising the methodologic quality, the adequacy of results and volume of evidence per instrument were synthesized. Measurement property evidence with high risk of bias was excluded from the synthesis. The volume of measurement property evidence per instrument is low; most instruments had 1 to 3 included studies. Many included studies had poor methodologic quality per measurement property evidence area examined. Six of the 8 instruments reviewed had supporting construct validity/hypothesis-testing evidence of fair methodologic quality. There is a dearth of acceptable quality content validity, reliability, and responsiveness evidence for all 8 instruments. Rehabilitation practitioners assess financial management functions in adults with acquired cognitive impairments. However, there is limited published evidence to support using any of the reviewed instruments. Practitioners should exercise caution when interpreting the results of these instruments. This review highlights the importance of appraising the quality of measurement property evidence before examining the adequacy of the results and synthesizing the evidence. Copyright © 2018 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. 75 FR 66717 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-10-29

    ... respondents will describe the type of project, project scope, financial plan and other factors. Without this... Financial Assistance Instruments. OMB Control Number: 0596-0217. Summary of Collection: In order to carry... issues Federal Financial Assistance awards, (i.e., grants and cooperative agreements). Agency specific...

  19. Awareness of financial skills in dementia.

    PubMed

    Van Wielingen, L E; Tuokko, H A; Cramer, K; Mateer, C A; Hultsch, D F

    2004-07-01

    The present study examined the relations among levels of cognitive functioning, executive dysfunction, and awareness of financial management capabilities among a sample of 42 community-dwelling persons with dementia. Financial tasks on the Measure of Awareness of Financial Skills (MAFS) were dichotomized as simple or complex based on Piaget's operational levels of childhood cognitive development. Severity of global cognitive impairment and executive dysfunction were significantly related to awareness of financial abilities as measured by informant-participant discrepancy scores on the MAFS. For persons with mild and moderate/severe dementia, and persons with and without executive dysfunction, proportions of awareness within simple and complex financial task categories were tabulated. Significantly less awareness of financial abilities occurred on complex compared with simple tasks. Individuals with mild dementia were significantly less aware of abilities on complex items, whereas persons with moderate/severe dementia were less aware of abilities, regardless of task complexity. Similar patterns of awareness were observed for individuals with and without executive dysfunction. These findings support literature suggesting that deficits associated with dementia first occur for complex cognitive tasks involving inductive reasoning or decision-making in novel situations, and identify where loss of function in the financial domain may first be expected. Copyright Taylor & Francis Ltd

  20. 12 CFR 1805.400 - Investment instruments-general.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Investment instruments-general. 1805.400... TREASURY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS PROGRAM Investment Instruments § 1805.400 Investment... investment instruments described in § 1805.401, and under such terms and conditions as described in this...

  1. 40 CFR 261.151 - Wording of the instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    .... Guarantor meets or exceeds the financial test criteria and agrees to comply with the reporting requirements... (CONTINUED) IDENTIFICATION AND LISTING OF HAZARDOUS WASTE Financial Requirements for Management of Excluded... has elected to establish a trust to provide all or part of such financial assurance for the facilities...

  2. 45 CFR 617.4 - General duties of recipients.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... subrecipients, and the instrument under which the Federal financial assistance is passed to the subrecipient... NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF AGE IN PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FROM NSF § 617.4 General duties of recipients. Each recipient of Federal financial assistance from NSF shall...

  3. Examining Financial Literacy among Transfer and Nontransfer Students: Predicting Financial Well-Being and Academic Success at a Four-Year University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Starobin, Soko S.; Hagedorn, Linda Serra; Purnamasari, Agustina; Chen, Yu

    2013-01-01

    This study analyzes the data collected through the Financial Literacy project conducted in the fall semester of 2010 at a land grant research university in the Midwest. A survey instrument, which includes 43 items that measure constructs such as parental influence, financial knowledge and behaviors, and working experience of students while…

  4. How Financial Literacy Affects Household Wealth Accumulation.

    PubMed

    Behrman, Jere R; Mitchell, Olivia S; Soo, Cindy K; Bravo, David

    2012-05-01

    This study isolates the causal effects of financial literacy and schooling on wealth accumulation using a new household dataset and an instrumental variables (IV) approach. Financial literacy and schooling attainment are both strongly positively associated with wealth outcomes in linear regression models, whereas the IV estimates reveal even more potent effects of financial literacy. They also indicate that the schooling effect only becomes positive when interacted with financial literacy. Estimated impacts are substantial enough to imply that investments in financial literacy could have large wealth payoffs.

  5. How Financial Literacy Affects Household Wealth Accumulation

    PubMed Central

    Behrman, Jere R.; Mitchell, Olivia S.; Soo, Cindy K.; Bravo, David

    2012-01-01

    This study isolates the causal effects of financial literacy and schooling on wealth accumulation using a new household dataset and an instrumental variables (IV) approach. Financial literacy and schooling attainment are both strongly positively associated with wealth outcomes in linear regression models, whereas the IV estimates reveal even more potent effects of financial literacy. They also indicate that the schooling effect only becomes positive when interacted with financial literacy. Estimated impacts are substantial enough to imply that investments in financial literacy could have large wealth payoffs. PMID:23355747

  6. 12 CFR 1805.401 - Forms of investment instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Forms of investment instruments. 1805.401... TREASURY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS PROGRAM Investment Instruments § 1805.401 Forms of investment instruments. (a) Equity. The Fund may make nonvoting equity investments in an Awardee, including...

  7. 40 CFR 35.6335 - Property management standards.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... property are in good condition and periodic calibration of the instruments used for precision measurements... the property; (5) Provisions for financial control and accounting in the financial management system...

  8. 40 CFR 267.151 - Wording of the instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... owner or operator of a facility with a standardized permit who uses a financial test to demonstrate... financial officer of an owner or operator of a facility with a standardized permit who use a financial test... (CONTINUED) STANDARDS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES OPERATING UNDER A STANDARDIZED...

  9. 40 CFR 267.151 - Wording of the instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... owner or operator of a facility with a standardized permit who uses a financial test to demonstrate... financial officer of an owner or operator of a facility with a standardized permit who use a financial test... (CONTINUED) STANDARDS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES OPERATING UNDER A STANDARDIZED...

  10. 40 CFR 267.151 - Wording of the instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... owner or operator of a facility with a standardized permit who uses a financial test to demonstrate... financial officer of an owner or operator of a facility with a standardized permit who use a financial test... (CONTINUED) STANDARDS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES OPERATING UNDER A STANDARDIZED...

  11. 40 CFR 267.151 - Wording of the instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... owner or operator of a facility with a standardized permit who uses a financial test to demonstrate... financial officer of an owner or operator of a facility with a standardized permit who use a financial test... (CONTINUED) STANDARDS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES OPERATING UNDER A STANDARDIZED...

  12. 31 CFR 103.58 - Forfeiture of currency or monetary instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... instruments. 103.58 Section 103.58 Money and Finance: Treasury Regulations Relating to Money and Finance FINANCIAL RECORDKEEPING AND REPORTING OF CURRENCY AND FOREIGN TRANSACTIONS General Provisions § 103.58 Forfeiture of currency or monetary instruments. Any currency or other monetary instruments which are in the...

  13. Right to health: (in) congruence between the legal framework and the health system.

    PubMed

    Mitano, Fernando; Ventura, Carla Aparecida Arena; de Lima, Mônica Cristina Ribeiro Alexandre d'Auria; Balegamire, Juvenal Bazilashe; Palha, Pedro Fredemir

    2016-01-01

    to discuss the right to health, incorporation into the legal instruments and the deployment in practice in the National Health System in Mozambique. this is a documentary analysis of a qualitative nature, which after thorough and interpretative reading of the legal instruments and articles that deal with the right to health, access and universal coverage, resulted in the construction of three empirical categories: instruments of humans rights and their interrelationship with the development of the right to health; the national health system in Mozambique; gaps between theory and practice in the consolidation of the right to health in the country. Mozambique ratified several international and regional legal instruments (of Africa) that deal with the right to health and which are ensured in its Constitution. However, their incorporation into the National Health Service have been limited because it can not provide access and universal coverage to health services in an equitable manner throughout its territorial extension and in the different levels of care. the implementation of the right to health is complex and will require mobilization of the state and political financial, educational, technological, housing, sanitation and management actions, as well as ensuring access to health, and universal coverage.

  14. 22 CFR 217.46 - Financial and employment assistance to students.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... administration of scholarships, fellowships, or other forms of financial assistance established under wills, trusts, bequests, or similar legal instruments that require awards to be made on the basis of factors...

  15. 45 CFR 84.46 - Financial and employment assistance to students.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... administration of scholarships, fellowships, or other forms of financial assistance established under wills, trusts, bequests, or similar legal instruments that require awards to be made on the basis of factors...

  16. 7 CFR 15b.34 - Financial and employment assistance to students.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... administration of scholarships, fellowships, or other forms of financial assistance established under wills, trusts, bequests, or similar legal instruments that require awards to be made on the basis of factors...

  17. Nonlinear complexity of random visibility graph and Lempel-Ziv on multitype range-intensity interacting financial dynamics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Yali; Wang, Jun

    2017-09-01

    In an attempt to investigate the nonlinear complex evolution of financial dynamics, a new financial price model - the multitype range-intensity contact (MRIC) financial model, is developed based on the multitype range-intensity interacting contact system, in which the interaction and transmission of different types of investment attitudes in a stock market are simulated by viruses spreading. Two new random visibility graph (VG) based analyses and Lempel-Ziv complexity (LZC) are applied to study the complex behaviors of return time series and the corresponding random sorted series. The VG method is the complex network theory, and the LZC is a non-parametric measure of complexity reflecting the rate of new pattern generation of a series. In this work, the real stock market indices are considered to be comparatively studied with the simulation data of the proposed model. Further, the numerical empirical study shows the similar complexity behaviors between the model and the real markets, the research confirms that the financial model is reasonable to some extent.

  18. 31 CFR 103.60 - Enforcement authority with respect to transportation of currency or monetary instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... transportation of currency or monetary instruments. 103.60 Section 103.60 Money and Finance: Treasury Regulations Relating to Money and Finance FINANCIAL RECORDKEEPING AND REPORTING OF CURRENCY AND FOREIGN TRANSACTIONS... instruments. (a) If a customs officer has reasonable cause to believe that there is a monetary instrument...

  19. Final Report Regarding the Findings of the Study Group on the Feasibility of Using Alternative Financial Instruments for Determining Lender Yield under the Federal Family Education Loan Program.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    General Accounting Office, Washington, DC.

    The Higher Education Amendments of 1998 required a study of the feasibility of alternative financial instruments for determining lender yields in the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) and called for an evaluation of the 91-day Treasury bill, 30-day and 90-day commercial paper, and the 90-day London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) as…

  20. Nonlinear complexity behaviors of agent-based 3D Potts financial dynamics with random environments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xing, Yani; Wang, Jun

    2018-02-01

    A new microscopic 3D Potts interaction financial price model is established in this work, to investigate the nonlinear complexity behaviors of stock markets. 3D Potts model, which extends the 2D Potts model to three-dimensional, is a cubic lattice model to explain the interaction behavior among the agents. In order to explore the complexity of real financial markets and the 3D Potts financial model, a new random coarse-grained Lempel-Ziv complexity is proposed to certain series, such as the price returns, the price volatilities, and the random time d-returns. Then the composite multiscale entropy (CMSE) method is applied to the intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) and the corresponding shuffled data to study the complexity behaviors. The empirical results indicate that the 3D financial model is feasible.

  1. 42 CFR 411.354 - Financial relationship, compensation, and ownership or investment interest.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... company memberships, as well as loans, bonds, or other financial instruments that are secured with an... this section); (iii) An unsecured loan subordinated to a credit facility (which is a compensation...

  2. 42 CFR 411.354 - Financial relationship, compensation, and ownership or investment interest.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... company memberships, as well as loans, bonds, or other financial instruments that are secured with an... this section); (iii) An unsecured loan subordinated to a credit facility (which is a compensation...

  3. 42 CFR 411.354 - Financial relationship, compensation, and ownership or investment interest.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... company memberships, as well as loans, bonds, or other financial instruments that are secured with an... this section); (iii) An unsecured loan subordinated to a credit facility (which is a compensation...

  4. 10 CFR 600.5 - Selection of award instrument.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... of award instrument. (a) If DOE has administrative discretion in the selection of the award... financial assistance instrument, DOE shall limit involvement between itself and the recipient in the... anticipated that substantial involvement will be necessary between DOE and the recipient during performance of...

  5. 10 CFR 600.5 - Selection of award instrument.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... of award instrument. (a) If DOE has administrative discretion in the selection of the award... financial assistance instrument, DOE shall limit involvement between itself and the recipient in the... anticipated that substantial involvement will be necessary between DOE and the recipient during performance of...

  6. Tailor-made finance versus tailor-made care. Can the state strengthen consumer choice in healthcare by reforming the financial structure of long-term care?

    PubMed

    Grit, K; de Bont, A

    2010-02-01

    Policy instruments based on the working of markets have been introduced to empower consumers of healthcare. However, it is still not easy to become a critical consumer of healthcare. The aim of this study is to analyse the possibilities of the state to strengthen the position of patients with the aid of a new financial regime, such as personal health budgets. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with executives, managers, professionals and client representatives of six long-term care institutions. With the introduction of individual budgets the responsibility for budgetary control has shifted from the organisational level to the individual level in the caregiver-client relationship. Having more luxurious care on offer necessitates a stronger demarcation of regular care because organisations cannot simultaneously offer extra care as part of the standard care package. New financial instruments have an impact on the culture of receiving and giving care. Distributive justice takes on new meaning with the introduction of financial market mechanisms in healthcare; the distributing principle of 'need' is transformed into the principle of 'economic demand'. Financial instruments not only act as a countervailing power against providers insufficiently client-oriented, but are also used by providers to reinforce their own positions vis-à-vis demanding clients. Tailor-made finance is not the same as tailor-made care.

  7. Moneymed: a game to develop management skills in general practice

    PubMed Central

    Essex, B.; Jackson, R. N.

    1981-01-01

    A game has been developed to train people in the financial and administrative skills needed for effective general practice management. These skills cover a wide range of legal, economic, administrative and personnel problems encountered in general practice. Thirty-four trainees and six trainers showed a highly significant improvement in knowledge and problem-solving skills after playing the game. The format and design of the game allow the problem type, complexity and solution to vary and to be readily updated. So far, this seems to be one of the most effective instruments yet developed for learning these skills. Imagesp736-a PMID:7338867

  8. 12 CFR 1805.403 - Authority to sell.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... Banks and Banking COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS FUND, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS PROGRAM Investment Instruments § 1805.403 Authority to sell... authority to enforce the provisions of the Assistance Agreement until the performance goals specified...

  9. 78 FR 16694 - Chemical Security Assessment Tool (CSAT)

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-03-18

    ... information provided. Comments that include trade secrets, confidential commercial or financial information... secrets, confidential commercial or financial information, CVI, SSI, or PCII should be appropriately... Department make the instruments (e.g., Top-Screen, Security Vulnerability Assessment [SVA]/ Alternative...

  10. 78 FR 67464 - Survey of U.S. Ownership of Foreign Securities as of December 31, 2013

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-11-12

    ..., corporation, financial institution, or other entity or instrumentality thereof, including a government... (including selected money market instruments). How To Report: Completed reports can be submitted...

  11. Money matters: Rapid post-earthquake financial decision-making

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Wald, David J.; Franco, Guillermo

    2016-01-01

    Post-earthquake financial decision-making is a realm beyond that of many people. In the immediate aftermath of a damaging earthquake, billions of dollars of relief, recovery, and insurance funds are in the balance through new financial instruments that allow those with resources to hedge against disasters and those at risk to limit their earthquake losses and receive funds for response and recovery.

  12. Financial hardship after traumatic brain injury: a brief scale for family caregivers.

    PubMed

    Sabella, Scott A; Andrzejewski, Joshua H; Wallgren, Alexandrea

    2018-05-02

    Financial hardship is frequently posited as a significant factor influencing family health and adjustment after brain injury, though traditional methods of measurement have shown limited usefulness. The purpose of this study was to adapt and test the utility of a brief scale of financial hardship (BSFH-BI) for use with family caregivers after TBI. The researchers constructed the BSFH-BI using financial well-being items adapted from three survey instruments. The BSFH-BI questionnaire was completed by 136 family caregivers of individuals with TBIs. Scale utility was evaluated through reliability analysis, factor analysis, and correlations with a measure of life satisfaction. The factor analysis revealed that the BSFH-BI had a meaningful two factor structure consisting of items related to (a) meeting essential living expenses and (b) financial changes after the injury. The scale showed high internal consistency (α = 0.92) and moderate negative correlations with life satisfaction (r s  = -0.58). The preliminary findings indicate that the BSFH-BI can be a reliable and valid scale for use with family caregivers after TBI. The authors recommend further study of financial hardship within models of adaptation to TBI using psychometrically validated instruments such as the BSFH-BI.

  13. Algorithmic complexity of real financial markets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mansilla, R.

    2001-12-01

    A new approach to the understanding of complex behavior of financial markets index using tools from thermodynamics and statistical physics is developed. Physical complexity, a quantity rooted in the Kolmogorov-Chaitin theory is applied to binary sequences built up from real time series of financial markets indexes. The study is based on NASDAQ and Mexican IPC data. Different behaviors of this quantity are shown when applied to the intervals of series placed before crashes and to intervals when no financial turbulence is observed. The connection between our results and the efficient market hypothesis is discussed.

  14. 77 FR 33809 - Survey of Foreign Ownership of U.S. Securities as of June 30, 2012

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-06-07

    ... government, and any agency, corporation, financial institution, or other entity or instrumentality thereof... equities, short-term debt securities (including selected money market instruments), and long-term debt...

  15. 78 FR 18678 - Survey of Foreign Ownership of U.S. Securities as of June 30, 2013

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-03-27

    ... government, and any agency, corporation, financial institution, or other entity or instrumentality thereof... equities, short-term debt securities (including selected money market instruments), and long-term debt...

  16. 76 FR 37888 - Survey of Foreign Ownership of U.S. Securities as of June 30, 2011

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-28

    ... government, and any agency, corporation, financial institution, or other entity or instrumentality thereof... equities, short-term debt securities (including selected money market instruments), and long-term debt...

  17. Right to health: (in) congruence between the legal framework and the health system

    PubMed Central

    Mitano, Fernando; Ventura, Carla Aparecida Arena; de Lima, Mônica Cristina Ribeiro Alexandre d'Auria; Balegamire, Juvenal Bazilashe; Palha, Pedro Fredemir

    2016-01-01

    Objective to discuss the right to health, incorporation into the legal instruments and the deployment in practice in the National Health System in Mozambique. Method this is a documentary analysis of a qualitative nature, which after thorough and interpretative reading of the legal instruments and articles that deal with the right to health, access and universal coverage, resulted in the construction of three empirical categories: instruments of humans rights and their interrelationship with the development of the right to health; the national health system in Mozambique; gaps between theory and practice in the consolidation of the right to health in the country. Results Mozambique ratified several international and regional legal instruments (of Africa) that deal with the right to health and which are ensured in its Constitution. However, their incorporation into the National Health Service have been limited because it can not provide access and universal coverage to health services in an equitable manner throughout its territorial extension and in the different levels of care. Conclusions the implementation of the right to health is complex and will require mobilization of the state and political financial, educational, technological, housing, sanitation and management actions, as well as ensuring access to health, and universal coverage. PMID:27027677

  18. Why Ecologists Should Care about Financial Markets.

    PubMed

    Galaz, Victor; Gars, Johan; Moberg, Fredrik; Nykvist, Björn; Repinski, Cecilia

    2015-10-01

    Financial actors such as international banks and investors play an important role in the global economy. This role is shifting due to financial innovations, increased sustainability ambitions from large financial actors, and changes in international commodity markets. These changes are creating new global connections that potentially make financial markets, actors, and instruments important aspects of global environmental change. Despite this, the way financial markets and actors affect ecosystem change in different parts of the world has seldom been elaborated in the literature. We summarize these financial trends, explore how they connect to ecosystems and ecological change in both direct and indirect ways, and elaborate on crucial research gaps. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. The Lichtenberg Financial Decision Screening Scale (LFDSS): A new tool for assessing financial decision making and preventing financial exploitation.

    PubMed

    Lichtenberg, Peter A; Ficker, Lisa; Rahman-Filipiak, Analise; Tatro, Ron; Farrell, Cynthia; Speir, James J; Mall, Sanford J; Simasko, Patrick; Collens, Howard H; Jackman, John Daniel

    2016-01-01

    One of the challenges in preventing the financial exploitation of older adults is that neither criminal justice nor noncriminal justice professionals are equipped to detect capacity deficits. Because decision-making capacity is a cornerstone assessment in cases of financial exploitation, effective instruments for measuring this capacity are essential. We introduce a new screening scale for financial decision making that can be administered to older adults. To explore the scale's implementation and assess construct validity, we conducted a pilot study of 29 older adults seen by APS (Adult Protective Services) workers and 79 seen by other professionals. Case examples are included.

  20. The Lichtenberg Financial Decision Screening Scale (LFDSS): A new tool for assessing financial decision making and preventing financial exploitation

    PubMed Central

    Lichtenberg, P.A.; Howard, H; Simaskp, P.; Mall, S.; Speir, J.; Farrell, C.; Tatro, R; Rahman-Filipiak, A.; Ficker, L.J.

    2016-01-01

    One of the challenges in preventing the financial exploitation of older adults is that neither criminal justice nor noncriminal justice professionals are equipped to detect capacity deficits. Because decision-making capacity is a cornerstone assessment in cases of financial exploitation, effective instruments for measuring this capacity are essential. We introduce a new screening scale for financial decision making that can be administered to older adults. To explore the scale’s implementation and assess construct validity, we conducted a pilot study of 29 older adults seen by APS workers and 79 seen by other professionals. Case examples are included. PMID:27010780

  1. 26 CFR 1.408-6 - Disclosure statements for individual retirement arrangements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... copy of the governing instrument to be used in establishing the account, annuity, or endowment contract. The copy of such governing instrument need not be filled in with financial and other data pertaining... disclosure statement and copy of the governing instrument must be received by the benefited individual at...

  2. 17 CFR 240.3b-14 - Definition of cash management securities activities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... derivative instruments or other financial instruments; (b) Cash management, in connection with any securities... § 240.15a-1 or any non-securities activities that involve eligible OTC derivative instruments or other... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Definition of cash management...

  3. 30 CFR 243.12 - May I substitute a demonstration of financial solvency for a bond posted before the effective...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false May I substitute a demonstration of financial... demonstration of financial solvency for a bond posted before the effective date of this rule? If you appealed an order before June 14, 1999 and you submitted an MMS-specified surety instrument to suspend compliance...

  4. 77 FR 74825 - Information Collection: Federal and Non-Federal Financial Assistant Instruments

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-12-18

    ... recipient's accounting system and financial management capabilities. In addition to FFA, Congress created... addressed to Clark Woolley, USDA Forest Service, Director of Acquisitions Management, 1400 Independence Ave... INFORMATION CONTACT: Clark Woolley, Acquisitions Management, 703-605-4654. Individuals who use...

  5. 75 FR 80895 - Office of the Assistant Secretary for International Affairs; Survey of U.S. Ownership of Foreign...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-12-23

    ... government, and any agency, corporation, financial institution, or other entity or instrumentality thereof... debt securities, and short-term debt securities (including selected money market instruments). How to...

  6. 46 CFR 296.3 - Applications.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... SECURITY PROGRAM (MSP) Introduction § 296.3 Applications. (a) Action by MARAD—Time Deadlines. Applications... or other governing instruments; (4) Maritime related affiliations; (5) Financial data: (i) Provide an audited financial statement or a completed MARAD Form MA-172 dated within 120 days after the close of the...

  7. Artificial neural network intelligent method for prediction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Trifonov, Roumen; Yoshinov, Radoslav; Pavlova, Galya; Tsochev, Georgi

    2017-09-01

    Accounting and financial classification and prediction problems are high challenge and researchers use different methods to solve them. Methods and instruments for short time prediction of financial operations using artificial neural network are considered. The methods, used for prediction of financial data as well as the developed forecasting system with neural network are described in the paper. The architecture of a neural network used four different technical indicators, which are based on the raw data and the current day of the week is presented. The network developed is used for forecasting movement of stock prices one day ahead and consists of an input layer, one hidden layer and an output layer. The training method is algorithm with back propagation of the error. The main advantage of the developed system is self-determination of the optimal topology of neural network, due to which it becomes flexible and more precise The proposed system with neural network is universal and can be applied to various financial instruments using only basic technical indicators as input data.

  8. 75 FR 33885 - Office of International Affairs; Survey of Foreign Ownership of U.S. Securities as of June 30, 2010

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-06-15

    ... any agency, corporation, financial institution, or other entity or instrumentality thereof, including... equities, short-term debt securities (including selected money market instruments), and long-term debt...

  9. 77 FR 65434 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc.; Notice of Filing...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-10-26

    ... Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change To Amend the Definition of ``Money Market Instrument'' in FINRA Rule 6710... ``Money Market Instrument'' in FINRA Rule 6710(o) of the Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (TRACE... proposes to amend the definition of ``Money Market Instrument'' in FINRA Rule 6710(o) for purposes of the...

  10. Gender, academic achievement, and ownership of ATM as predictors of accounting students’ financial literacy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Susanti; Hardini, H. T.

    2018-01-01

    This study examined the relationships between GPA, gender, and ownership of ATM on accounting students’ financial literacy (n = 184). Financial literacy was assessed using a paper-and-pencil objective (multiple choice) test measuring general knowledge of finance, income, money management savings, loans, and investment. Gender and GPA data were obtained from the university records. Regression analysis found that GPA and ownership of ATM were associated with financial literacy, but gender was not. Female students with an ownership of ATM and those with a high GPA were found to be superior to males. The implication of this research is that students are expected to increase their GPA and utilize financial facilities in the form of ownership ATM and other financial instruments so as to increase financial literacy. In addition, the need for financial literacy training from related parties to improve financial literacy for students who have low financial literacy.

  11. Training Social Workers and Human Service Professionals to Address the Complex Financial Needs of Clients

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Frey, Jodi Jacobson; Hopkins, Karen; Osteen, Philip; Callahan, Christine; Hageman, Sally; Ko, Jungyai

    2017-01-01

    In social work and other community-based human services settings, clients often present with complex financial problems. As a need for more formal training is beginning to be addressed, evaluation of existing training is important, and this study evaluates outcomes from the Financial Stability Pathway (FSP) project. Designed to prepare…

  12. Report: Self-Insurance for Companies With Multiple Cleanup Liabilities Presents Financial and Environmental Risks for EPA and the Public

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Report #18-P-0059, December 22, 2017. The EPA's ability to oversee self-insurance instruments is impaired, leaving the agency and taxpayers vulnerable to billions of dollars in financial risk and the public vulnerable to environmental risk.

  13. 39 CFR 762.29 - Endorsement of disbursement postal money orders by payees.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... commercial usage for the negotiation, transfer, or collection of negotiable instruments. (b) Endorsement of disbursement postal money orders by a financial organization under the payee's authorization. When a Disbursement Postal Money Order is credited by a financial organization to the payee's account under his...

  14. Quantifying complexity of financial short-term time series by composite multiscale entropy measure

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Niu, Hongli; Wang, Jun

    2015-05-01

    It is significant to study the complexity of financial time series since the financial market is a complex evolved dynamic system. Multiscale entropy is a prevailing method used to quantify the complexity of a time series. Due to its less reliability of entropy estimation for short-term time series at large time scales, a modification method, the composite multiscale entropy, is applied to the financial market. To qualify its effectiveness, its applications in the synthetic white noise and 1 / f noise with different data lengths are reproduced first in the present paper. Then it is introduced for the first time to make a reliability test with two Chinese stock indices. After conducting on short-time return series, the CMSE method shows the advantages in reducing deviations of entropy estimation and demonstrates more stable and reliable results when compared with the conventional MSE algorithm. Finally, the composite multiscale entropy of six important stock indices from the world financial markets is investigated, and some useful and interesting empirical results are obtained.

  15. The price of complexity in financial networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Battiston, Stefano; Caldarelli, Guido; May, Robert M.; Roukny, Tarik; Stiglitz, Joseph E.

    2016-09-01

    Financial institutions form multilayer networks by engaging in contracts with each other and by holding exposures to common assets. As a result, the default probability of one institution depends on the default probability of all of the other institutions in the network. Here, we show how small errors on the knowledge of the network of contracts can lead to large errors in the probability of systemic defaults. From the point of view of financial regulators, our findings show that the complexity of financial networks may decrease the ability to mitigate systemic risk, and thus it may increase the social cost of financial crises.

  16. The price of complexity in financial networks.

    PubMed

    Battiston, Stefano; Caldarelli, Guido; May, Robert M; Roukny, Tarik; Stiglitz, Joseph E

    2016-09-06

    Financial institutions form multilayer networks by engaging in contracts with each other and by holding exposures to common assets. As a result, the default probability of one institution depends on the default probability of all of the other institutions in the network. Here, we show how small errors on the knowledge of the network of contracts can lead to large errors in the probability of systemic defaults. From the point of view of financial regulators, our findings show that the complexity of financial networks may decrease the ability to mitigate systemic risk, and thus it may increase the social cost of financial crises.

  17. The use of neurodiagnostic technologies in the 21st century neuroscientific revolution.

    PubMed

    Bonner, Anna M

    2015-03-01

    Neuroscience is fascinating, mysterious, and truly medicine's "final frontier" but deciphering its marvels has historically been inhibited by its sheer complexity. The recent escalation of global neuroscientific endeavors and vast financial backing from governments, foundations, and industries, however are changing this perspective. The sequencing of the human genome, development of innovative tools for mapping neuronal connectivities, and enhanced resolution capabilities of imaging techniques have made landmark contributions toward advancing neurotechnologies. Nations all around the world have initiated and launched brain mapping projects on such a profound and financially immense scale that research in 2015 and beyond are highly anticipated to revolutionize medicine and our interaction with the technological world. Although neurodiagnostic technology is not the vanguard of research interest in the scientific community, it will certainly ride the coattails of these new neuroscientific endeavors. And, in turn, these advancements will greatly impact how we diagnose, treat, and care for our patients in the future. Therefore, the purpose of this article is not only to introduce current neuroscientific enterprises, but to also explore some of the most interesting and instrumental findings using neurodiagnostic technology over the past year.

  18. Instrumentational complexity of music genres and why simplicity sells.

    PubMed

    Percino, Gamaliel; Klimek, Peter; Thurner, Stefan

    2014-01-01

    Listening habits are strongly influenced by two opposing aspects, the desire for variety and the demand for uniformity in music. In this work we quantify these two notions in terms of instrumentation and production technologies that are typically involved in crafting popular music. We assign an 'instrumentational complexity value' to each music style. Styles of low instrumentational complexity tend to have generic instrumentations that can also be found in many other styles. Styles of high complexity, on the other hand, are characterized by a large variety of instruments that can only be found in a small number of other styles. To model these results we propose a simple stochastic model that explicitly takes the capabilities of artists into account. We find empirical evidence that individual styles show dramatic changes in their instrumentational complexity over the last fifty years. 'New wave' or 'disco' quickly climbed towards higher complexity in the 70s and fell back to low complexity levels shortly afterwards, whereas styles like 'folk rock' remained at constant high instrumentational complexity levels. We show that changes in the instrumentational complexity of a style are related to its number of sales and to the number of artists contributing to that style. As a style attracts a growing number of artists, its instrumentational variety usually increases. At the same time the instrumentational uniformity of a style decreases, i.e. a unique stylistic and increasingly complex expression pattern emerges. In contrast, album sales of a given style typically increase with decreasing instrumentational complexity. This can be interpreted as music becoming increasingly formulaic in terms of instrumentation once commercial or mainstream success sets in.

  19. Development of Spreadsheet-Based Integrated Transaction Processing Systems and Financial Reporting Systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ariana, I. M.; Bagiada, I. M.

    2018-01-01

    Development of spreadsheet-based integrated transaction processing systems and financial reporting systems is intended to optimize the capabilities of spreadsheet in accounting data processing. The purpose of this study are: 1) to describe the spreadsheet-based integrated transaction processing systems and financial reporting systems; 2) to test its technical and operational feasibility. This study type is research and development. The main steps of study are: 1) needs analysis (need assessment); 2) developing spreadsheet-based integrated transaction processing systems and financial reporting systems; and 3) testing the feasibility of spreadsheet-based integrated transaction processing systems and financial reporting systems. The technical feasibility include the ability of hardware and operating systems to respond the application of accounting, simplicity and ease of use. Operational feasibility include the ability of users using accounting applications, the ability of accounting applications to produce information, and control applications of the accounting applications. The instrument used to assess the technical and operational feasibility of the systems is the expert perception questionnaire. The instrument uses 4 Likert scale, from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree). Data were analyzed using percentage analysis by comparing the number of answers within one (1) item by the number of ideal answer within one (1) item. Spreadsheet-based integrated transaction processing systems and financial reporting systems integrate sales, purchases, and cash transaction processing systems to produce financial reports (statement of profit or loss and other comprehensive income, statement of changes in equity, statement of financial position, and statement of cash flows) and other reports. Spreadsheet-based integrated transaction processing systems and financial reporting systems is feasible from the technical aspects (87.50%) and operational aspects (84.17%).

  20. [Financing problems of capital goods. Part 2: procedure for investment appraisal].

    PubMed

    Clausen, C C; Bauer, M; Saleh, A; Picker, O

    2008-07-01

    In part 1 of this series about problems of financing capital goods the multiple and partly diametric economic effects of financing instruments were presented using the leasing procedure as an example. The result indicated that due to the complexity of these effects the choice of a specific financing instrument requires an individual consideration. Therefore, part 2 of the series introduces the method of dynamic capital budgeting which allows the instruments discussed in part 1 to be compared with each other and helps to evaluate their economic benefits. More precisely this paper focuses on a comparative analysis of the most common alternatives, leasing, credit financing and investment financing by the state. In this context, after having identified the total costs of ownership of anesthesia devices, the final asset values of the three financing instruments can be compared with each other using the method of dynamic capital budgeting. In contrast to the prevailing opinion, the results show that from a purely fiscal perspective leasing anesthesia devices is the most expensive alternative. Given the fact that no financial support is available from the state, the option of credit financing turns out to be the most preferable alternative from a relatively limited pool of possibilities. However, it still remains to be answered whether credit financing can defend this position against further, innovative forms of debt financing (e.g., factoring, asset-backed securities, hedge funds, mezzanine capital, etc.).

  1. 5 CFR 2634.407 - Restrictions on fiduciaries and interested parties.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... ETHICS EXECUTIVE BRANCH FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE, QUALIFIED TRUSTS, AND CERTIFICATES OF DIVESTITURE Qualified... instrument; (2) Acquire any holding: (i) Directly from an interested party without the prior written approval... of the Act, the implementing regulations, the trust instrument, or with other applicable statutes and...

  2. FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board) issues new accounting rules for debt and equity securities.

    PubMed

    Reinstein, A; Bayou, M E

    1994-10-01

    The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) recently issued a new statement that requires all companies to change their methods of accounting for debt and equity securities. Rather than allowing organizations to use a historical cost approach in accounting for such financial instruments, FASB Statement No. 115 requires organizations to adopt a market value approach. The provisions of this statement will affect significantly organizations in the healthcare industry that have large investment portfolios.

  3. Magnetic resonance imaging volume of the angular gyri predicts financial skill deficits in people with amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

    PubMed

    Griffith, H Randall; Stewart, Christopher C; Stoeckel, Luke E; Okonkwo, Ozioma C; den Hollander, Jan A; Martin, Roy C; Belue, Katherine; Copeland, Jacquelynn N; Harrell, Lindy E; Brockington, John C; Clark, David G; Marson, Daniel C

    2010-02-01

    To better understand how brain atrophy in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) as measured using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) volumetrics could affect instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) such as financial abilities. Controlled, matched-sample, cross-sectional analysis regressing MRI volumetrics with financial performance measures. University medical and research center. Thirty-eight people with MCI and 28 older adult controls. MRI volumetric measurement of the hippocampi, angular gyri, precunei, and medial frontal lobes. Participants also completed neuropsychological tests and the Financial Capacity Instrument (FCI). Correlations were performed between FCI scores and MRI volumes in the group with MCI. People with MCI performed significantly below controls on the FCI and had significantly smaller hippocampi. Among people with MCI, performance on the FCI was moderately correlated with angular gyri and precunei volumes. Regression models demonstrated that angular gyrus volumes were predictive of FCI scores. Tests of mediation showed that measures of arithmetic and possibly attention partially mediated the relationship between angular gyrus volume and FCI score. Impaired financial abilities in amnestic MCI correspond with volume of the angular gyri as mediated by arithmetic knowledge. The findings suggest that early neuropathology within the lateral parietal region in MCI leads to a breakdown of cognitive abilities that affect everyday financial skills. The findings have implications for diagnosis and clinical care of people with MCI and AD.

  4. 19 CFR 191.53 - Restructuring of claims.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ..., financial, accounting and manufacturing records maintained are significantly different); (3) Complexities caused by multiple manufacturing locations; (4) Complexities caused by difficulty in adjusting accounting and inventory records (for example, records maintained—financial or accounting—are significantly...

  5. Network Financial Support and Conflict as Predictors of Depressive Symptoms among a Highly Disadvantaged Population

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Knowlton, Amy R.; Latkin, Carl A.

    2007-01-01

    The study examined multiple dimensions of social support as predictors of depressive symptoms among a highly vulnerable population. Social network analysis was used to assess perceived and enacted dimensions of support (emotional, financial, instrumental), network conflict, closeness, and composition. Participants were 393 current and former…

  6. 75 FR 3281 - Regulation of Off-Exchange Retail Foreign Exchange Transactions and Intermediaries

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-01-20

    ... of the banks and other sophisticated institutions that ordinarily trade in financial instruments.\\9..., 519 U.S. 465, 469 (1997), the U.S. Supreme Court held that foreign currency options were... institution; (2) a registered broker/ dealer (``B-D'') or FCM; (3) an insurance company; (4) a financial...

  7. Instrumentational Complexity of Music Genres and Why Simplicity Sells

    PubMed Central

    Percino, Gamaliel; Klimek, Peter; Thurner, Stefan

    2014-01-01

    Listening habits are strongly influenced by two opposing aspects, the desire for variety and the demand for uniformity in music. In this work we quantify these two notions in terms of instrumentation and production technologies that are typically involved in crafting popular music. We assign an ‘instrumentational complexity value’ to each music style. Styles of low instrumentational complexity tend to have generic instrumentations that can also be found in many other styles. Styles of high complexity, on the other hand, are characterized by a large variety of instruments that can only be found in a small number of other styles. To model these results we propose a simple stochastic model that explicitly takes the capabilities of artists into account. We find empirical evidence that individual styles show dramatic changes in their instrumentational complexity over the last fifty years. ‘New wave’ or ‘disco’ quickly climbed towards higher complexity in the 70s and fell back to low complexity levels shortly afterwards, whereas styles like ‘folk rock’ remained at constant high instrumentational complexity levels. We show that changes in the instrumentational complexity of a style are related to its number of sales and to the number of artists contributing to that style. As a style attracts a growing number of artists, its instrumentational variety usually increases. At the same time the instrumentational uniformity of a style decreases, i.e. a unique stylistic and increasingly complex expression pattern emerges. In contrast, album sales of a given style typically increase with decreasing instrumentational complexity. This can be interpreted as music becoming increasingly formulaic in terms of instrumentation once commercial or mainstream success sets in. PMID:25551631

  8. The price of complexity in financial networks

    PubMed Central

    May, Robert M.; Roukny, Tarik; Stiglitz, Joseph E.

    2016-01-01

    Financial institutions form multilayer networks by engaging in contracts with each other and by holding exposures to common assets. As a result, the default probability of one institution depends on the default probability of all of the other institutions in the network. Here, we show how small errors on the knowledge of the network of contracts can lead to large errors in the probability of systemic defaults. From the point of view of financial regulators, our findings show that the complexity of financial networks may decrease the ability to mitigate systemic risk, and thus it may increase the social cost of financial crises. PMID:27555583

  9. 30 CFR 208.11 - Surety requirements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... financial institution book-entry certificate of deposit. (d) The “MMS-specified surety instrument” shall be..., prior to execution of the contract, shall furnish an “MMS-specified surety instrument,” in an amount... surety instrument when necessary to protect the Government's interest or may allow the purchaser to...

  10. A Person-Centered Approach to Financial Capacity Assessment: Preliminary Development of a New Rating Scale

    PubMed Central

    Lichtenberg, Peter A.; Stoltman, Jonathan; Ficker, Lisa J.; Iris, Madelyn; Mast, Benjamin

    2014-01-01

    Financial exploitation and financial capacity issues often overlap when a gerontologist assesses whether an older adult’s financial decision is an autonomous, capable choice. Our goal is to describe a new conceptual model for assessing financial decisions using principles of person-centered approaches and to introduce a new instrument, the Lichtenberg Financial Decision Rating Scale (LFDRS). We created a conceptual model, convened meetings of experts from various disciplines to critique the model and provide input on content and structure, and select final items. We then videotaped administration of the LFDRS to five older adults and had 10 experts provide independent ratings. The LFDRS demonstrated good to excellent inter-rater agreement. The LFDRS is a new tool that allows gerontologists to systematically gather information about a specific financial decision and the decisional abilities in question. PMID:25866438

  11. A Person-Centered Approach to Financial Capacity Assessment: Preliminary Development of a New Rating Scale.

    PubMed

    Lichtenberg, Peter A; Stoltman, Jonathan; Ficker, Lisa J; Iris, Madelyn; Mast, Benjamin

    2015-01-01

    Financial exploitation and financial capacity issues often overlap when a gerontologist assesses whether an older adult's financial decision is an autonomous, capable choice. Our goal is to describe a new conceptual model for assessing financial decisions using principles of person-centered approaches and to introduce a new instrument, the Lichtenberg Financial Decision Rating Scale (LFDRS). We created a conceptual model, convened meetings of experts from various disciplines to critique the model and provide input on content and structure, and select final items. We then videotaped administration of the LFDRS to five older adults and had 10 experts provide independent ratings. The LFDRS demonstrated good to excellent inter-rater agreement. The LFDRS is a new tool that allows gerontologists to systematically gather information about a specific financial decision and the decisional abilities in question.

  12. Managing the financial risk of low water levels in Great Lakes with index-based contracts

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Meyer, E.; Characklis, G. W.; Brown, C. M.; Moody, P.

    2014-12-01

    Low water levels in the Great Lakes have recently had significant financial impacts on the region's commercial shipping, responsible for transporting millions of dollars' worth of bulk goods each year. Low lake levels can significantly affect shipping firms, as cargo capacity is a function of draft, or the distance between water level and the ship's bottom. Draft increases with weight, and lower lake levels force ships to reduce cargo to prevent running aground in shallow harbors, directly impacting the finances of shipping companies. Risk transfer instruments may provide adaptable, yet unexplored, alternatives for managing these financial risks, at significantly less expense than more traditional solutions (e.g., dredging). Index-based financial instruments can be particularly attractive as contract payouts are directly linked to well-defined transparent metrics (e.g., lake levels), eliminating the need for subjective adjustors, as well as concerns over moral hazard. In developing such instruments, a major challenge is identifying an index that is well correlated with financial losses, and thus a contract that reliably pays out when losses are experienced (low basis risk). In this work, a relationship between lake levels and shipping revenues is developed, and actuarial analyses of the frequency and magnitude of revenue losses is completed using this relationship and synthetic water level data. This analysis is used to develop several types of index-based contracts. A standardized suite of binary contracts is developed, with each indexed to lake levels and priced according to predefined thresholds. These are combined to form portfolios with different objectives (e.g. options, collars), with optimal portfolio structure and length of coverage determined by limiting basis risk and contract cost, using simulations over the historic dataset. Results suggest that portfolios of these binary contracts can substantially reduce the risk of financial losses during periods of low lake level at a cost of only 1-3% of total revenues.

  13. Financial Toxicity and Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)—Health Professional Version

    Cancer.gov

    Financial Toxicity and Cancer Treatment discusses the increased financial distress that cancer patients and survivors uniquely experience. Get detailed information about the complex relationship between cancer and financial toxicity along with potential interventions in this clinician summary.

  14. Multivariate multiscale entropy of financial markets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lu, Yunfan; Wang, Jun

    2017-11-01

    In current process of quantifying the dynamical properties of the complex phenomena in financial market system, the multivariate financial time series are widely concerned. In this work, considering the shortcomings and limitations of univariate multiscale entropy in analyzing the multivariate time series, the multivariate multiscale sample entropy (MMSE), which can evaluate the complexity in multiple data channels over different timescales, is applied to quantify the complexity of financial markets. Its effectiveness and advantages have been detected with numerical simulations with two well-known synthetic noise signals. For the first time, the complexity of four generated trivariate return series for each stock trading hour in China stock markets is quantified thanks to the interdisciplinary application of this method. We find that the complexity of trivariate return series in each hour show a significant decreasing trend with the stock trading time progressing. Further, the shuffled multivariate return series and the absolute multivariate return series are also analyzed. As another new attempt, quantifying the complexity of global stock markets (Asia, Europe and America) is carried out by analyzing the multivariate returns from them. Finally we utilize the multivariate multiscale entropy to assess the relative complexity of normalized multivariate return volatility series with different degrees.

  15. New approach of financial volatility duration dynamics by stochastic finite-range interacting voter system.

    PubMed

    Wang, Guochao; Wang, Jun

    2017-01-01

    We make an approach on investigating the fluctuation behaviors of financial volatility duration dynamics. A new concept of volatility two-component range intensity (VTRI) is developed, which constitutes the maximal variation range of volatility intensity and shortest passage time of duration, and can quantify the investment risk in financial markets. In an attempt to study and describe the nonlinear complex properties of VTRI, a random agent-based financial price model is developed by the finite-range interacting biased voter system. The autocorrelation behaviors and the power-law scaling behaviors of return time series and VTRI series are investigated. Then, the complexity of VTRI series of the real markets and the proposed model is analyzed by Fuzzy entropy (FuzzyEn) and Lempel-Ziv complexity. In this process, we apply the cross-Fuzzy entropy (C-FuzzyEn) to study the asynchrony of pairs of VTRI series. The empirical results reveal that the proposed model has the similar complex behaviors with the actual markets and indicate that the proposed stock VTRI series analysis and the financial model are meaningful and feasible to some extent.

  16. New approach of financial volatility duration dynamics by stochastic finite-range interacting voter system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Guochao; Wang, Jun

    2017-01-01

    We make an approach on investigating the fluctuation behaviors of financial volatility duration dynamics. A new concept of volatility two-component range intensity (VTRI) is developed, which constitutes the maximal variation range of volatility intensity and shortest passage time of duration, and can quantify the investment risk in financial markets. In an attempt to study and describe the nonlinear complex properties of VTRI, a random agent-based financial price model is developed by the finite-range interacting biased voter system. The autocorrelation behaviors and the power-law scaling behaviors of return time series and VTRI series are investigated. Then, the complexity of VTRI series of the real markets and the proposed model is analyzed by Fuzzy entropy (FuzzyEn) and Lempel-Ziv complexity. In this process, we apply the cross-Fuzzy entropy (C-FuzzyEn) to study the asynchrony of pairs of VTRI series. The empirical results reveal that the proposed model has the similar complex behaviors with the actual markets and indicate that the proposed stock VTRI series analysis and the financial model are meaningful and feasible to some extent.

  17. Fiscal Reality After the 2008 Financial Crisis

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-03-24

    mortgages, the CDOs were one step removed from these cash flows . 9 Other financial instruments followed that were two or more steps removed from the...original source of the cash flows . Sophisticated math is also a key to creating credit default swaps (CDSs), a form of financial derivative. These...LIEUTENANT COLONEL STEVEN P. MARCH United States Army Reserve Se ni or S er vi ce C ol le ge F el lo w sh ip Ci vi lia n Re se ar ch P ro je

  18. 40 CFR 261.151 - Wording of the instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 27 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Wording of the instruments. 261.151 Section 261.151 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES (CONTINUED) IDENTIFICATION AND LISTING OF HAZARDOUS WASTE Financial Requirements for Management of Excluded Hazardous Secondary Materials § 261.151...

  19. 40 CFR 264.151 - Wording of the instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 26 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Wording of the instruments. 264.151 Section 264.151 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES (CONTINUED) STANDARDS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE TREATMENT, STORAGE, AND DISPOSAL FACILITIES Financial Requirements § 264.151 Wording o...

  20. 40 CFR 261.151 - Wording of the instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 26 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Wording of the instruments. 261.151 Section 261.151 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES (CONTINUED) IDENTIFICATION AND LISTING OF HAZARDOUS WASTE Financial Requirements for Management of Excluded Hazardous Secondary Materials § 261.151...

  1. 12 CFR Appendix A to Part 325 - Statement of Policy on Risk-Based Capital

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... qualifying and excess capital, calculate risk-weighted assets, calculate market risk equivalent assets and... and control financial and operating risks, including the risk presented by concentrations of credit... instrument approaches maturity, the instrument begins to take on charcteristics of a short-term obligation...

  2. Risk Factors: Colleges Look to Manage Threats Ranging from Fraud to Data Breaches

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wills, Lisa M.

    2011-01-01

    When an individual hears the term risk, he/she usually thinks of the financial institutions whose mismanagement of risk was instrumental in causing the 2008 financial crash. But all organizations, including colleges and universities, face various types and levels of risk, which threaten to harm the institutions and their ability to fulfill their…

  3. 75 FR 31826 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; Chicago Board Options Exchange, Incorporated; Order Approving...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-06-04

    ... financial products such as securities index options, index futures, and options on index futures to be... futures, options on S&P 500 futures or any other instrument that tracks the performance of or is based on... 24.4.05(A). These definitions would allow financial products such as ETF options, index futures...

  4. 40 CFR 261.151 - Wording of the instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... assurance for closure or post-closure care is demonstrated through the financial test specified in subpart H... parts 264 and 265. The current closure and/or post-closure cost estimates covered by such a test are... financial test specified in subpart H of 40 CFR parts 264 and 265. The current closure and/or post-closure...

  5. Derisking Renewable Energy Investment. A Framework to Support Policymakers in Selecting Public Instruments to Promote Renewable Energy Investment in Developing Countries

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Waissbein, Oliver; Glemarec, Yannick; Bayraktar, Hande

    2013-03-15

    This report introduces an innovative framework to assist policymakers to quantitatively compare the impact of different public instruments to promote renewable energy. The report identifies the need to reduce the high financing costs for renewable energy in developing countries as an important task for policymakers acting today. The framework is structured in four stages: (i) risk environment, (ii) public instruments, (iii) levelised cost and (iv) evaluation. To illustrate how the framework can support decision-making in practice, the report presents findings from illustrative case studies in four developing countries. It then draws on these results to discuss possible directions for enhancingmore » public interventions to scale-up renewable energy investment. UNDP is also releasing a financial tool for policymakers to accompany the framework. The financial tool is available for download on the UNDP website.« less

  6. Research on energy stock market associated network structure based on financial indicators

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xi, Xian; An, Haizhong

    2018-01-01

    A financial market is a complex system consisting of many interacting units. In general, due to the various types of information exchange within the industry, there is a relationship between the stocks that can reveal their clear structural characteristics. Complex network methods are powerful tools for studying the internal structure and function of the stock market, which allows us to better understand the stock market. Applying complex network methodology, a stock associated network model based on financial indicators is created. Accordingly, we set threshold value and use modularity to detect the community network, and we analyze the network structure and community cluster characteristics of different threshold situations. The study finds that the threshold value of 0.7 is the abrupt change point of the network. At the same time, as the threshold value increases, the independence of the community strengthens. This study provides a method of researching stock market based on the financial indicators, exploring the structural similarity of financial indicators of stocks. Also, it provides guidance for investment and corporate financial management.

  7. Financial toxicity in cancer care.

    PubMed

    O'Connor, Jeremy M; Kircher, Sheetal M; de Souza, Jonas A

    2016-03-01

    The cost of cancer care is increasing, with important implications for the delivery of high-quality, patent-centered care. In the clinical setting, patents and physicians express a desire to discuss out-of-pocket costs. Nevertheless, both groups feel inadequately prepared to participate in these discussions, and perhaps not surprisingly, the integration of these discussions into clinical practice seems to be the exception rather than the rule. The resulting neglect of financial issues has the potential to cause unnecessary suffering for oncology patents. In this paper, we review the most relevant literature on financial toxicity in cancer care. In addition, we discuss potential predictors of financial toxicity, and the recent development of instruments to help clinicians and researchers quantify financial burden. ©2016 Frontline Medical Communications.

  8. Complexity analysis based on generalized deviation for financial markets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Chao; Shang, Pengjian

    2018-03-01

    In this paper, a new modified method is proposed as a measure to investigate the correlation between past price and future volatility for financial time series, known as the complexity analysis based on generalized deviation. In comparison with the former retarded volatility model, the new approach is both simple and computationally efficient. The method based on the generalized deviation function presents us an exhaustive way showing the quantization of the financial market rules. Robustness of this method is verified by numerical experiments with both artificial and financial time series. Results show that the generalized deviation complexity analysis method not only identifies the volatility of financial time series, but provides a comprehensive way distinguishing the different characteristics between stock indices and individual stocks. Exponential functions can be used to successfully fit the volatility curves and quantify the changes of complexity for stock market data. Then we study the influence for negative domain of deviation coefficient and differences during the volatile periods and calm periods. after the data analysis of the experimental model, we found that the generalized deviation model has definite advantages in exploring the relationship between the historical returns and future volatility.

  9. Coherent Patterns in Nuclei and in Financial Markets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    DroŻdŻ, S.; Kwapień, J.; Speth, J.

    2010-07-01

    In the area of traditional physics the atomic nucleus belongs to the most complex systems. It involves essentially all elements that characterize complexity including the most distinctive one whose essence is a permanent coexistence of coherent patterns and of randomness. From a more interdisciplinary perspective, these are the financial markets that represent an extreme complexity. Here, based on the matrix formalism, we set some parallels between several characteristics of complexity in the above two systems. We, in particular, refer to the concept—historically originating from nuclear physics considerations—of the random matrix theory and demonstrate its utility in quantifying characteristics of the coexistence of chaos and collectivity also for the financial markets. In this later case we show examples that illustrate mapping of the matrix formulation into the concepts originating from the graph theory. Finally, attention is drawn to some novel aspects of the financial coherence which opens room for speculation if analogous effects can be detected in the atomic nuclei or in other strongly interacting Fermi systems.

  10. 12 CFR Appendix B to Part 225 - Capital Adequacy Guidelines for Bank Holding Companies and State Member Banks: Leverage Measure

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... uncertainty and from the possibility that, in the event an organization experiences financial difficulties... instruments to qualify as primary capital. —Allowance for possible loan and lease losses (exclusive of... dividends or interest payments in the event of a deterioration in the financial condition of the issuer. The...

  11. Accountability, Fiscal Management, and Student Achievement in East St. Louis, Illinois 1994-2006: Implications for Urban Educational Reform Policy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    O'Malley, Michael P.; Roseboro, Donyell L.; Hunt, John

    2012-01-01

    This instrumental case study reviews the 1994-2004 period of state financial oversight in East St. Louis, Illinois School District 189, with a secondary review of the initial years of NCLB implementation. Although the oversight panel's fiscal management did generate financial stability, case findings indicate that its accountability processes did…

  12. "It's Not All About Money": Toward a More Comprehensive Understanding of Financial Abuse in the Context of VAW.

    PubMed

    Eriksson, Marie; Ulmestig, Rickard

    2017-12-01

    Men's violence against women (VAW) is multifaceted and complex. Besides physical, psychological, and sexual violence, women subjected to VAW often suffer from economic hardship and financial abuse. Financial abuse involves different tactics used to exercise power and gain control over partners. Experiences of financial abuse make it difficult for women to leave an abusive partner and become self-sufficient. From an intersectional perspective, applying the concept of the continuum of violence, the aim of this article is to develop a more comprehensive understanding of how women subjected to men's violence in intimate relationships experience the complexity of financial abuse in their lives, in the context of VAW. Based on 19 in-depth interviews with women surviving domestic violence, the study describes how intertwined women's experiences of financial abuse are with other forms of abuse, influencing each other, simultaneously experienced as a distinct form of abuse with severe and longstanding consequences. Women in the study describe how men's abuse affects them financially, causing poverty and affecting their ability to have a reasonable economic standard. Financial abuse also causes women ill health, and damages their self-esteem and ability to work, associate, and engage in social life. The interviewed women describe how experiences of financial abuse continue across time, from their past into their present situation and molding beliefs about the future. According to the interviews, financial abuse in private life sometimes continues into the public sphere, reproduced by social workers mimicking patterns of ex-partners' abuse. Bringing out a more comprehensive understanding of the dynamic continuum of financial abuse, our results deepen knowledge about the complexity of VAW in women's lives, and thereby are important in processes of making victims of violence survivors of violence.

  13. New approaches in agent-based modeling of complex financial systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Ting-Ting; Zheng, Bo; Li, Yan; Jiang, Xiong-Fei

    2017-12-01

    Agent-based modeling is a powerful simulation technique to understand the collective behavior and microscopic interaction in complex financial systems. Recently, the concept for determining the key parameters of agent-based models from empirical data instead of setting them artificially was suggested. We first review several agent-based models and the new approaches to determine the key model parameters from historical market data. Based on the agents' behaviors with heterogeneous personal preferences and interactions, these models are successful in explaining the microscopic origination of the temporal and spatial correlations of financial markets. We then present a novel paradigm combining big-data analysis with agent-based modeling. Specifically, from internet query and stock market data, we extract the information driving forces and develop an agent-based model to simulate the dynamic behaviors of complex financial systems.

  14. 75 FR 17847 - National Financial Literacy Month, 2010

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-04-08

    ... complex. This has left too many Americans behind, unable to build a secure financial future for themselves and their families. For many, financial literacy can mean economic prosperity and protection against... financial products to conceal risks and escape scrutiny. At the same time, many Americans took out loans...

  15. Financial Literacy of High School Students: Evidence from Germany

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Erner, Carsten; Goedde-Menke, Michael; Oberste, Michael

    2016-01-01

    After graduating high school, underage individuals soon face ever more complex and important financial decisions. Pivotal to the development of improved financial literacy programs is a comprehensive examination of financial literacy levels and potentially related factors. The authors conducted a survey among German high school students and found…

  16. Timeline historical review of income and financial transactions: a reliable assessment of personal finances.

    PubMed

    Black, Anne C; Serowik, Kristin L; Ablondi, Karen M; Rosen, Marc I

    2013-01-01

    The need for accurate and reliable information about income and resources available to individuals with psychiatric disabilities is critical for the assessment of need and evaluation of programs designed to alleviate financial hardship or affect finance allocation. Measurement of finances is ubiquitous in studies of economics, poverty, and social services. However, evidence has demonstrated that these measures often contain error. We compare the 1-week test-retest reliability of income and finance data from 24 adult psychiatric outpatients using assessment-as-usual (AAU) and a new instrument, the Timeline Historical Review of Income and Financial Transactions (THRIFT). Reliability estimates obtained with the THRIFT for Income (0.77), Expenses (0.91), and Debt (0.99) domains were significantly better than those obtained with AAU. Reliability estimates for Balance did not differ. THRIFT reduced measurement error and provided more reliable information than AAU for assessment of personal finances in psychiatric patients receiving Social Security benefits. The instrument also may be useful with other low-income groups.

  17. 7 CFR 3575.52 - Processing.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... applicable); (iii) Supporting documentation necessary to make an eligibility determination such as financial statements, audits, copies of organizational documents, existing debt instruments, etc.; and (iv...

  18. Insurance of risks as the instrument of protection of investments into high-rise construction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vasilyeva, Elena; Okrepilov, Vladimir

    2018-03-01

    Insurance now is one of the important sectors for both world, and national financial systems. The mechanism of insurance of risks plays an essential role in the process of construction of high-rise buildings and as well as other unique objects. The author argues that insurance is categorically necessary because of the following reasons: huge scale and complexity of high-rise projects and great expenses, the use of unsafe sites for construction, great possible losses in case of the project, important role for the city infrastructure, numerous organizations, involved into the process of construction and maintenance, multypurpose use of the building. The features of insurance in the field of high-rise construction is also considered in the article. The prerequisites, confirming the loss occurrence are named.

  19. Internet use and decision making in community-based older adults

    PubMed Central

    James, Bryan D.; Boyle, Patricia A.; Yu, Lei; Bennett, David A.

    2013-01-01

    Use of the internet may provide tools and resources for better decision making, yet little is known about the association of internet use with decision making in older persons. We examined this relationship in 661 community-dwelling older persons without dementia from the Rush Memory and Aging Project, an ongoing longitudinal study of aging. Participants were asked to report if they had access to the internet and how frequently they used the internet and email. A 12-item instrument was used to assess financial and healthcare decision making using materials designed to approximate those used in real world settings. Items were summed to yield a total decision making score. Associations were tested via linear regression models adjusted for age, sex, race, education, and a measure of global cognitive function. Secondary models further adjusted for income, depression, loneliness, social networks, social support, chronic medical conditions, instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), life space size, and health and financial literacy. Interaction terms were used to test for effect modification. Almost 70% of participants had access to the internet, and of those with access, 55% used the internet at least several times a week. Higher frequency of internet use was associated with better financial and healthcare decision making (β = 0.11, p = 0.002). The association persisted in a fully adjusted model (β = 0.08, p = 0.024). Interaction models indicated that higher frequency of internet use attenuated the relationships of older age, poorer cognitive function, and lower levels of health and financial literacy with poorer healthcare and financial decision making. These findings indicate that internet use is associated with better health and financial decision making in older persons. Future research is required to understand whether promoting the use of the internet can produce improvements in healthcare and financial decision making. PMID:24578696

  20. Health sector reform in Brazil: a case study of inequity.

    PubMed

    Almeida, C; Travassos, C; Porto, S; Labra, M E

    2000-01-01

    Health sector reform in Brazil built the Unified Health System according to a dense body of administrative instruments for organizing decentralized service networks and institutionalizing a complex decision-making arena. This article focuses on the equity in health care services. Equity is defined as a principle governing distributive functions designed to reduce or offset socially unjust inequalities, and it is applied to evaluate the distribution of financial resources and the use of health services. Even though in the Constitution the term "equity" refers to equal opportunity of access for equal needs, the implemented policies have not guaranteed these rights. Underfunding, fiscal stress, and lack of priorities for the sector have contributed to a progressive deterioration of health care services, with continuing regressive tax collection and unequal distribution of financial resources among regions. The data suggest that despite regulatory measures to increase efficiency and reduce inequalities, delivery of health care services remains extremely unequal across the country. People in lower income groups experience more difficulties in getting access to health services. Utilization rates vary greatly by type of service among income groups, positions in the labor market, and levels of education.

  1. Dangers of neglecting non-financial conflicts of interest in health and medicine.

    PubMed

    Wiersma, Miriam; Kerridge, Ian; Lipworth, Wendy

    2018-05-01

    Non-financial interests, and the conflicts of interest that may result from them, are frequently overlooked in biomedicine. This is partly due to the complex and varied nature of these interests, and the limited evidence available regarding their prevalence and impact on biomedical research and clinical practice. We suggest that there are no meaningful conceptual distinctions, and few practical differences, between financial and non-financial conflicts of interest, and accordingly, that both require careful consideration. Further, a better understanding of the complexities of non-financial conflicts of interest, and their entanglement with financial conflicts of interest, may assist in the development of a more sophisticated approach to all forms of conflicts of interest. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  2. Extracting physics through deep data analysis

    DOE PAGES

    Strelcov, Evgheni; Belianinov, Alex; Sumpter, Bobby G.; ...

    2014-10-31

    In recent decades humankind has become very apt at generating and recording enormous amounts of data, ranging from tweets and selfies on social networks, to financial transactions in banks and stores. The scientific community has not shunned this popular trend and now routinely produces hundreds of petabytes of data per year [1]. This is because materials and phenomena in the world around us exist in an interweaved, entangled form, which gives rise to the complexity of the Universe and determines the size and complexity of the data that describes it. Science and technology endeavor to unravel this convolution and extractmore » pure components from the mixtures, be it in ore mining and metal smelting or separation of thermal conductivity into the electronic and phononic contributions. Decomposition of complex behavior is the key to understanding manifestations of Nature. However, tools to carry out this task are not readily available, and therefore, intricate systems often remain well-characterized experimentally, but still not well understood due to intricacy of the collected data. Lastly, in materials science, understanding and ultimately designing new materials with complex properties will require the ability to integrate and analyze data from multiple instruments, including computational models, designed to probe complementary ranges of space, time, and energy.« less

  3. Complex Knowledge Mastery: Some Propositions.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Keller, Joyce A.; Schallert, Diane L.

    The proposition that the mastery of complex tasks embodies several components was studied for 236 students in an undergraduate introductory financial accounting course. A new curriculum was developed for the course that included in-depth exposure to the actual financial statements of a company and the understanding of the structural relationships…

  4. The Influence of Instrumentality Beliefs on Intrinsic Motivation: A Study of High-Achieving Adolescents

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kover, David J.; Worrell, Frank C.

    2010-01-01

    For many students, school is a forward-looking endeavor, with implications for future educational opportunity, job prospects, and financial success. How does believing that school is linked to a desired future outcome--known as an instrumentality belief--influence motivation? A number of studies have indicated that rewards, or other concerns that…

  5. A Comparative Analysis of New Governance Instruments in the Transnational Educational Space: A Shift to Knowledge-Based Instruments?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ioannidou, Alexandra

    2007-01-01

    In recent years, the ongoing development towards a knowledge-based society--associated with globalization, an aging population, new technologies and organizational changes--has led to a more intensive analysis of education and learning throughout life with regard to quantitative, qualitative and financial aspects. In this framework, education…

  6. The Effectiveness of Youth Financial Education: A Review of the Literature

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCormick, Martha Henn

    2008-01-01

    Comprehensive strategies for educating children and youth so they can become effective managers of money and successful navigators of a complex financial marketplace have not yet emerged from the dialogue and debate surrounding financial education. A rich and growing body of research about adult financial education exists, but youth financial…

  7. 30 CFR 285.528 - May I use a third-party guaranty to meet the financial assurance requirement for lease or grant...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false May I use a third-party guaranty to meet the... MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY ALTERNATE USES OF... Requirements for Financial Assurance Instruments § 285.528 May I use a third-party guaranty to meet the...

  8. Education and Knowledge in the Use of Financial Products and Services in Bachelor's Degree Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    García-Santillán, Arturo; Moreno-García, Elena; Molchanova, Violetta S.

    2017-01-01

    This study seeks to determine a university student's knowledge and culture in relation to money; the way they plan their budget, their economic independence and consumer habits, the level of debt, and the use of financial services and products. The instrument designed by Aravena-Collao and Mendoza-Letelier (2010) was used for the query among the…

  9. Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus modulates sensitivity to decision outcome value in Parkinson’s disease

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Seymour, Ben; Barbe, Michael; Dayan, Peter; Shiner, Tamara; Dolan, Ray; Fink, Gereon R.

    2016-09-01

    Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus in Parkinson’s disease is known to cause a subtle but important adverse impact on behaviour, with impulsivity its most widely reported manifestation. However, precisely which computational components of the decision process are modulated is not fully understood. Here we probe a number of distinct subprocesses, including temporal discount, outcome utility, instrumental learning rate, instrumental outcome sensitivity, reward-loss trade-offs, and perseveration. We tested 22 Parkinson’s Disease patients both on and off subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS), while they performed an instrumental learning task involving financial rewards and losses, and an inter-temporal choice task for financial rewards. We found that instrumental learning performance was significantly worse following stimulation, due to modulation of instrumental outcome sensitivity. Specifically, patients became less sensitive to decision values for both rewards and losses, but without any change to the learning rate or reward-loss trade-offs. However, we found no evidence that DBS modulated different components of temporal impulsivity. In conclusion, our results implicate the subthalamic nucleus in a modulation of outcome value in experience-based learning and decision-making in Parkinson’s disease, suggesting a more pervasive role of the subthalamic nucleus in the control of human decision-making than previously thought.

  10. Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus modulates sensitivity to decision outcome value in Parkinson’s disease

    PubMed Central

    Seymour, Ben; Barbe, Michael; Dayan, Peter; Shiner, Tamara; Dolan, Ray; Fink, Gereon R.

    2016-01-01

    Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus in Parkinson’s disease is known to cause a subtle but important adverse impact on behaviour, with impulsivity its most widely reported manifestation. However, precisely which computational components of the decision process are modulated is not fully understood. Here we probe a number of distinct subprocesses, including temporal discount, outcome utility, instrumental learning rate, instrumental outcome sensitivity, reward-loss trade-offs, and perseveration. We tested 22 Parkinson’s Disease patients both on and off subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS), while they performed an instrumental learning task involving financial rewards and losses, and an inter-temporal choice task for financial rewards. We found that instrumental learning performance was significantly worse following stimulation, due to modulation of instrumental outcome sensitivity. Specifically, patients became less sensitive to decision values for both rewards and losses, but without any change to the learning rate or reward-loss trade-offs. However, we found no evidence that DBS modulated different components of temporal impulsivity. In conclusion, our results implicate the subthalamic nucleus in a modulation of outcome value in experience-based learning and decision-making in Parkinson’s disease, suggesting a more pervasive role of the subthalamic nucleus in the control of human decision-making than previously thought. PMID:27624437

  11. The use of interest rate swaps by nonprofit organizations: evidence from nonprofit health care providers.

    PubMed

    Stewart, Louis J; Trussel, John

    2006-01-01

    Although the use of derivatives, particularly interest rate swaps, has grown explosively over the past decade, derivative financial instrument use by nonprofits has received only limited attention in the research literature. Because little is known about the risk management activities of nonprofits, the impact of these instruments on the ability of nonprofits to raise capital may have significant public policy implications. The primary motivation of this study is to determine the types of derivatives used by nonprofits and estimate the frequency of their use among these organizations. Our study also extends contemporary finance theory by an empirical examination of the motivation for interest rate swap usage among nonprofits. Our empirical data came from 193 large nonprofit health care providers that issued debt to the public between 2000 and 2003. We used a univariate analysis and a multivariate analysis relying on logistic regression models to test alternative explanations of interest rate swaps usage by nonprofits, finding that more than 45 percent of our sample, 88 organizations, used interest rate swaps with an aggregate notional value in excess of $8.3 billion. Our empirical tests indicate the primary motive for nonprofits to use interest rate derivatives is to hedge their exposure to interest rate risk. Although these derivatives are a useful risk management tool, under conditions of falling bond market interest rates these derivatives may also expose a nonprofit swap user to the risk of a material unscheduled termination payment. Finally, we found considerable diversity in the informativeness of footnote disclosure among sample organizations that used interest rate swaps. Many nonprofits did not disclose these risks in their financial statements. In conclusion, we find financial managers in large nonprofits commonly use derivative financial instruments as risk management tools, but the use of interest rate swaps by nonprofits may expose them to other risks that are not adequately disclosed in their financial statements.

  12. Dynamics of analyst forecasts and emergence of complexity: Role of information disparity

    PubMed Central

    Ahn, Kwangwon

    2017-01-01

    We report complex phenomena arising among financial analysts, who gather information and generate investment advice, and elucidate them with the help of a theoretical model. Understanding how analysts form their forecasts is important in better understanding the financial market. Carrying out big-data analysis of the analyst forecast data from I/B/E/S for nearly thirty years, we find skew distributions as evidence for emergence of complexity, and show how information asymmetry or disparity affects financial analysts’ forming their forecasts. Here regulations, information dissemination throughout a fiscal year, and interactions among financial analysts are regarded as the proxy for a lower level of information disparity. It is found that financial analysts with better access to information display contrasting behaviors: a few analysts become bolder and issue forecasts independent of other forecasts while the majority of analysts issue more accurate forecasts and flock to each other. Main body of our sample of optimistic forecasts fits a log-normal distribution, with the tail displaying a power law. Based on the Yule process, we propose a model for the dynamics of issuing forecasts, incorporating interactions between analysts. Explaining nicely empirical data on analyst forecasts, this provides an appealing instance of understanding social phenomena in the perspective of complex systems. PMID:28498831

  13. Total Joint Arthroplasty Patients' Education on Financial Issues and Its Connection to Reported Out-of-Pocket Costs-A European Study.

    PubMed

    Copanitsanou, Panagiota; Valkeapää, Kirsi; Cabrera, Esther; Katajisto, Jouko; Leino-Kilpi, Helena; Sigurdardottir, Arun K; Unosson, Mitra; Zabalegui, Adelaida; Lemonidou, Chryssoula

    2017-04-01

    Total joint arthroplasty is accompanied by significant costs. In nursing, patient education on financial issues is considered important. Our purpose was to examine the possible association between the arthroplasty patients' financial knowledge and their out-of-pocket costs. Descriptive correlational study in five European countries. Patient data were collected preoperatively and at 6 months postoperatively, with structured, self-administered instruments, regarding their expected and received financial knowledge and out-of-pocket costs. There were 1,288 patients preoperatively, and 352 at 6 months. Patients' financial knowledge expectations were higher than knowledge received. Patients with high financial knowledge expectations and lack of fulfillment of these expectations had lowest costs. There is need to establish programs for improving the financial knowledge of patients. Patients with fulfilled expectations reported higher costs and may have followed and reported their costs in a more precise way. In the future, this association needs multimethod research. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  14. Goals and everyday problem solving: examining the link between age-related goals and problem-solving strategy use.

    PubMed

    Hoppmann, Christiane A; Coats, Abby Heckman; Blanchard-Fields, Fredda

    2008-07-01

    Qualitative interviews on family and financial problems from 332 adolescents, young, middle-aged, and older adults, demonstrated that developmentally relevant goals predicted problem-solving strategy use over and above problem domain. Four focal goals concerned autonomy, generativity, maintaining good relationships with others, and changing another person. We examined both self- and other-focused problem-solving strategies. Autonomy goals were associated with self-focused instrumental problem solving and generative goals were related to other-focused instrumental problem solving in family and financial problems. Goals of changing another person were related to other-focused instrumental problem solving in the family domain only. The match between goals and strategies, an indicator of problem-solving adaptiveness, showed that young individuals displayed the greatest match between autonomy goals and self-focused problem solving, whereas older adults showed a greater match between generative goals and other-focused problem solving. Findings speak to the importance of considering goals in investigations of age-related differences in everyday problem solving.

  15. Preparing the Next IT Leaders: Financial Management

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Goldstein, Karen L.

    2007-01-01

    The next generation of IT leaders must learn to navigate the complexities of higher education financial planning and negotiation. Technology infrastructure, hardware, software, and services are very expensive to provide and will continue to be so for some time to come. Most CIOs have learned about complex IT finances the hard way--they were handed…

  16. Impediments to Increasing Diversity in Post-Secondary Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, Carol Siri

    2007-01-01

    Due to the increasing complexity in the financial aid process and the movement of available financial aid up the economic scale, poor people and minorities have less access to college, including engineering programs. Some impediments are lack of access to knowledge about college, increasing complexity and up-front costs in the application process…

  17. 34 CFR 106.37 - Financial assistance.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... assistance established pursuant to domestic or foreign wills, trusts, bequests, or similar legal instruments..., provision of facilities or other services, assist any foundation, trust, agency, organization, or person...

  18. Finite Difference Time Domain Modeling at USA Instruments, Inc.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Curtis, Richard

    2003-10-01

    Due to the competitive nature of the commercial MRI industry, it is essential for the financial health of a participating company to innovate new coil designs and bring product to market rapidly in response to ever-changing market conditions. However, the technology of MRI coil design is still early in its stage of development and its principles are yet evolving. As a result, it is not always possible to know the relevant electromagnetic effects of a given design since the interaction of coil elements is complex and often counter-intuitive. Even if the effects are known qualitatively, the quantitative results are difficult to obtain. At USA Instruments, Inc., the acquisition of the XFDTDâ electromagnetic simulation tool from REMCOM, Inc., has been helpful in determining the electromagnetic performance characteristics of existing coil designs in the prototype stage before the coils are released for production. In the ideal case, a coil design would be modeled earlier at the conceptual stage, so that only good designs will make it to the prototyping stage and the electromagnetic characteristics better understood very early in the design process and before the testing stage has begun. This paper is a brief overview of using FDTD modeling for MRI coil design at USA Instruments, Inc., and shows some of the highlights of recent FDTD modeling efforts on Birdcage coils, a staple of the MRI coil design portfolio.

  19. Is It There when You Need It?: Mismatch in Perception of Future Availability and Subsequent Receipt of Instrumental Social Support

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Meadows, Sarah O.

    2009-01-01

    Little is known about the effect of incongruity between perception of, or belief in, the availability of support and actual receipt of support during a time of need. This article examines associations between belief in the future availability of instrumental support (e.g., child care, temporary housing, and financial assistance), subsequent…

  20. Herd behaviour experimental testing in laboratory artificial stock market settings. Behavioural foundations of stylised facts of financial returns

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Manahov, Viktor; Hudson, Robert

    2013-10-01

    Many scholars express concerns that herding behaviour causes excess volatility, destabilises financial markets, and increases the likelihood of systemic risk. We use a special form of the Strongly Typed Genetic Programming (STGP) technique to evolve a stock market divided into two groups-a small subset of artificial agents called ‘Best Agents’ and a main cohort of agents named ‘All Agents’. The ‘Best Agents’ perform best in term of the trailing return of a wealth moving average. We then investigate whether herding behaviour can arise when agents trade Dow Jones, General Electric, and IBM financial instruments in four different artificial stock markets. This paper uses real historical quotes of the three financial instruments to analyse the behavioural foundations of stylised facts such as leptokurtosis, non-IIDness, and volatility clustering. We found evidence of more herding in a group of stocks than in individual stocks, but the magnitude of herding does not contribute to the mispricing of assets in the long run. Our findings suggest that the price formation process caused by the collective behaviour of the entire market exhibit less herding and is more efficient than the segmented market populated by a small subset of agents. Hence, greater genetic diversity leads to greater consistency with fundamental values and market efficiency.

  1. Clear as glass: transparent financial reporting.

    PubMed

    Valletta, Robert M

    2005-08-01

    To be transparent, financial information needs to be easily accessible, timely, content-rich, and narrative. Not-for-profit hospitals and health systems should report detailed financial information quarterly. They need internal controls to reduce the level of complexity throughout the organization by creating standardized processes.

  2. The structure and resilience of financial market networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kauê Dal'Maso Peron, Thomas; da Fontoura Costa, Luciano; Rodrigues, Francisco A.

    2012-03-01

    Financial markets can be viewed as a highly complex evolving system that is very sensitive to economic instabilities. The complex organization of the market can be represented in a suitable fashion in terms of complex networks, which can be constructed from stock prices such that each pair of stocks is connected by a weighted edge that encodes the distance between them. In this work, we propose an approach to analyze the topological and dynamic evolution of financial networks based on the stock correlation matrices. An entropy-related measurement is adopted to quantify the robustness of the evolving financial market organization. It is verified that the network topological organization suffers strong variation during financial instabilities and the networks in such periods become less robust. A statistical robust regression model is proposed to quantity the relationship between the network structure and resilience. The obtained coefficients of such model indicate that the average shortest path length is the measurement most related to network resilience coefficient. This result indicates that a collective behavior is observed between stocks during financial crisis. More specifically, stocks tend to synchronize their price evolution, leading to a high correlation between pair of stock prices, which contributes to the increase in distance between them and, consequently, decrease the network resilience.

  3. Brazilian exchange rate complexity: Financial crisis effects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Piqueira, José Roberto C.; Mortoza, Letícia Pelluci D.

    2012-04-01

    With the financial market globalization, foreign investments became vital for the economies, mainly in emerging countries. In the last decades, Brazilian exchange rates appeared as a good indicator to measure either investors' confidence or risk aversion. Here, some events of global or national financial crisis are analyzed, trying to understand how they influenced the "dollar-real" rate evolution. The theoretical tool to be used is the López-Mancini-Calbet (LMC) complexity measure that, applied to real exchange rate data, has shown good fitness between critical events and measured patterns.

  4. Quality of life domains important and relevant to family caregivers of advanced cancer patients in an Asian population: a qualitative study.

    PubMed

    Lee, Geok Ling; Ow, Mandy Yen Ling; Akhileswaran, Ramaswamy; Pang, Grace Su Yin; Fan, Gilbert Kam Tong; Goh, Brandon Huat Heng; Wong, Cai Fong; Cheung, Yin Bun; Wee, Hwee Lin

    2015-04-01

    This study aims to identify domains of quality of life (QoL) that are culturally relevant to Chinese caregivers of advanced cancer patients in Singapore and to evaluate content adequacy of currently available instruments for use in the target population. English- and Chinese-speaking caregivers of advanced cancer patients receiving care under a tertiary cancer center and/or a community hospice home care/day care provider were recruited for in-depth interviews. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. The identified domains, themes and sub-themes were compared to concepts addressed by items from five existing cancer-specific caregiver QoL instruments. Eighteen female and eight male caregivers aged 28-74 years participated in the study. Twenty-nine QoL themes and 59 sub-themes were identified in six domains, namely physical health, mental health, social health, spiritual health, financial health and daily life. Collectively, but not individually, the content of the five existing instruments adequately cover the physical health domain, social health domain and some themes on mental health domain for the study population. Content gaps were identified in the domains of mental health, spiritual health, daily life and financial health. The present study found culturally and contextually specific themes and sub-themes about positive emotional health, spiritual health and financial health.

  5. Segmentation of financial seals and its implementation on a DSP-based system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    He, Jin; Liu, Tiegen; Guo, Jingjing; Zhang, Hao

    2009-11-01

    Automatic seal imprint identification is an important part of modern financial security. Accurate segmentation is the basis of correct identification. In this paper, a DSP (digital signal processor) based identification system was designed, and an adaptive algorithm was proposed to extract binary seal images from financial instruments. As the kernel of the identification system, a DSP chip of TMS320DM642 was used to implement image processing, controlling and coordinating works of each system module. The proposed algorithm consisted of three stages, including extraction of grayscale seal image, denoising and binarization. A grayscale seal image was extracted by color transform from a financial instrument image. Adaptive morphological operations were used to highlight details of the extracted grayscale seal image and smooth the background. After median filter for noise elimination, the filtered seal image was binarized by Otsu's method. The algorithm was developed based on the DSP development environment CCS and real-time operation system DSP/BIOS. To simplify the implementation of the proposed algorithm, the calibration of white balance and the coarse positioning of the seal imprint were implemented by TMS320DM642 controlling image acquisition. IMGLIB of TMS320DM642 was used for the efficiency improvement. The experiment result showed that financial seal imprints, even with intricate and dense strokes can be correctly segmented by the proposed algorithm. Adhesion and incompleteness distortions in the segmentation results were reduced, even when the original seal imprint had a poor quality.

  6. 40 CFR Appendix Vi to Part 261 - Reserved

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... AND LISTING OF HAZARDOUS WASTE Financial Requirements for Management of Excluded Hazardous Secondary Materials Wording of the instruments. Appendix VI to Part 261 [Reserved for Etiologic Agents] ...

  7. 22 CFR 146.430 - Financial assistance.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... established pursuant to domestic or foreign wills, trusts, bequests, or similar legal instruments or by acts..., or other services, assist any foundation, trust, agency, organization, or person that provides...

  8. 22 CFR 229.430 - Financial assistance.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... established pursuant to domestic or foreign wills, trusts, bequests, or similar legal instruments or by acts..., or other services, assist any foundation, trust, agency, organization, or person that provides...

  9. 49 CFR 25.430 - Financial assistance.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... established pursuant to domestic or foreign wills, trusts, bequests, or similar legal instruments or by acts..., or other services, assist any foundation, trust, agency, organization, or person that provides...

  10. 28 CFR 54.430 - Financial assistance.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... established pursuant to domestic or foreign wills, trusts, bequests, or similar legal instruments or by acts..., or other services, assist any foundation, trust, agency, organization, or person that provides...

  11. Measuring mechanisms for quality assurance in primary care systems in transition: test of a new instrument in Slovenia and Uzbekistan.

    PubMed

    Kringos, Dionne Sofia; Boerma, Wienke; Pellny, Martina

    2009-01-01

    This World Health Organization (WHO) study aimed to develop and field test an instrument to assess the availability of structures and mechanisms for managing quality in primary care in countries in transition. The instrument is based on a literature study, consensus meetings with experts, and observations in these countries. It consists of three parts: a semi-structured questionnaire on national policies and mechanisms; a structured questionnaire for general practitioners (GPs); and a structured questionnaire for use with managers of primary care facilities. The instrument has been field tested in 2007 in Slovenia and Uzbekistan. In Slovenia, leadership on quality improvement was weak and local managers reported few incentives and resources to control quality. There was a lack of external support for quality improvement activities. Availability and use of clinical guidelines for GPs were not optimal. GPs found teamwork and communication with patients inadequate. In Uzbekistan, primary care quality and standards in health centres were extensively regulated and laid down in numerous manuals, instructions and other documents. Managers, however, indicated the need for more financial and non-financial levers for quality improvement and they wanted to know more about modern healthcare management. GPs reported strong involvement in activities such as peer review and clinical audit, and reported frequent use of clinical guidelines. Overall, the information gathered with the provisional instrument has resulted in policy recommendations. At the same time, the pilot resulted in improvements to the instrument. Application of the instrument helps decision makers to identify improvement areas in the infrastructure for managing the quality of primary care.

  12. Can there be a physics of financial markets? Methodological reflections on econophysics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huber, Tobias A.; Sornette, Didier

    2016-12-01

    We address the question whether there can be a physical science of financial markets. In particular, we examine the argument that, given the reflexivity of financial markets (i.e., the feedback mechanism between expectations and prices), there is a fundamental difference between social and physical systems, which demands a new scientific method. By providing a selective history of the mutual cross-fertilization between physics and economics, we reflect on the methodological differences of how models and theories get constructed in these fields. We argue that the novel conception of financial markets as complex adaptive systems is one of the most important contributions of econophysics and show that this field of research provides the methods, concepts, and tools to scientifically account for reflexivity. We conclude by arguing that a new science of economic and financial systems should not only be physics-based, but needs to integrate findings from other scientific fields, so that a truly multi-disciplinary complex systems science of financial markets can be built.

  13. Oromandibular Dystonia

    MedlinePlus

    ... muscles and lips of musicians who play wind instruments is called embouchure dystonia. Dystonia that specifically affects ... Dystonia Coalition About DMRF Mission People Dystonia Dialogue Financials For the Media Connect Contact Us Privacy Policy ...

  14. 6 CFR 17.430 - Financial assistance.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... established pursuant to domestic or foreign wills, trusts, bequests, or similar legal instruments or by acts..., provision of facilities, or other services, assist any foundation, trust, agency, organization, or person...

  15. 14 CFR 1253.430 - Financial assistance.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... established pursuant to domestic or foreign wills, trusts, bequests, or similar legal instruments or by acts..., provision of facilities, or other services, assist any foundation, trust, agency, organization, or person...

  16. 43 CFR 41.430 - Financial assistance.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... established pursuant to domestic or foreign wills, trusts, bequests, or similar legal instruments or by acts... facilities, or other services, assist any foundation, trust, agency, organization, or person that provides...

  17. 38 CFR 23.430 - Financial assistance.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... established pursuant to domestic or foreign wills, trusts, bequests, or similar legal instruments or by acts..., provision of facilities, or other services, assist any foundation, trust, agency, organization, or person...

  18. 18 CFR 1317.430 - Financial assistance.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... established pursuant to domestic or foreign wills, trusts, bequests, or similar legal instruments or by acts..., provision of facilities, or other services, assist any foundation, trust, agency, organization, or person...

  19. 31 CFR 28.430 - Financial assistance.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... established pursuant to domestic or foreign wills, trusts, bequests, or similar legal instruments or by acts..., provision of facilities, or other services, assist any foundation, trust, agency, organization, or person...

  20. 44 CFR 19.430 - Financial assistance.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... wills, trusts, bequests, or similar legal instruments or by acts of a foreign government that require... any foundation, trust, agency, organization, or person that provides assistance to any of such...

  1. 13 CFR 113.430 - Financial assistance.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... established pursuant to domestic or foreign wills, trusts, bequests, or similar legal instruments or by acts..., provision of facilities, or other services, assist any foundation, trust, agency, organization, or person...

  2. 10 CFR 1042.430 - Financial assistance.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... wills, trusts, bequests, or similar legal instruments or by acts of a foreign government that require... any foundation, trust, agency, organization, or person that provides assistance to any of such...

  3. 29 CFR 36.430 - Financial assistance.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... wills, trusts, bequests, or similar legal instruments or by acts of a foreign government that require... any foundation, trust, agency, organization, or person that provides assistance to any of such...

  4. Compositional segmentation and complexity measurement in stock indices

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Haifeng; Shang, Pengjian; Xia, Jianan

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we introduce a complexity measure based on the entropic segmentation called sequence compositional complexity (SCC) into the analysis of financial time series. SCC was first used to deal directly with the complex heterogeneity in nonstationary DNA sequences. We already know that SCC was found to be higher in sequences with long-range correlation than those with low long-range correlation, especially in the DNA sequences. Now, we introduce this method into financial index data, subsequently, we find that the values of SCC of some mature stock indices, such as S & P 500 (simplified with S & P in the following) and HSI, are likely to be lower than the SCC value of Chinese index data (such as SSE). What is more, we find that, if we classify the indices with the method of SCC, the financial market of Hong Kong has more similarities with mature foreign markets than Chinese ones. So we believe that a good correspondence is found between the SCC of the index sequence and the complexity of the market involved.

  5. An observational study of powered wheelchair provision in Italy.

    PubMed

    Salatino, Claudia; Andrich, Renzo; Converti, R M; Saruggia, M

    2016-01-01

    Powered wheelchairs are complex and expensive assistive devices that must be selected and configured on the basis of individual user needs, lifestyle, motivation, driving ability, and environment. Providing agencies often require evidence that their financial investment will lead to a successful outcome. The authors surveyed a sample of 79 users who had obtained powered wheelchairs from a Regional Health Service in Italy in the period 2008-2013. Follow-up interviews were conducted at the users' homes in order to collect information about wheelchair use, and its effectiveness, usefulness, and economic impact. The instruments used in the interviews included an introductory questionnaire, QUEST (Quebec User Evaluation of Satisfaction with Assistive Technology), PIADS (Psychosocial Impact of Assistive Devices Scale), FABS/M (Facilitators and Barriers Survey/Mobility), and SCAI (Siva Cost Analysis Instrument). The results indicated positive outcomes, especially in relation to user satisfaction and psychosocial impact. A number of barriers were identified in various settings that sometimes restrict user mobility, and suggest corrective actions. The provision of a powered wheelchair generated considerable savings in social costs for most users: an average of about $38,000 per person over a projected 5-year period was estimated by comparing the cost of the intervention with that of non-intervention.

  6. Selection Determinants in College Students' Financial Tools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huang, Wei-Ting

    2016-01-01

    Recently, considerable concern has arisen over the complex financial markets, which are inclined to require more individual responsibility. Accordingly, students have to bear more responsibility for their financial management. Nevertheless, in a sluggish economy with high unemployment, the commercial events during the last decade have rendered the…

  7. Leveraging Guided Pathways to Improve Financial Aid Design and Delivery

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Luna-Torres, Maria; Leafgreen, Melet; McKinney, Lyle

    2017-01-01

    To address low completion rates, postsecondary leaders are championing a "guided pathways" approach that puts students on a prescribed route towards graduation. Designing solutions to address low completion rates is complex; in addition to academic roadblocks, insufficient financial resources coupled with a complicated financial aid…

  8. Financial technical indicator based on chaotic bagging predictors for adaptive stock selection in Japanese and American markets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Suzuki, Tomoya; Ohkura, Yuushi

    2016-01-01

    In order to examine the predictability and profitability of financial markets, we introduce three ideas to improve the traditional technical analysis to detect investment timings more quickly. Firstly, a nonlinear prediction model is considered as an effective way to enhance this detection power by learning complex behavioral patterns hidden in financial markets. Secondly, the bagging algorithm can be applied to quantify the confidence in predictions and compose new technical indicators. Thirdly, we also introduce how to select more profitable stocks to improve investment performance by the two-step selection: the first step selects more predictable stocks during the learning period, and then the second step adaptively and dynamically selects the most confident stock showing the most significant technical signal in each investment. Finally, some investment simulations based on real financial data show that these ideas are successful in overcoming complex financial markets.

  9. Identifying States of a Financial Market

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Münnix, Michael C.; Shimada, Takashi; Schäfer, Rudi; Leyvraz, Francois; Seligman, Thomas H.; Guhr, Thomas; Stanley, H. Eugene

    2012-09-01

    The understanding of complex systems has become a central issue because such systems exist in a wide range of scientific disciplines. We here focus on financial markets as an example of a complex system. In particular we analyze financial data from the S&P 500 stocks in the 19-year period 1992-2010. We propose a definition of state for a financial market and use it to identify points of drastic change in the correlation structure. These points are mapped to occurrences of financial crises. We find that a wide variety of characteristic correlation structure patterns exist in the observation time window, and that these characteristic correlation structure patterns can be classified into several typical ``market states''. Using this classification we recognize transitions between different market states. A similarity measure we develop thus affords means of understanding changes in states and of recognizing developments not previously seen.

  10. Identifying states of a financial market.

    PubMed

    Münnix, Michael C; Shimada, Takashi; Schäfer, Rudi; Leyvraz, Francois; Seligman, Thomas H; Guhr, Thomas; Stanley, H Eugene

    2012-01-01

    The understanding of complex systems has become a central issue because such systems exist in a wide range of scientific disciplines. We here focus on financial markets as an example of a complex system. In particular we analyze financial data from the S&P 500 stocks in the 19-year period 1992-2010. We propose a definition of state for a financial market and use it to identify points of drastic change in the correlation structure. These points are mapped to occurrences of financial crises. We find that a wide variety of characteristic correlation structure patterns exist in the observation time window, and that these characteristic correlation structure patterns can be classified into several typical "market states". Using this classification we recognize transitions between different market states. A similarity measure we develop thus affords means of understanding changes in states and of recognizing developments not previously seen.

  11. European economies in crisis: A multifractal analysis of disruptive economic events and the effects of financial assistance

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Siokis, Fotios M.

    2014-02-01

    We analyze the complexity of rare economic events in troubled European economies. The economic crisis initiated at the end of 2009, forced a number of European economies to request financial assistance from world organizations. By employing the stock market index as a leading indicator of the economic activity, we test whether the financial assistance programs altered the statistical properties of the index. The effects of major financial program agreements on the economies can be best illustrated by the comparison of the multifractal spectra of the time series before and after the agreement. We reveal that the returns of the time series exhibit strong multifractal properties for all periods under investigation. In two of the three investigated economies, financial assistance along with governments’ initiatives appear to have altered the statistical properties of the stock market indexes increasing the width of the multifractal spectra and thus the complexity of the market.

  12. Clustering of short and long-term co-movements in international financial and commodity markets in wavelet domain

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lahmiri, Salim; Uddin, Gazi Salah; Bekiros, Stelios

    2017-11-01

    We propose a general framework for measuring short and long term dynamics in asset classes based on the wavelet presentation of clustering analysis. The empirical results show strong evidence of instability of the financial system aftermath of the global financial crisis. Indeed, both short and long-term dynamics have significantly changed after the global financial crisis. This study provides an interesting insights complex structure of global financial and economic system.

  13. Disaster Risk Transfer for Developing Countries

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Linneroothbayer, J.; Mechler, R.; Pflug, G.; Hochrainer, S.

    2005-12-01

    Financing disaster recovery often diverts resources from development, which can have long-term effects on economic growth and the poor in developing countries. Moreover, post-disaster assistance, while important for humanitarian reasons, has failed to meet the needs of developing countries in reducing their exposure to disaster risks and assuring sufficient funds to governments and individuals for financing the recovery process. The authors argue that part of disaster aid should be refocused from post-disaster to pre-disaster assistance including financial disaster risk management. Such assistance is now possible with new modeling techniques for estimating and pricing risks of natural disasters coupled with the advent of novel insurance instruments for transferring catastrophe risk to the global financial markets. The authors illustrate the potential for risk transfer in developing countries using the IIASA CATSIM model, which shows the potential impacts of disasters on economic growth in selected developing countries and the pros and cons of financial risk management to reduce those adverse impacts. The authors conclude by summarizing the advantages of investing in risk-transfer instruments (coupled with preventive measures) as an alternative to traditional post-disaster donor assistance. Donor-supported risk-transfer programs would not only leverage limited disaster aid budgets, but would also free recipient countries from depending on the vagaries of post-disaster assistance. Both the donors and the recipients stand to gain, especially since the instruments can be designed to encourage preventive measures. Precedents already exist for imaginative risk-transfer programs in highly exposed developing countries, including national insurance systems, micro-insurance schemes like weather derivatives and novel instruments (e.g., catastrophe bonds) to provide insurance cover for public sector risks.

  14. 12 CFR 975.5 - Operations.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... COLLECTION, SETTLEMENT, AND PROCESSING OF PAYMENT INSTRUMENTS § 975.5 Operations. A Bank may utilize the... or private financial institution, or agency in the exercise of any powers or functions under this...

  15. 40 CFR Appendix IV to Part 261 - Reserved

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... AND LISTING OF HAZARDOUS WASTE Financial Requirements for Management of Excluded Hazardous Secondary Materials Wording of the instruments. Appendix IV to Part 261 [Reserved for Radioactive Waste Test Methods] ...

  16. 41 CFR 101-4.430 - Financial assistance.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... established pursuant to domestic or foreign wills, trusts, bequests, or similar legal instruments or by acts... facilities, or other services, assist any foundation, trust, agency, organization, or person that provides...

  17. 15 CFR 8a.430 - Financial assistance.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... established pursuant to domestic or foreign wills, trusts, bequests, or similar legal instruments or by acts..., provision of facilities, or other services, assist any foundation, trust, agency, organization, or person...

  18. University Rankings as Instruments for the Reform of the System of Higher Education in the Global Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Efimova, I. N.

    2014-01-01

    Global rankings constitute a powerful instrument for the positioning of universities in the world educational space. Institutions that are included on the list of the top five hundred get financial support from the state and from business structures; they attract the best instructors and professors from all over the world. In recognition of this,…

  19. Payload Instrument Design Rules for Safe and Efficient Flight Operations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Montagnon, E.; Ferri, P.

    2004-04-01

    Payload operations are often being neglected in favour of optimisation of scientific performance of the instrument design. This has major drawbacks in terms of cost, safety, efficiency of operations and finally science return. By taking operational aspects into account in the early phases of the instrument design, with a minimum more cultural than financial or technological additional effort, many problems can be avoided or minimized, with significant benefits to be gained in the mission execution phases. This paper presents possible improvements based on the use of the telemetry and telecommand packet standard, proper sharing of autonomy functions between instrument and platform, and enhanced interface documents.

  20. The Effectiveness of Youth Financial Education: A Review of the Literature

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCormick, Martha Henn

    2009-01-01

    In the current financial crisis, children and youth are uniquely impacted by household finance complexities. Moments of financial trouble are teachable opportunities for children and youth to learn about personal finance and to improve their own money management skills. However, comprehensive strategies for educating them about personal finance…

  1. Emerging properties of financial time series in the ``Game of Life''

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hernández-Montoya, A. R.; Coronel-Brizio, H. F.; Stevens-Ramírez, G. A.; Rodríguez-Achach, M.; Politi, M.; Scalas, E.

    2011-12-01

    We explore the spatial complexity of Conway’s “Game of Life,” a prototypical cellular automaton by means of a geometrical procedure generating a two-dimensional random walk from a bidimensional lattice with periodical boundaries. The one-dimensional projection of this process is analyzed and it turns out that some of its statistical properties resemble the so-called stylized facts observed in financial time series. The scope and meaning of this result are discussed from the viewpoint of complex systems. In particular, we stress how the supposed peculiarities of financial time series are, often, overrated in their importance.

  2. A statistical physics perspective on criticality in financial markets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bury, Thomas

    2013-11-01

    Stock markets are complex systems exhibiting collective phenomena and particular features such as synchronization, fluctuations distributed as power-laws, non-random structures and similarity to neural networks. Such specific properties suggest that markets operate at a very special point. Financial markets are believed to be critical by analogy to physical systems, but little statistically founded evidence has been given. Through a data-based methodology and comparison to simulations inspired by the statistical physics of complex systems, we show that the Dow Jones and index sets are not rigorously critical. However, financial systems are closer to criticality in the crash neighborhood.

  3. Emerging properties of financial time series in the "Game of Life".

    PubMed

    Hernández-Montoya, A R; Coronel-Brizio, H F; Stevens-Ramírez, G A; Rodríguez-Achach, M; Politi, M; Scalas, E

    2011-12-01

    We explore the spatial complexity of Conway's "Game of Life," a prototypical cellular automaton by means of a geometrical procedure generating a two-dimensional random walk from a bidimensional lattice with periodical boundaries. The one-dimensional projection of this process is analyzed and it turns out that some of its statistical properties resemble the so-called stylized facts observed in financial time series. The scope and meaning of this result are discussed from the viewpoint of complex systems. In particular, we stress how the supposed peculiarities of financial time series are, often, overrated in their importance.

  4. On Convergence of Development Costs and Cost Models for Complex Spaceflight Instrument Electronics

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kizhner, Semion; Patel, Umeshkumar D.; Kasa, Robert L.; Hestnes, Phyllis; Brown, Tammy; Vootukuru, Madhavi

    2008-01-01

    Development costs of a few recent spaceflight instrument electrical and electronics subsystems have diverged from respective heritage cost model predictions. The cost models used are Grass Roots, Price-H and Parametric Model. These cost models originated in the military and industry around 1970 and were successfully adopted and patched by NASA on a mission-by-mission basis for years. However, the complexity of new instruments recently changed rapidly by orders of magnitude. This is most obvious in the complexity of representative spaceflight instrument electronics' data system. It is now required to perform intermediate processing of digitized data apart from conventional processing of science phenomenon signals from multiple detectors. This involves on-board instrument formatting of computational operands from row data for example, images), multi-million operations per second on large volumes of data in reconfigurable hardware (in addition to processing on a general purpose imbedded or standalone instrument flight computer), as well as making decisions for on-board system adaptation and resource reconfiguration. The instrument data system is now tasked to perform more functions, such as forming packets and instrument-level data compression of more than one data stream, which are traditionally performed by the spacecraft command and data handling system. It is furthermore required that the electronics box for new complex instruments is developed for one-digit watt power consumption, small size and that it is light-weight, and delivers super-computing capabilities. The conflict between the actual development cost of newer complex instruments and its electronics components' heritage cost model predictions seems to be irreconcilable. This conflict and an approach to its resolution are addressed in this paper by determining the complexity parameters, complexity index, and their use in enhanced cost model.

  5. Financial viability, medical technology, and hospital closures.

    PubMed

    Prince, T R; Sullivan, J A

    2000-01-01

    Informed investments in medical technology and information systems are associated with the financial viability of community hospitals. Financially distressed facilities are 3 to 4 years behind proactive hospitals in supporting high-speed data, voice, and image transmissions to physicians in various locations. Impact of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, fraud and abuse activities, Y2K issues, and lack of information systems support for physicians will result in 800 hospital closures and mergers of distressed hospitals over the next 60 months. These findings are based on the application of an eight-step framework for classifying information systems in health care entities. This framework is validated by survey instruments, site visits, interviews with senior management in 44 health care entities containing 576 hospitals, and judgments on the financial status of the health care entities.

  6. 26 CFR 1.752-1 - Treatment of partnership liabilities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ..., obligations under a short sale, and obligations under derivative financial instruments such as options, forward contracts, futures contracts, and swaps. (iii) Other liabilities. For obligations that are not § 1...

  7. 78 FR 41044 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-07-09

    ... information collection or to obtain a copy of the proposal and associated collection instruments, please write... difficulties with people who cannot reasonably expect to meet their financial obligations on Navy day. Dated...

  8. 31 CFR 103.39 - Person outside the United States.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... of currency, other monetary instruments, checks, investment securities, or credit to the domestic... transaction on the books of a domestic financial institution involving the account of a customer of such...

  9. HIV-Related Self-Stigma and Health-Related Quality of Life of People Living With HIV in Finland.

    PubMed

    Nobre, Nuno; Pereira, Marco; Roine, Risto P; Sutinen, Jussi; Sintonen, Harri

    We examined how HIV-related self-stigma was associated with different domains of quality of life (QoL), as measured by the World Health Organization Quality of Life in HIV-infected persons instrument (WHOQOL-HIV-Bref), and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) as measured by the generic 15D (15-dimensional measure of HRQoL), to identify the factors associated with self-stigma of people living with HIV (PLWH). The study sample included 440 patients living with HIV followed at the Infectious Disease Clinic of Helsinki University Hospital. Participants with more severe self-stigma reported significantly lower QoL and HRQoL. Male gender, cohabiting with a partner, and disclosure of HIV status were associated with less self-stigma; high education level and financial difficulties were associated with greater self-stigma. Having lived longer with HIV, being unemployed, and living alone were also predictors of self-stigma via financial difficulties. The findings suggest that self-stigma is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon that impacts the HRQoL of PLWH. Psychosocial interventions to enhance the well-being of PLWH are increasingly needed. Copyright © 2017 Association of Nurses in AIDS Care. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Spring 2008 Industry Study: Financial Services Industry

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2008-01-01

    04/24/can-wall-street-regulate- itself/. Mishkin , Frederic S. and Stanley G. Eakins. Financial Markets and Institutions . 4th ed. 2004, Addison...Security Strategy that designates as a priority the “pressing for open markets , financial stability, and deeper integration of the world economy.”1...were lured to new, innovative, and often very complex financial vehicles. In order to address the shortcomings of the free market , new regulatory

  11. Emulating Excellence: Financial Management Lessons for the Navy from the Experiences of the Corporation for National and Community Service

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2007-12-01

    Treasury instruments of the United States and these earning grow the fund’s balance.66 The Corporation was appropriated separate funds to pay for...in fiscal 2003 data quality was an important issue. The Corporation is highly decentralized and relies on data flow to ensure accuracy of financial...information. Information necessarily flows from the Corporation to its grantees and from grantees to the Corporation. Information on new volunteers

  12. 75 FR 38564 - National Endowment for the Arts; Proposed Collection; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-07-02

    ... ensure that requested data is provided in the desired format; reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized; collection instruments are clearly understood; and the impact of collection...

  13. 25 CFR 115.904 - Where earnest money is paid prior to Secretarial approval of a conveyance or contract instrument...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Where earnest money is paid prior to Secretarial approval of a conveyance or contract instrument involving trust assets, may the BIA deposit that earnest money into a special deposit account? 115.904 Section 115.904 Indians BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES TRUST...

  14. Econophysics — complex correlations and trend switchings in financial time series

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Preis, T.

    2011-03-01

    This article focuses on the analysis of financial time series and their correlations. A method is used for quantifying pattern based correlations of a time series. With this methodology, evidence is found that typical behavioral patterns of financial market participants manifest over short time scales, i.e., that reactions to given price patterns are not entirely random, but that similar price patterns also cause similar reactions. Based on the investigation of the complex correlations in financial time series, the question arises, which properties change when switching from a positive trend to a negative trend. An empirical quantification by rescaling provides the result that new price extrema coincide with a significant increase in transaction volume and a significant decrease in the length of corresponding time intervals between transactions. These findings are independent of the time scale over 9 orders of magnitude, and they exhibit characteristics which one can also find in other complex systems in nature (and in physical systems in particular). These properties are independent of the markets analyzed. Trends that exist only for a few seconds show the same characteristics as trends on time scales of several months. Thus, it is possible to study financial bubbles and their collapses in more detail, because trend switching processes occur with higher frequency on small time scales. In addition, a Monte Carlo based simulation of financial markets is analyzed and extended in order to reproduce empirical features and to gain insight into their causes. These causes include both financial market microstructure and the risk aversion of market participants.

  15. The Tuition/Financial Aid Equation and Its Impact on Access.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bowen, Raymond C.

    The complex rules and regulations of the student financial aid industry have alienated and confused both students and parents, especially those from lower income families. Unless simplified, the financial aid application process will continue to act as a deterrent to participation in the U.S. educational system. Families managing to overcome the…

  16. Public Libraries in an Age of Financial Complexity: Toward Enhancing Community Financial Literacy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Catherine Arnott; Eschenfelder, Kristin

    2013-01-01

    This report describes several linked empirical studies that examine the activities of public libraries in increasing the financial literacy of their service population. A qualitative field study examines librarians' perceptions of the challenges in offering information and services in this domain; a second set of interviews centers on the…

  17. An Optimization Model for the Allocation of University Based Merit Aid

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sugrue, Paul K.

    2010-01-01

    The allocation of merit-based financial aid during the college admissions process presents postsecondary institutions with complex and financially expensive decisions. This article describes the application of linear programming as a decision tool in merit based financial aid decisions at a medium size private university. The objective defined for…

  18. Uncovering Barriers to Financial Capability: Underrepresented Students' Access to Financial Resources

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eichelberger, Brenda; Mattioli, Heather; Foxhoven, Rachel

    2017-01-01

    Financial aid is designed to increase access to postsecondary education at all socioeconomic levels; however, college students are not always knowledgeable about personal finances or capable of making sound decisions regarding complex college and program choices, debt options, and long-term spending. This article reviews previous research on the…

  19. The Importance of Financial Education Today

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Greenspan, Alan

    2005-01-01

    Today's financial world is highly complex as compared with that of a generation ago. Twenty-five years ago, knowing how to maintain a checking and savings account at a local financial institution was sufficient for many Americans. Today's consumers, however, must be able to differentiate among a wide range of products, services, and providers of…

  20. Students with Disabilities: Financial Aid Policy Issues

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wolanin, Thomas R.

    2005-01-01

    This article describes some of the special financial aid needs of students with disabilities and the policy implications of those needs. It focuses on the financial burdens of having a disability, the time demands faced by those with disabilities, the multiple and complex sources from which students with disabilities derive support, and the…

  1. 3 CFR 8493 - Proclamation 8493 of April 2, 2010. National Financial Literacy Month, 2010

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... complex. This has left too many Americans behind, unable to build a secure financial future for themselves... never happens again will require new rules to protect consumers and better information to empower them. The new Consumer Financial Protection Agency I have proposed will ensure ordinary Americans get clear...

  2. Financial management practices and attitudes of dental hygienists: a descriptive study.

    PubMed

    Russell, Katherine; Stramoski, Sandra

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the financial management goals and practices of registered dental hygienists, their satisfaction with their current financial situations and their attitudes about savings, investments and retirement. A 40 question electronic survey was completed by 388 registered dental hygienists. The descriptive instrument assessed financial practices, attitudes, goals and beliefs, retirement mindset, savings habits, debt tendencies and demographic characteristics of respondents. Statistical analyses compared respondents' beliefs about their financial independence and security with their current financial practices. Analyses included: independent samples t-tests, chi-square analysis and ANOVA. Most dental hygienists believed themselves to be financially independent and reported satisfaction with their current financial situation. Significant relationships existed between respondents' satisfaction with their current financial situations and their financial attitudes and practices (saving regularly and having limited debt). Those who indicated they had personally saved for retirement were more likely to view these savings as their largest source of income during retirement, as opposed to Social Security benefits. A majority agreed that financial management education should be included in the dental hygiene curriculum, and that they would attend a continuing education course on the subject if offered. The results of this study suggest that hygienists have confidence in their ability to provide secure financial futures for themselves. Hygienists who practiced sound financial planning, such as adhering to monthly budgets, having wills, lowering debt and saving regularly, reported a higher level of financial security than those who did not. Most respondents expressed interest in receiving education about financial management through the dental hygiene curriculum and continuing education courses.

  3. Linking market interaction intensity of 3D Ising type financial model with market volatility

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fang, Wen; Ke, Jinchuan; Wang, Jun; Feng, Ling

    2016-11-01

    Microscopic interaction models in physics have been used to investigate the complex phenomena of economic systems. The simple interactions involved can lead to complex behaviors and help the understanding of mechanisms in the financial market at a systemic level. This article aims to develop a financial time series model through 3D (three-dimensional) Ising dynamic system which is widely used as an interacting spins model to explain the ferromagnetism in physics. Through Monte Carlo simulations of the financial model and numerical analysis for both the simulation return time series and historical return data of Hushen 300 (HS300) index in Chinese stock market, we show that despite its simplicity, this model displays stylized facts similar to that seen in real financial market. We demonstrate a possible underlying link between volatility fluctuations of real stock market and the change in interaction strengths of market participants in the financial model. In particular, our stochastic interaction strength in our model demonstrates that the real market may be consistently operating near the critical point of the system.

  4. Localized motion in random matrix decomposition of complex financial systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jiang, Xiong-Fei; Zheng, Bo; Ren, Fei; Qiu, Tian

    2017-04-01

    With the random matrix theory, we decompose the multi-dimensional time series of complex financial systems into a set of orthogonal eigenmode functions, which are classified into the market mode, sector mode, and random mode. In particular, the localized motion generated by the business sectors, plays an important role in financial systems. Both the business sectors and their impact on the stock market are identified from the localized motion. We clarify that the localized motion induces different characteristics of the time correlations for the stock-market index and individual stocks. With a variation of a two-factor model, we reproduce the return-volatility correlations of the eigenmodes.

  5. Heterogeneity and Self-Organization of Complex Systems Through an Application to Financial Market with Multiagent Systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lucas, Iris; Cotsaftis, Michel; Bertelle, Cyrille

    2017-12-01

    Multiagent systems (MAS) provide a useful tool for exploring the complex dynamics and behavior of financial markets and now MAS approach has been widely implemented and documented in the empirical literature. This paper introduces the implementation of an innovative multi-scale mathematical model for a computational agent-based financial market. The paper develops a method to quantify the degree of self-organization which emerges in the system and shows that the capacity of self-organization is maximized when the agent behaviors are heterogeneous. Numerical results are presented and analyzed, showing how the global market behavior emerges from specific individual behavior interactions.

  6. Untangling complex networks: risk minimization in financial markets through accessible spin glass ground states

    PubMed Central

    Lisewski, Andreas Martin; Lichtarge, Olivier

    2010-01-01

    Recurrent international financial crises inflict significant damage to societies and stress the need for mechanisms or strategies to control risk and tamper market uncertainties. Unfortunately, the complex network of market interactions often confounds rational approaches to optimize financial risks. Here we show that investors can overcome this complexity and globally minimize risk in portfolio models for any given expected return, provided the relative margin requirement remains below a critical, empirically measurable value. In practice, for markets with centrally regulated margin requirements, a rational stabilization strategy would be keeping margins small enough. This result follows from ground states of the random field spin glass Ising model that can be calculated exactly through convex optimization when relative spin coupling is limited by the norm of the network's Laplacian matrix. In that regime, this novel approach is robust to noise in empirical data and may be also broadly relevant to complex networks with frustrated interactions that are studied throughout scientific fields. PMID:20625477

  7. Untangling complex networks: Risk minimization in financial markets through accessible spin glass ground states

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lisewski, Andreas Martin; Lichtarge, Olivier

    2010-08-01

    Recurrent international financial crises inflict significant damage to societies and stress the need for mechanisms or strategies to control risk and tamper market uncertainties. Unfortunately, the complex network of market interactions often confounds rational approaches to optimize financial risks. Here we show that investors can overcome this complexity and globally minimize risk in portfolio models for any given expected return, provided the margin requirement remains below a critical, empirically measurable value. In practice, for markets with centrally regulated margin requirements, a rational stabilization strategy would be keeping margins small enough. This result follows from ground states of the random field spin glass Ising model that can be calculated exactly through convex optimization when relative spin coupling is limited by the norm of the network’s Laplacian matrix. In that regime, this novel approach is robust to noise in empirical data and may be also broadly relevant to complex networks with frustrated interactions that are studied throughout scientific fields.

  8. Untangling complex networks: risk minimization in financial markets through accessible spin glass ground states.

    PubMed

    Lisewski, Andreas Martin; Lichtarge, Olivier

    2010-08-15

    Recurrent international financial crises inflict significant damage to societies and stress the need for mechanisms or strategies to control risk and tamper market uncertainties. Unfortunately, the complex network of market interactions often confounds rational approaches to optimize financial risks. Here we show that investors can overcome this complexity and globally minimize risk in portfolio models for any given expected return, provided the relative margin requirement remains below a critical, empirically measurable value. In practice, for markets with centrally regulated margin requirements, a rational stabilization strategy would be keeping margins small enough. This result follows from ground states of the random field spin glass Ising model that can be calculated exactly through convex optimization when relative spin coupling is limited by the norm of the network's Laplacian matrix. In that regime, this novel approach is robust to noise in empirical data and may be also broadly relevant to complex networks with frustrated interactions that are studied throughout scientific fields.

  9. Challenging Residual Contamination of Instruments for Robotic Surgery in Japan.

    PubMed

    Saito, Yuhei; Yasuhara, Hiroshi; Murakoshi, Satoshi; Komatsu, Takami; Fukatsu, Kazuhiko; Uetera, Yushi

    2017-02-01

    BACKGROUND Recently, robotic surgery has been introduced in many hospitals. The structure of robotic instruments is so complex that updating their cleaning methods is a challenge for healthcare professionals. However, there is limited information on the effectiveness of cleaning for instruments for robotic surgery. OBJECTIVE To determine the level of residual contamination of instruments for robotic surgery and to develop a method to evaluate the cleaning efficacy for complex surgical devices. METHODS Surgical instruments were collected immediately after operations and/or after in-house cleaning, and the level of residual protein was measured. Three serial measurements were performed on instruments after cleaning to determine the changes in the level of contamination and the total amount of residual protein. The study took place from September 1, 2013, through June 30, 2015, in Japan. RESULTS The amount of protein released from robotic instruments declined exponentially. The amount after in-house cleaning was 650, 550, and 530 µg/instrument in the 3 serial measurements. The overall level of residual protein in each measurement was much higher for robotic instruments than for ordinary instruments (P<.0001). CONCLUSIONS Our data demonstrated that complete removal of residual protein from surgical instruments is virtually impossible. The pattern of decline differed depending on the instrument type, which reflected the complex structure of the instruments. It might be necessary to establish a new standard for cleaning using a novel classification according to the structural complexity of instruments, especially for those for robotic surgery. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:143-146.

  10. Automation in clinical bacteriology: what system to choose?

    PubMed

    Greub, G; Prod'hom, G

    2011-05-01

    With increased activity and reduced financial and human resources, there is a need for automation in clinical bacteriology. Initial processing of clinical samples includes repetitive and fastidious steps. These tasks are suitable for automation, and several instruments are now available on the market, including the WASP (Copan), Previ-Isola (BioMerieux), Innova (Becton-Dickinson) and Inoqula (KIESTRA) systems. These new instruments allow efficient and accurate inoculation of samples, including four main steps: (i) selecting the appropriate Petri dish; (ii) inoculating the sample; (iii) spreading the inoculum on agar plates to obtain, upon incubation, well-separated bacterial colonies; and (iv) accurate labelling and sorting of each inoculated media. The challenge for clinical bacteriologists is to determine what is the ideal automated system for their own laboratory. Indeed, different solutions will be preferred, according to the number and variety of samples, and to the types of sample that will be processed with the automated system. The final choice is troublesome, because audits proposed by industrials risk being biased towards the solution proposed by their company, and because these automated systems may not be easily tested on site prior to the final decision, owing to the complexity of computer connections between the laboratory information system and the instrument. This article thus summarizes the main parameters that need to be taken into account for choosing the optimal system, and provides some clues to help clinical bacteriologists to make their choice. © 2011 The Authors. Clinical Microbiology and Infection © 2011 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

  11. Hanford Atomic Products Operation monthly report for February 1956

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    1956-02-21

    This is the monthly report for the Hanford Laboratories Operation, February, 1956. Metallurgy, reactors fuels, chemistry, dosimetry, separation processes, reactor technology financial activities, visits, biology operation, physics and instrumentation research, employee relations are discussed.

  12. Hanford Laboratories monthly activities report, March 1964

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    1964-04-15

    The monthly report for the Hanford Laboratories Operation, March 1964. Reactor fuels, chemistry, dosimetry, separation processes, reactor technology, financial activities, biology operation, and physics and instrumentation research, and applied mathematics operation, and programming operations are discussed.

  13. Hanford Laboratories Operation monthly activities report, September 1960

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    1960-10-15

    This is the monthly report for the Hanford Laboratories Operation, October, 1960. Metallurgy, reactor fuels, chemistry, dosimetry, separation processes, reactor technology, financial activities, visits, biology operation, physics and instrumentation research, and employee relations are discussed.

  14. Hanford Laboratories monthly activities report, August 1963

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    1963-09-16

    This is the monthly report for the Hanford Laboratories Operation, August 1963. Metallurgy, reactor fuels, chemistry, dosimetry, separation processes, reactor technology, financial activities, visits, biology operation, physics and instrumentation research, and employee relations are discussed.

  15. Hanford Laboratories Operation monthly activities report, November 1962

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    1962-12-14

    This is the monthly report for the Hanford Laboratories Operation, November 1962. Metallurgy, reactor fuels, chemistry, dosimetry, separation processes, reactor technology, financial activities, visits, biology operation, physics and instrumentation research, and employee relations are discussed.

  16. In the mind of the market: theory of mind biases value computation during financial bubbles.

    PubMed

    De Martino, Benedetto; O'Doherty, John P; Ray, Debajyoti; Bossaerts, Peter; Camerer, Colin

    2013-09-18

    The ability to infer intentions of other agents, called theory of mind (ToM), confers strong advantages for individuals in social situations. Here, we show that ToM can also be maladaptive when people interact with complex modern institutions like financial markets. We tested participants who were investing in an experimental bubble market, a situation in which the price of an asset is much higher than its underlying fundamental value. We describe a mechanism by which social signals computed in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex affect value computations in ventromedial prefrontal cortex, thereby increasing an individual's propensity to 'ride' financial bubbles and lose money. These regions compute a financial metric that signals variations in order flow intensity, prompting inference about other traders' intentions. Our results suggest that incorporating inferences about the intentions of others when making value judgments in a complex financial market could lead to the formation of market bubbles. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. In the Mind of the Market: Theory of Mind Biases Value Computation during Financial Bubbles

    PubMed Central

    De Martino, Benedetto; O’Doherty, John P.; Ray, Debajyoti; Bossaerts, Peter; Camerer, Colin

    2013-01-01

    Summary The ability to infer intentions of other agents, called theory of mind (ToM), confers strong advantages for individuals in social situations. Here, we show that ToM can also be maladaptive when people interact with complex modern institutions like financial markets. We tested participants who were investing in an experimental bubble market, a situation in which the price of an asset is much higher than its underlying fundamental value. We describe a mechanism by which social signals computed in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex affect value computations in ventromedial prefrontal cortex, thereby increasing an individual’s propensity to ‘ride’ financial bubbles and lose money. These regions compute a financial metric that signals variations in order flow intensity, prompting inference about other traders’ intentions. Our results suggest that incorporating inferences about the intentions of others when making value judgments in a complex financial market could lead to the formation of market bubbles. PMID:24050407

  18. Topological Characteristics of the Hong Kong Stock Market: A Test-based P-threshold Approach to Understanding Network Complexity

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, Ronghua; Wong, Wing-Keung; Chen, Guanrong; Huang, Shuo

    2017-02-01

    In this paper, we analyze the relationship among stock networks by focusing on the statistically reliable connectivity between financial time series, which accurately reflects the underlying pure stock structure. To do so, we firstly filter out the effect of market index on the correlations between paired stocks, and then take a t-test based P-threshold approach to lessening the complexity of the stock network based on the P values. We demonstrate the superiority of its performance in understanding network complexity by examining the Hong Kong stock market. By comparing with other filtering methods, we find that the P-threshold approach extracts purely and significantly correlated stock pairs, which reflect the well-defined hierarchical structure of the market. In analyzing the dynamic stock networks with fixed-size moving windows, our results show that three global financial crises, covered by the long-range time series, can be distinguishingly indicated from the network topological and evolutionary perspectives. In addition, we find that the assortativity coefficient can manifest the financial crises and therefore can serve as a good indicator of the financial market development.

  19. Financial methods in competitive electricity markets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Deng, Shijie

    The restructuring of electric power industry has become a global trend. As reforms to the electricity supply industry spread rapidly across countries and states, many political and economical issues arise as a result of people debating over which approach to adopt in restructuring the vertically integrated electricity industry. This dissertation addresses issues of transmission pricing, electricity spot price modeling, as well as risk management and asset valuation in a competitive electricity industry. A major concern in the restructuring of the electricity industries is the design of a transmission pricing scheme that will ensure open-access to the transmission networks. I propose a priority-pricing scheme for zonal access to the electric power grid that is uniform across all buses in each zone. The Independent System Operator (ISO) charges bulk power traders a per unit ex ante transmission access fee based on the expected option value of the generated power with respect to the random zonal spot prices. The zonal access fee depends on the injection zone and a self-selected strike price determining the scheduling priority of the transaction. Inter zonal transactions are charged (or credited) with an additional ex post congestion fee that equals the zonal spot price difference. The unit access fee entitles a bulk power trader to either physical injection of one unit of energy or a compensation payment that equals to the difference between the realized zonal spot price and the selected strike price. The ISO manages congestion so as to minimize net compensation payments and thus, curtailment probabilities corresponding to a particular strike price may vary by bus. The rest of the dissertation deals with the issues of modeling electricity spot prices, pricing electricity financial instruments and the corresponding risk management applications. Modeling the spot prices of electricity is important for the market participants who need to understand the risk factors in pricing electricity financial instruments such as electricity forwards, options and cross-commodity derivatives. It is also essential for the analysis of financial risk management, asset valuation, and project financing. In the setting of diffusion processes with multiple types of jumps, I examine three mean-reversion models for modeling the electricity spot prices. I impose some structure on the coefficients of the diffusion processes, which allows me to easily compute the prices of contingent claims (or, financial instruments) on electricity by Fourier methods. I derive the pricing formulas for various electricity derivatives and examine how the prices vary with different modeling assumptions. I demonstrate a couple of risk management applications of the electricity financial instruments. I also construct a real options approach to value electric power generation and transmission assets both with and without accounting for the operating characteristics of the assets. The implications of the mean-reversion jump-diffusion models on financial risk management and real asset valuation in competitive electricity markets are illustrated. With a discrete trinomial lattice modeling the underlying commodity prices, I estimate the effects of operational characteristics on the asset valuation by means of numerical examples that incorporate these aspects using stochastic dynamic programming. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

  20. Frontiers of finance: evolution and efficient markets.

    PubMed

    Farmer, J D; Lo, A W

    1999-08-31

    In this review article, we explore several recent advances in the quantitative modeling of financial markets. We begin with the Efficient Markets Hypothesis and describe how this controversial idea has stimulated a number of new directions of research, some focusing on more elaborate mathematical models that are capable of rationalizing the empirical facts, others taking a completely different tack in rejecting rationality altogether. One of the most promising directions is to view financial markets from a biological perspective and, specifically, within an evolutionary framework in which markets, instruments, institutions, and investors interact and evolve dynamically according to the "law" of economic selection. Under this view, financial agents compete and adapt, but they do not necessarily do so in an optimal fashion. Evolutionary and ecological models of financial markets is truly a new frontier whose exploration has just begun.

  1. Frontiers of finance: Evolution and efficient markets

    PubMed Central

    Farmer, J. Doyne; Lo, Andrew W.

    1999-01-01

    In this review article, we explore several recent advances in the quantitative modeling of financial markets. We begin with the Efficient Markets Hypothesis and describe how this controversial idea has stimulated a number of new directions of research, some focusing on more elaborate mathematical models that are capable of rationalizing the empirical facts, others taking a completely different tack in rejecting rationality altogether. One of the most promising directions is to view financial markets from a biological perspective and, specifically, within an evolutionary framework in which markets, instruments, institutions, and investors interact and evolve dynamically according to the “law” of economic selection. Under this view, financial agents compete and adapt, but they do not necessarily do so in an optimal fashion. Evolutionary and ecological models of financial markets is truly a new frontier whose exploration has just begun. PMID:10468547

  2. FINANCIAL LITERACY AROUND THE WORLD: AN OVERVIEW.

    PubMed

    Lusardi, Annamaria; Mitchell, Olivia S

    2011-10-01

    In an increasingly risky and globalized marketplace, people must be able to make well-informed financial decisions. Yet new international research demonstrates that financial illiteracy is widespread when financial markets are well developed as in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, Italy, New Zealand, and the United States, or when they are changing rapidly as in Russia. Further, across these countries, we show that the older population believes itself well informed, even though it is actually less well informed than average. Other common patterns are also evident: women are less financially literate than men and are aware of this shortfall. More educated people are more informed, yet education is far from a perfect proxy for literacy. There are also ethnic/racial and regional differences: city-dwellers in Russia are better informed than their rural counterparts, while in the U.S., African Americans and Hispanics are relatively less financially literate than others. Moreover, the more financially knowledgeable are also those most likely to plan for retirement. In fact, answering one additional financial question correctly is associated with a 3-4 percentage point higher chance of planning for retirement in countries as diverse as Germany, the U.S., Japan, and Sweden; in the Netherlands, it boosts planning by 10 percentage points. Finally, using instrumental variables, we show that these estimates probably underestimate the effects of financial literacy on retirement planning. In sum, around the world, financial literacy is critical to retirement security.

  3. Hamiltonian and potentials in derivative pricing models: exact results and lattice simulations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Baaquie, Belal E.; Corianò, Claudio; Srikant, Marakani

    2004-03-01

    The pricing of options, warrants and other derivative securities is one of the great success of financial economics. These financial products can be modeled and simulated using quantum mechanical instruments based on a Hamiltonian formulation. We show here some applications of these methods for various potentials, which we have simulated via lattice Langevin and Monte Carlo algorithms, to the pricing of options. We focus on barrier or path dependent options, showing in some detail the computational strategies involved.

  4. Taking Ownership of the Future: The National Strategy for Financial Literacy, 2006

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    US Financial Literacy and Education Commission, 2006

    2006-01-01

    Today's increasingly complex financial services market offers consumers a vast array of products, services, and providers to choose from to meet their financial needs. While this degree of choice provides consumers with a great number of options, it also requires that they be equipped with the information, knowledge, and skills to evaluate their…

  5. The Roles, Duties, and Ethical Responsibilities of the Chief Financial Officer. Perspectives…Presenting Thought Leaders' Points of View

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ladd, Lawrence R.

    2011-01-01

    Released in conjunction with the "Sustaining an Ethical Culture on Campus" webcast, this essay in the "Perspectives" series examines the complexities of the role of the chief financial officer. This white paper focuses on how the financial leader of an institution must balance technical knowledge along with stellar…

  6. Financial Aid Policy: Lessons from Research. NBER Working Paper No. 18710

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dynarski, Susan; Scott-Clayton, Judith

    2013-01-01

    In the nearly fifty years since the adoption of the Higher Education Act of 1965, financial aid programs have grown in scale, expanded in scope, and multiplied in form. As a result, financial aid has become the norm among college enrollees. The increasing size and complexity of the nation's student aid system has generated questions about…

  7. Assessing the costs of photovoltaic and wind power in six developing countries

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schmidt, Tobias S.; Born, Robin; Schneider, Malte

    2012-07-01

    To support developing countries in greenhouse-gas emission abatement the 2010 Cancún Agreement established various institutions, among others a financial mechanism administered by the Green Climate Fund. However, the instruments for delivering the support and the magnitude of different countries' financial needs are strongly debated. Both debates are predominantly underpinned by rather aggregate and strongly varying top-down cost estimates. To complement these numbers, we provide a more fine-grained bottom-up approach, comparing the cost of the renewable-energy technologies photovoltaics and wind in six developing countries with those of conventional technologies. Our results unveil large cost variations across specific technology-country combinations and show to what extent fossil-fuel subsidies can negatively affect the competitiveness of renewable-energy technologies. Regarding the instrument debate, our results indicate that to foster transformative changes, nationally appropriate mitigation actions are often more suited than a reformed clean development mechanism. Regarding the debate on financial needs, our results highlight the need for a decision on a fair baseline calculation methodology. To this end, we propose a new methodology that incentivizes changes in the baseline through subsidy phase-out. Finally, we contribute to the debate on domestic versus international support for these measures.

  8. How to govern physician-hospital exchanges: contractual and relational issues in Belgian hospitals.

    PubMed

    Trybou, Jeroen; Gemmel, Paul; Annemans, Lieven

    2014-07-01

    Our aim was to investigate contractual mechanisms in physician-hospital exchanges. The concepts of risk-sharing and the nature of physician-hospital exchanges - transactional versus relational - were studied. Two qualitative case studies were performed in Belgium. Hospital executives and physicians were interviewed to develop an in-depth understanding of contractual and relational issues that shape physician-hospital contracting in acute care hospitals. The underlying theoretical concepts of agency theory and social exchange theory were used to analyse the data. Our study found that physician-hospital contracting is highly complex. The contract is far more than an economic instrument governing financial aspects. The effect of the contract on the nature of exchange - whether transactional or relational - also needs to be considered. While it can be argued that contractual governance methods are increasingly necessary to overcome the difficulties that arise from the fragmented payment framework by aligning incentives and sharing financial risk, they undermine the necessary relational governance. Relational qualities such as mutual trust and an integrative view on physician-hospital exchanges are threatened, and may be difficult to sustain, given the current fragmentary payment framework. Since health care policy makers are increasing the financial risk borne by health care providers, it can be argued that this also increases the need to share financial risk and to align incentives between physician and hospital. However, our study demonstrates that while economic alignment is important in determining physician-hospital contracts, the corresponding impact on working relationships should also be considered. Moreover, it is important to avoid a relationship between hospital and physician predominantly characterized by transactional exchanges thereby fostering an unhealthy us-and-them divide and mentality. Relational exchange is a valuable alternative to contractual exchange, stimulating an integrated hospital-physician relationship. Unfortunately, the fragmented payment framework characterized by unaligned incentives is perceived as an obstacle to realize effective collaboration. © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

  9. Automatic flexible endoscope reprocessors.

    PubMed

    Muscarella, L F

    2000-04-01

    Reprocessing medical instruments is a complex and controversial discipline. If all instruments were constructed of materials not damaged by heat, pressure, and moisture, instrument reprocessing would be greatly simplified. As the number of novel and complex instruments entering the market continues to increase, periodic review of the health care facility's instrument reprocessing protocols to ensure their safety and effectiveness is important. This article reviews the advantages and the limitations of automatic flexible endoscope reprocessors.

  10. A Valid and Reliable Instrument for Cognitive Complexity Rating Assignment of Chemistry Exam Items

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Knaus, Karen; Murphy, Kristen; Blecking, Anja; Holme, Thomas

    2011-01-01

    The design and use of a valid and reliable instrument for the assignment of cognitive complexity ratings to chemistry exam items is described in this paper. Use of such an instrument provides a simple method to quantify the cognitive demands of chemistry exam items. Instrument validity was established in two different ways: statistically…

  11. 76 FR 69798 - Survey of U.S. Ownership of Foreign Securities as of December 31, 2011

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-11-09

    ... United States Government, a State or local government, and any agency, corporation, financial institution..., and short-term debt securities (including selected money market instruments). How to Report: Completed...

  12. Hanford Laboratories monthly activities report, February 1964

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    1964-03-16

    This is the monthly report for the Hanford Laboratories Operation, February, 1964. Reactor fuels, chemistry, dosimetry, separation process, reactor technology financial activities, biology operation, physics and instrumentation research, employee relations, applied mathematics, programming, and radiation protection are discussed.

  13. Hanford Atomic Products Operation monthly report for June 1955

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    1955-07-28

    This is the monthly report for the Hanford Atomic Products Operation, June, 1955. Metallurgy, reactor fuels, chemistry, dosimetry, separation processes, reactor technology, financial activities, visits, biology operation, physics and instrumentation research, and employee relations are discussed.

  14. Hanford Atomic Products Operation monthly report, January 1956

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    1956-02-24

    This is the monthly report for the Hanford Atomic Laboratories Products Operation, February, 1956. Metallurgy, reactor fuels, chemistry, dosimetry, separation processes, reactor technology, financial activities, visits, biology operation, physics and instrumentation research, and employee relations are discussed.

  15. 5 CFR 2634.502 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 5 Administrative Personnel 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Definitions. 2634.502 Section 2634.502 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS GOVERNMENT ETHICS EXECUTIVE BRANCH FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE... 1978, subpart D of this part, and the trust instrument. ...

  16. The effect of interest rate derivative transactions on debt savings for not-for-profit health systems.

    PubMed

    Venkataramani, Prakash; Johnson, Tricia; O'Neil, Patricia; Poindexter, Victoria; Rooney, Jeffrey

    2006-01-01

    The utilization of interest rate derivative instruments in US for-profit companies has grown exponentially since the early 1980s. International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA), reported that the amount of outstanding standard swaps grew by 25 percent during the first six months of 2003. The growth rate of all interest rate derivatives, which includes single-currency interest rate swaps, cross-currency interest rate swaps, and interest rate options, grew by 24 percent during the same period. The total outstanding amount of interest rate derivatives now totals $123.9 trillion compared to $99.9 trillion at the end of 2002 (Dodd, 2003). This explosion in usage is a testament to the efficacy and flexibility of the instruments and the increased appreciation by financial managers of the importance of financial risk management in a volatile interest rate environment.

  17. The Critical Difference: Student Financial Aid and Educational Opportunities in California.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eureka Project, Sacramento, CA.

    Student financial aid in California is a major, complex educational industry, with expenditures of approximately $1,500,000,000 for 1988. Information is provided on whether the student financial system as a whole has made a critical difference to who can afford to go to college, who has gone to college, and where students have gone to college. The…

  18. Threshold behaviors of social dynamics and financial outcomes of Ponzi scheme diffusion in complex networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fu, Peihua; Zhu, Anding; Ni, He; Zhao, Xin; Li, Xiulin

    2018-01-01

    Ponzi schemes always lead to mass disasters after collapse. It is important to study the critical behaviors of both social dynamics and financial outcomes for Ponzi scheme diffusion in complex networks. We develop the potential-investor-divestor-investor (PIDI) model by considering the individual behavior of direct reinvestment. We find that only the spreading rate relates to the epidemic outbreak while the reinvestment rate relates to the zero and non-zero final states for social dynamics of both homo- and inhomogeneous networks. Financially, we find that there is a critical spreading threshold, above which the scheme needs not to use its own initial capital for taking off, i.e. the starting cost is covered by the rapidly inflowing funds. However, the higher the cost per recruit, the larger the critical spreading threshold and the worse the financial outcomes. Theoretical and simulation results also reveal that schemes are easier to take off in inhomogeneous networks. The reinvestment rate does not affect the starting. However, it improves the financial outcome in the early stages and postpones the outbreak of financial collapse. Some policy suggestions for the regulator from the perspective of social physics are proposed in the end of the paper.

  19. The Study on University Financial Management under Knowledge Economy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yongfan, Xu

    The coming of knowledge economy creates unprecedented situation of economy development. The trend of education's globalization as well as communication means frequently updated severely hit the system of financial management. Along with the deep going of education industrialization, and development of logistics management socialization, system and content of university financial management are increasingly expending and getting more and more complex that result in new challenge and problems to financial management. In order to step up with university development of internationalization and the logistics development of socialization, the financial management has to reform in response to this new challenge and trend.

  20. Robotics: a way to link the "islands of automation".

    PubMed

    O'Bryan, D

    1994-01-01

    This article looks at what the natural evolution of robots can do for the clinical testing industry, from performing simple functions to becoming the prime labor force of the clinical laboratory. Until now, robots have been applied to instrument processes as somewhat of an upgrade to accomplish a variety of laboratory tasks. Over the next 10 years, however, robotics development will respond to the internal and external influences expected to challenge the industry. A limited supply of human workers and the increased demands of testing volumes and cost-effectiveness will herald a new phase of robotics to link, as well as develop, technological capabilities. Since science fiction was invented, robots have teased the imagination-alternately as mindless automatons or as clones of their inventors endowed with minds of their own. The appeal in the first case was the seemingly infinite capacity for performing menial tasks too boring, complex, or dangerous for mankind. The appeal in the second was the fantasy of artificial intelligence. In both cases, the fictional concept has become reality--and, by the 21st century, should even be commonplace. Financial encouragement of robotics development might even be a mission for laboratories themselves, as they prepare for potential competition from even more complex technology.

  1. 77 FR 68206 - Survey of U.S. Ownership of Foreign Securities as of December 31, 2012

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-11-15

    ... Government, a State or local government, and any agency, corporation, financial institution, or other entity... money market instruments). How To Report: Completed reports can be submitted electronically or mailed to...

  2. Hanford Laboratories Operation monthly activities report, August 1959

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    1959-09-15

    This is the monthly report for the Hanford Laboratories Operation, August, 1959. Reactor fuels, chemistry, dosimetry, separation processes, reactor technology financial activities, visits, biology operation, physics and instrumentation research, employee relations, and operations research and synthesis operation are discussed.

  3. Hanford Laboratories Operation monthly activities report, September 1961

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    1961-10-16

    This is the monthly report for the Hanford Laboratories Operation September 1961. Reactor fuels, chemistry, dosimetry, separation processes, reactor technology, financial activities, biology operation, physics and instrumentation research, operations research and synthesis, programming, and radiation protection operation are discussed.

  4. Notification: EPA Progress in Reducing Taxpayer Environmental Liabilities

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Project #OPE-FY15-0052, May 28, 2015. The EPA OIG plans to begin preliminary research on the EPA’s progress in reducing taxpayer liabilities through the use of financial assurance instruments for RCRA facilities and Superfund sites.

  5. Correlates of physician visits among older adults in China: the effects of family support.

    PubMed

    Li, Yawen; Chi, Iris

    2011-09-01

    We examined how family support influenced the use of health services among older Chinese adults. Data came from a national representative survey including 20,255 respondents aged 60 and older. The dependent variable was the number of physician visits in the past 12 months. Family support variables include living arrangement, family size, financial support, instrumental support, and filial piety. Providing or receiving financial support increased the likelihood as well as number of physician visits. By contrast, living with children and regarding children as filial decreased physician visits. Financial sufficiency as indicated by the exchange of financial resources within families indicates the importance of money in predicting older adults' physician visits. Living with children may indicate a higher level of support, which substitutes some of physician services. Perceiving children as being filial may render psychological protective effects to older adults which results in less health service use.

  6. Reusable single-port access device shortens operative time and reduces operative costs.

    PubMed

    Shussman, Noam; Kedar, Asaf; Elazary, Ram; Abu Gazala, Mahmoud; Rivkind, Avraham I; Mintz, Yoav

    2014-06-01

    In recent years, single-port laparoscopy (SPL) has become an attractive approach for performing surgical procedures. The pitfalls of this approach are technical and financial. Financial concerns are due to the increased cost of dedicated devices and prolonged operating room time. Our aim was to calculate the cost of SPL using a reusable port and instruments in order to evaluate the cost difference between this approach to SPL using the available disposable ports and standard laparoscopy. We performed 22 laparoscopic procedures via the SPL approach using a reusable single-port access system and reusable laparoscopic instruments. These included 17 cholecystectomies and five other procedures. Operative time, postoperative length of stay (LOS) and complications were prospectively recorded and were compared with similar data from our SPL database. Student's t test was used for statistical analysis. SPL was successfully performed in all cases. Mean operative time for cholecystectomy was 72 min (range 40-116). Postoperative LOS was not changed from our standard protocols and was 1.1 days for cholecystectomy. The postoperative course was within normal limits for all patients and perioperative morbidity was recorded. Both operative time and length of hospital stay were shorter for the 17 patients who underwent cholecystectomy using a reusable port than for the matched previous 17 SPL cholecystectomies we performed (p < 0.001). Prices of disposable SPL instruments and multiport access devices as well as extraction bags from different manufacturers were used to calculate the cost difference. Operating with a reusable port ended up with an average cost savings of US$388 compared with using disposable ports, and US$240 compared with standard laparoscopy. Single-port laparoscopic surgery is a technically challenging and expensive surgical approach. Financial concerns among others have been advocated against this approach; however, we demonstrate herein that using a reusable port and instruments reduces operative time and overall operative costs, even beyond the cost of standard laparoscopy.

  7. FINANCIAL LITERACY AROUND THE WORLD: AN OVERVIEW

    PubMed Central

    Lusardi, Annamaria; Mitchell, Olivia S.

    2017-01-01

    In an increasingly risky and globalized marketplace, people must be able to make well-informed financial decisions. Yet new international research demonstrates that financial illiteracy is widespread when financial markets are well developed as in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, Italy, New Zealand, and the United States, or when they are changing rapidly as in Russia. Further, across these countries, we show that the older population believes itself well informed, even though it is actually less well informed than average. Other common patterns are also evident: women are less financially literate than men and are aware of this shortfall. More educated people are more informed, yet education is far from a perfect proxy for literacy. There are also ethnic/racial and regional differences: city-dwellers in Russia are better informed than their rural counterparts, while in the U.S., African Americans and Hispanics are relatively less financially literate than others. Moreover, the more financially knowledgeable are also those most likely to plan for retirement. In fact, answering one additional financial question correctly is associated with a 3–4 percentage point higher chance of planning for retirement in countries as diverse as Germany, the U.S., Japan, and Sweden; in the Netherlands, it boosts planning by 10 percentage points. Finally, using instrumental variables, we show that these estimates probably underestimate the effects of financial literacy on retirement planning. In sum, around the world, financial literacy is critical to retirement security. PMID:28553190

  8. AIR Instrument Array

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jones, I. W.; Wilson, J. W.; Maiden, D. L.; Goldhagen, P.; Shinn, J. L.

    2003-01-01

    The large number of radiation types composing the atmospheric radiation requires a complicated combination of instrument types to fully characterize the environment. A completely satisfactory combination has not as yet been flown and would require a large capital outlay to develop. In that the funds of the current project were limited to essential integration costs, an international collaboration was formed with partners from six countries and fourteen different institutions with their own financial support for their participation. Instruments were chosen to cover sensitivity to all radiation types with enough differential sensitivity to separate individual components. Some instruments were chosen as important to specify the physical field component and other instruments were chosen on the basis that they could be useful in dosimetric evaluation. In the present paper we will discuss the final experimental flight package for the ER-2 flight campaign.

  9. Topological Characteristics of the Hong Kong Stock Market: A Test-based P-threshold Approach to Understanding Network Complexity

    PubMed Central

    Xu, Ronghua; Wong, Wing-Keung; Chen, Guanrong; Huang, Shuo

    2017-01-01

    In this paper, we analyze the relationship among stock networks by focusing on the statistically reliable connectivity between financial time series, which accurately reflects the underlying pure stock structure. To do so, we firstly filter out the effect of market index on the correlations between paired stocks, and then take a t-test based P-threshold approach to lessening the complexity of the stock network based on the P values. We demonstrate the superiority of its performance in understanding network complexity by examining the Hong Kong stock market. By comparing with other filtering methods, we find that the P-threshold approach extracts purely and significantly correlated stock pairs, which reflect the well-defined hierarchical structure of the market. In analyzing the dynamic stock networks with fixed-size moving windows, our results show that three global financial crises, covered by the long-range time series, can be distinguishingly indicated from the network topological and evolutionary perspectives. In addition, we find that the assortativity coefficient can manifest the financial crises and therefore can serve as a good indicator of the financial market development. PMID:28145494

  10. Pathways towards instability in financial networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Caldarelli, Guido; Bardoscia, Marco; Caccioli, Fabio; Battiston, Stefano

    There is growing consensus that processes of market integration and risk diversification may come at the price of more systemic risk. Indeed, financial institutions are interconnected in a network of contracts where distress can either be amplified or dampened. However, a mathematical understanding of instability in relation to the network topology is still lacking. In a model financial network, we show that the origin of instability resides in the presence of specific types of cyclical structures, regardless of many of the details of the distress propagation mechanism. In particular, we show the existence of trajectories in the space of graphs along which a complex network turns from stable to unstable, although at each point along the trajectory its nodes satisfy constraints that would apparently make them individually stable. In the financial context, our findings have important implications for policies aimed at increasing financial stability. We illustrate the propositions on a sample dataset for the top 50 EU listed banks between 2008 and 2013. More in general, our results shed light on previous findings on the instability of model ecosystems and are relevant for a broad class of dynamical processes on complex networks.

  11. Complexity and multifractal behaviors of multiscale-continuum percolation financial system for Chinese stock markets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zeng, Yayun; Wang, Jun; Xu, Kaixuan

    2017-04-01

    A new financial agent-based time series model is developed and investigated by multiscale-continuum percolation system, which can be viewed as an extended version of continuum percolation system. In this financial model, for different parameters of proportion and density, two Poisson point processes (where the radii of points represent the ability of receiving or transmitting information among investors) are applied to model a random stock price process, in an attempt to investigate the fluctuation dynamics of the financial market. To validate its effectiveness and rationality, we compare the statistical behaviors and the multifractal behaviors of the simulated data derived from the proposed model with those of the real stock markets. Further, the multiscale sample entropy analysis is employed to study the complexity of the returns, and the cross-sample entropy analysis is applied to measure the degree of asynchrony of return autocorrelation time series. The empirical results indicate that the proposed financial model can simulate and reproduce some significant characteristics of the real stock markets to a certain extent.

  12. Money on the Table: State Initiatives to Improve Financial Aid Participation. An Achieving the Dream Policy Brief

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Prince, Heath

    2006-01-01

    Increasing the numbers of students who participate in financial aid programs has become a critical issue for many state systems. Reasons for the low rates of financial aid uptake vary, from lack of awareness among students to the many and complex types of aid available to inadequate capacity at the institutional level for conducting outreach to…

  13. Strategic business planning linking strategy with financial reality.

    PubMed

    Bachrodt, Andrew K; Smyth, J Patrick

    2004-11-01

    To succeed in today's complex and often adverse business environment, a healthcare organization's strategic direction must be calculated, focused, and financially sustainable. Strategic business planning is an essential tool to help organizations focus strategic choices within the financial realities of their environment. An effective strategic business planning cycle includes conducting an assessment, identifying business objectives, developing strategy, conducting an impact analysis, and developing an implementation plan.

  14. Do organizational and political-legal arrangements explain financial wrongdoing?

    PubMed

    Prechel, Harland; Zheng, Lu

    2016-12-01

    The 2008 financial crisis was a systemic problem with deep-rooted structural causes that created opportunities to engage in financial malfeasance, a form of corporate wrongdoing. However, few quantitative studies exist on the effects of organizational and political-legal arrangements on financial malfeasance. In this paper, we examine the effects of organizational and political-legal arrangements that emerged in the 1990s in the FIRE sector (i.e., financial, insurance, and real estate) on financial malfeasance. Our historical contextualization demonstrates how changes in the political-legal arrangements facilitate the emergence of new corporate structures and opportunities for financial malfeasance. Our longitudinal quantitative analysis demonstrates that US FIRE sector corporations with a more complex organizational structure, larger size, lower dividend payment, and higher executive compensation are more prone to commit financial malfeasance. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2016.

  15. Understanding Financial Market States Using an Artificial Double Auction Market

    PubMed Central

    2016-01-01

    The ultimate value of theories describing the fundamental mechanisms behind asset prices in financial systems is reflected in the capacity of such theories to understand these systems. Although the models that explain the various states of financial markets offer substantial evidence from the fields of finance, mathematics, and even physics, previous theories that attempt to address the complexities of financial markets in full have been inadequate. We propose an artificial double auction market as an agent-based model to study the origin of complex states in financial markets by characterizing important parameters with an investment strategy that can cover the dynamics of the financial market. The investment strategies of chartist traders in response to new market information should reduce market stability based on the price fluctuations of risky assets. However, fundamentalist traders strategically submit orders based on fundamental value and, thereby stabilize the market. We construct a continuous double auction market and find that the market is controlled by the proportion of chartists, Pc. We show that mimicking the real state of financial markets, which emerges in real financial systems, is given within the range Pc = 0.40 to Pc = 0.85; however, we show that mimicking the efficient market hypothesis state can be generated with values less than Pc = 0.40. In particular, we observe that mimicking a market collapse state is created with values greater than Pc = 0.85, at which point a liquidity shortage occurs, and the phase transition behavior is described at Pc = 0.85. PMID:27031110

  16. Understanding Financial Market States Using an Artificial Double Auction Market.

    PubMed

    Yim, Kyubin; Oh, Gabjin; Kim, Seunghwan

    2016-01-01

    The ultimate value of theories describing the fundamental mechanisms behind asset prices in financial systems is reflected in the capacity of such theories to understand these systems. Although the models that explain the various states of financial markets offer substantial evidence from the fields of finance, mathematics, and even physics, previous theories that attempt to address the complexities of financial markets in full have been inadequate. We propose an artificial double auction market as an agent-based model to study the origin of complex states in financial markets by characterizing important parameters with an investment strategy that can cover the dynamics of the financial market. The investment strategies of chartist traders in response to new market information should reduce market stability based on the price fluctuations of risky assets. However, fundamentalist traders strategically submit orders based on fundamental value and, thereby stabilize the market. We construct a continuous double auction market and find that the market is controlled by the proportion of chartists, Pc. We show that mimicking the real state of financial markets, which emerges in real financial systems, is given within the range Pc = 0.40 to Pc = 0.85; however, we show that mimicking the efficient market hypothesis state can be generated with values less than Pc = 0.40. In particular, we observe that mimicking a market collapse state is created with values greater than Pc = 0.85, at which point a liquidity shortage occurs, and the phase transition behavior is described at Pc = 0.85.

  17. Robot-like dexterity without computers and motors: a review of hand-held laparoscopic instruments with wrist-like tip articulation

    PubMed Central

    Anderson, Patrick L.; Lathrop, Ray A.; Webster, Robert J.

    2018-01-01

    Introduction Conventional manual laparoscopic instruments for minimally invasive surgery have limited dexterity within the patient, making procedures challenging. Surgical robotic systems offer enhanced articulation, but at substantial financial costs. This has motivated the development of high-dexterity, low-cost laparoscopic instruments. Areas covered This article reviews both commercial and academic results on creating fully mechanical (i.e. non-robotic) laparoscopic instruments that provide wrists or wrist-like dexterity within the patient. We review the state of the art in the development of these mechanical instruments, focusing on the surgeon interface, wrist mechanism, and the kinematic mapping between the two. Expert commentary Current articulated mechanical laparoscopic instruments exhibit a wide range of designs, with no clear consensus on what makes such devices easy to use. As these technologies mature, user studies are needed to determine surgeon preferences. Articulated, low-cost instruments have the potential to impact the minimally invasive surgery market if they provide compelling benefits to surgeons. PMID:26808896

  18. Robot-like dexterity without computers and motors: a review of hand-held laparoscopic instruments with wrist-like tip articulation.

    PubMed

    Anderson, Patrick L; Lathrop, Ray A; Webster, Robert J

    2016-07-01

    Conventional manual laparoscopic instruments for minimally invasive surgery have limited dexterity within the patient, making procedures challenging. Surgical robotic systems offer enhanced articulation, but at substantial financial costs. This has motivated the development of high-dexterity, low-cost laparoscopic instruments. This article reviews both commercial and academic results on creating fully mechanical (i.e. non-robotic) laparoscopic instruments that provide wrists or wrist-like dexterity within the patient. We review the state of the art in the development of these mechanical instruments, focusing on the surgeon interface, wrist mechanism, and the kinematic mapping between the two. Expert commentary: Current articulated mechanical laparoscopic instruments exhibit a wide range of designs, with no clear consensus on what makes such devices easy to use. As these technologies mature, user studies are needed to determine surgeon preferences. Articulated, low-cost instruments have the potential to impact the minimally invasive surgery market if they provide compelling benefits to surgeons.

  19. 76 FR 64328 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-10-18

    ... financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of... disaster deployments, the Corporation's expectations for performance upon selection, and the application...: Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the...

  20. 76 FR 9559 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-02-18

    ..., reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood... appropriate data for the Corporation's required performance measurement and other reporting. DATES: Written... proper performance of the functions of the Corporation, including whether the information will have...

  1. Hanford Atomic Products Operation monthly report for March 1956

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Not Available

    1956-04-20

    This is the monthly report for the Hanford Laboratories Operation, March, 1956. Metallurgy, reactor fuels, chemistry, dosimetry, separation processes, reactor technology; financial activities, visits, biology operation, physics and instrumentation research, employee relations, pile technology, safety and radiological sciences are discussed.

  2. ANNUAL REPORT, JULY 1, 1960

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    None

    1961-10-31

    Research facilities, general construction progress, research activities, and administration are discussed and a financial statement is given. Fairly detailed accounts are given of research programs in the fields of physics, accelerator development, instrumentation, applied mathematics, chemistry, nuclear engineering, biology, and medicine. (M.C.G.)

  3. 77 FR 28357 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-05-14

    ..., reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood...; Professional Corps; Indian Tribes; States and Territories without Commissions; and State and National Planning... National Planning. OMB Number: 3045-0047. Agency Number: None. Affected Public: Nonprofit organizations...

  4. 76 FR 57025 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-09-15

    ..., reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood... Corps; Indian Tribes; States and Territories without Commissions; and State and National Planning...; Professional Corps; Indian Tribes; States and Territories without Commissions; and State and National Planning...

  5. The Working of Circuit Breakers Within Percolation Models for Financial Markets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ehrenstein, Gudrun; Westerhoff, Frank

    We use a modified Cont-Bouchaud model to explore the effectiveness of trading breaks. The modifications include that the trading activity of the market participants depends positively on historical volatility and that the orders of the agents are conditioned on the observed mispricing. Trading breaks, also called circuit breakers, interrupt the trading process when prices are about to exceed a pre-specified limit. We find that trading breaks are a useful instrument to stabilize financial markets. In particular, trading breaks may reduce price volatility and deviations from fundamentals.

  6. Workplace Financial Wellness Programs Help Employees Manage Health Care Changes.

    PubMed

    Meyer, Cynthia; Smith, Michael C

    Employers and employees are navigating major changes in health insurance benefits, including the move to high-deductible health plans in conjunction with health savings accounts (HSAs). The HSA offers unique benefits that could prove instrumental in helping workers both navigate current health care expenses and build a nest egg for much larger health care costs in retirement. Yet employees often don't understand the HSA and how to best use it. How can employers help employees make wise benefits choices that work for their personal financial circumstances?

  7. Responses to Financial Loss During the Great Recession: An Examination of Sense of Control in Late Midlife.

    PubMed

    Mejía, Shannon T; Settersten, Richard A; Odden, Michelle C; Hooker, Karen

    2016-07-01

    The "Great Recession" shocked the primary institutions that help individuals and families meet their needs and plan for the future. This study examines middle-aged adults' experiences of financial loss and considers how socioeconomic and interpersonal resources facilitate or hinder maintaining a sense of control in the face of economic uncertainty. Using the 2006 and 2010 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, change in income and wealth, giving help to and receiving help from others, household complexity, and sense of control were measured among middle-aged adults (n = 3,850; age = 51-60 years). Socioeconomic resources predicted both the level of and change in the engagement of interpersonal resources prior to and during the Great Recession. Experiences of financial loss were associated with increased engagement of interpersonal resources and decreased sense of control. The effect of financial loss was dampened by education. Sense of control increased with giving help and decreased with household complexity. Findings suggest that, across socioeconomic strata, proportional loss in financial resources resulted in a loss in sense of control. However, responses to financial loss differed by socioeconomic status, which differentiated the ability to maintain a sense of control following financial loss. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  8. Financial Markets during Highly Anxious Time: Multifractal Fluctuations in Asset Returns

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Siokis, Fotios M.

    Building on the notion that systems and in particular complex systems such as stock exchange markets reveal their structure better when they are under stress, we analyze the multifractal character and nonlinear properties of four major stock market indices during financial meltdowns by means of the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA). The three distinct financial crises under investigation are the Black Monday, the Dot-Com and the Great Recession. Scaling and Hurst exponents are derived as well as the singularity spectra. The results show that all indices exhibit strong multifractal properties. The complexity of the markets is higher under the Black Monday event revealed by the width of the singularity spectrum and the higher α0 parameter.

  9. Cognitive correlates of financial abilities in mild cognitive impairment.

    PubMed

    Okonkwo, Ozioma C; Wadley, Virginia G; Griffith, H Randall; Ball, Karlene; Marson, Daniel C

    2006-11-01

    To investigate the cognitive correlates of financial abilities in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Controlled, matched-sample, cross-sectional analysis regressing five cognitive composites on financial performance measures. University medical and research centers. Forty-three persons with MCI and 43 normal controls. The Financial Capacity Instrument (FCI) and a comprehensive neurocognitive battery. Patients with MCI performed significantly worse than controls on cognitive domains of executive function, memory, and language and on FCI domains of financial conceptual knowledge, bank statement management, and bill payment. Patients with MCI also needed significantly more time to complete a multistep financial task and were significantly more likely than controls to make errors on this task. Stepwise regression models revealed that, within the MCI group, attention and executive function were significant correlates of FCI performance. Although impaired memory is the cardinal deficit in MCI, the neurocognitive basis of lower functional performance in MCI appears to be emergent declines in abilities to selectively attend, self-monitor, and temporally integrate information. Compromised performance on cognitive measures of attention and executive function may constitute clinical markers of lower financial abilities and should be evaluated for its relationship to functional ability in general. These cognitive domains may be appropriate targets of future intervention studies aimed at preservation of functional independence in people with MCI.

  10. The right strategy and perseverance can make an IDS profitable.

    PubMed

    Coddington, D C; Moore, K D

    2001-12-01

    Results of a recent study of 11 leading integrated delivery systems (IDSs) belie the common perception that IDSs are incapable of turning a profit. The study determined that the primary factors driving the poor financial performance of IDSs are organizational complexity, payment reductions mandated by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, and a general lack of foresight regarding financial problems when embarking on an integration strategy. By implementing a wide range of initiatives to stem losses and improve financial performance, several of the case-study IDSs have accomplished dramatic financial turnarounds over the past three years, and all have achieved consistently stronger financial performance.

  11. Hedging the financial risk from water scarcity for Great Lakes shipping

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Meyer, Eliot S.; Characklis, Gregory W.; Brown, Casey; Moody, Paul

    2016-01-01

    Low water levels in the Great Lakes have recently had significant financial impacts on the region's commercial shipping, which transports hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of bulk goods each year. Cargo capacity is a function of a ship's draft, the distance between water level and the ship's bottom, and lower water levels force ships to reduce cargo loads to prevent running aground in shallow harbors and locks. Financial risk transfer instruments, such as index-based insurance contracts, may provide an adaptable method for managing these financial risks. In this work, a relationship between water levels and shipping revenues is developed and used in an actuarial analysis of the frequency and magnitude of revenue losses. This analysis is used to develop a standardized suite of binary financial contracts, which are indexed to water levels and priced according to predefined thresholds. These contracts are then combined to form hedging portfolios with different objectives for the shippers. Results suggest that binary contracts could substantially reduce the risk of financial losses during low lake level periods and at a relatively low cost of only one to three percent of total revenues, depending on coverage level.

  12. The Development of the Network Examination for Student Socialization (NEXSS) Observational Instrument

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rhoades, Jesse Lee; Hastmann, Tanis Joy

    2014-01-01

    The complexity of learning has plagued the educational establishment for decades. Recently, ideas of complexity theory and complex adaptive systems have made headway in how we think of institutions of learning. This study developed and tested an instrument for the modeling of underlying social structures, as an element of complexity, within the…

  13. Structure and Connectivity Analysis of Financial Complex System Based on G-Causality Network

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, Chuan-Ming; Yan, Yan; Zhu, Xiao-Wu; Li, Xiao-Teng; Chen, Xiao-Song

    2013-11-01

    The recent financial crisis highlights the inherent weaknesses of the financial market. To explore the mechanism that maintains the financial market as a system, we study the interactions of U.S. financial market from the network perspective. Applied with conditional Granger causality network analysis, network density, in-degree and out-degree rankings are important indicators to analyze the conditional causal relationships among financial agents, and further to assess the stability of U.S. financial systems. It is found that the topological structure of G-causality network in U.S. financial market changed in different stages over the last decade, especially during the recent global financial crisis. Network density of the G-causality model is much higher during the period of 2007-2009 crisis stage, and it reaches the peak value in 2008, the most turbulent time in the crisis. Ranked by in-degrees and out-degrees, insurance companies are listed in the top of 68 financial institutions during the crisis. They act as the hubs which are more easily influenced by other financial institutions and simultaneously influence others during the global financial disturbance.

  14. Hydrogen Financial Analysis Scenario Tool (H2FAST). Web Tool User's Manual

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Bush, B.; Penev, M.; Melaina, M.

    The Hydrogen Financial Analysis Scenario Tool (H2FAST) provides a quick and convenient indepth financial analysis for hydrogen fueling stations. This manual describes how to use the H2FAST web tool, which is one of three H2FAST formats developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Although all of the formats are based on the same financial computations and conform to generally accepted accounting principles (FASAB 2014, Investopedia 2014), each format provides a different level of complexity and user interactivity.

  15. Peer effects in financial decision making: Evidence from the U.S. Navy

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2017-06-01

    the effect of peers on individual financial decision making . Looking specifically at the decision made by... the bonus element of this option and Redux refers to the reduced annuity one receives as a result of taking the bonus. 1 this decision this paper... the private and public sectors for a variety of reasons. For DOD leadership a better understanding of how its members make complex financial

  16. Application of type synthesis theory to the redesign of a complex surgical instrument.

    PubMed

    Lim, Jonas J B; Erdman, Arthur G

    2002-06-01

    Surgical instruments consist of basic mechanical components such as gears, links, pivots, sliders, etc., which are common in mechanical design. This paper describes the application of a method in the analysis and design of complex surgical instruments such as those employed in laparoscopic surgery. This is believed to be the first application of type synthesis theory to a complex medical instrument. Type synthesis is a methodology that can be applied during the conceptual phase of mechanical design. A handle assembly from a patented laparoscopic surgical stapler is used to illustrate the application of the design method developed. Type synthesis is applied on specific subsystems of the mechanism within the handle assembly where alternative design concepts are generated. Chosen concepts are then combined to form a new conceptual design for the handle assembly. The new handle assembly is improved because it has fewer number of parts, is a simpler design and is easier to assemble. Surgical instrument designers may use the methodology presented here to analyze the mechanical subsystems within complex instruments and to create new options that may offer improvements to the original design.

  17. Pathways towards instability in financial networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bardoscia, Marco; Battiston, Stefano; Caccioli, Fabio; Caldarelli, Guido

    2017-02-01

    Following the financial crisis of 2007-2008, a deep analogy between the origins of instability in financial systems and complex ecosystems has been pointed out: in both cases, topological features of network structures influence how easily distress can spread within the system. However, in financial network models, the details of how financial institutions interact typically play a decisive role, and a general understanding of precisely how network topology creates instability remains lacking. Here we show how processes that are widely believed to stabilize the financial system, that is, market integration and diversification, can actually drive it towards instability, as they contribute to create cyclical structures which tend to amplify financial distress, thereby undermining systemic stability and making large crises more likely. This result holds irrespective of the details of how institutions interact, showing that policy-relevant analysis of the factors affecting financial stability can be carried out while abstracting away from such details.

  18. Pathways towards instability in financial networks

    PubMed Central

    Bardoscia, Marco; Battiston, Stefano; Caccioli, Fabio; Caldarelli, Guido

    2017-01-01

    Following the financial crisis of 2007–2008, a deep analogy between the origins of instability in financial systems and complex ecosystems has been pointed out: in both cases, topological features of network structures influence how easily distress can spread within the system. However, in financial network models, the details of how financial institutions interact typically play a decisive role, and a general understanding of precisely how network topology creates instability remains lacking. Here we show how processes that are widely believed to stabilize the financial system, that is, market integration and diversification, can actually drive it towards instability, as they contribute to create cyclical structures which tend to amplify financial distress, thereby undermining systemic stability and making large crises more likely. This result holds irrespective of the details of how institutions interact, showing that policy-relevant analysis of the factors affecting financial stability can be carried out while abstracting away from such details. PMID:28221338

  19. Pathways towards instability in financial networks.

    PubMed

    Bardoscia, Marco; Battiston, Stefano; Caccioli, Fabio; Caldarelli, Guido

    2017-02-21

    Following the financial crisis of 2007-2008, a deep analogy between the origins of instability in financial systems and complex ecosystems has been pointed out: in both cases, topological features of network structures influence how easily distress can spread within the system. However, in financial network models, the details of how financial institutions interact typically play a decisive role, and a general understanding of precisely how network topology creates instability remains lacking. Here we show how processes that are widely believed to stabilize the financial system, that is, market integration and diversification, can actually drive it towards instability, as they contribute to create cyclical structures which tend to amplify financial distress, thereby undermining systemic stability and making large crises more likely. This result holds irrespective of the details of how institutions interact, showing that policy-relevant analysis of the factors affecting financial stability can be carried out while abstracting away from such details.

  20. 75 FR 78682 - Renewal of a Currently Approved Information Collection

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-12-16

    ..., reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood... Corporation's AmeriCorps' Member Feedback Survey (formerly known as AmeriCorps' Performance Measurement... title change to the AmeriCorps' Member Feedback Survey, from AmeriCorps' Performance Measurement...

  1. 75 FR 71419 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-11-23

    ..., reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood... Community Corp's NCCC Sponsor Survey. This survey was developed to support NCCC performance measurement for... collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Corporation...

  2. 12 CFR 1731.2 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... AND SOUNDNESS MORTGAGE FRAUD REPORTING § 1731.2 Definitions. For purposes of this part— (a) Director... Association or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. (c) Mortgage fraud means a material misstatement... mortgage, including a mortgage associated with a mortgage-backed security or similar financial instrument...

  3. CENTRALIZED MANAGEMENT OF SMALL TREATMENT PLANTS USING INSTRUMENTS AND REMOTE ALARMS

    EPA Science Inventory

    The operation and maintenance of small treatment plants and associated lift stations pose unique and difficult problems to the authority responsible for their performance. Due to financial and manpower limitations, they must operate unattended the majority of the time. Undetected...

  4. 76 FR 6454 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-02-04

    ... format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly...; Professional Corps; Indian Tribes; States and Territories without Commissions; and State and National Planning... Commissions; and State and National Planning. OMB Number: 3045-0047. Agency Number: None. Affected Public...

  5. 76 FR 32992 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-07

    ... NATIONAL FOUNDATION ON THE ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES Proposed Collection; Comment Request ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), as part of its continuing effort to reduce... and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact...

  6. Married Women's Work Status: The Influence of Parents and Husbands.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huth, Carol Monnik

    1978-01-01

    The working or nonworking status of married women free of the financial need to work was studied in relation to the balance between their instrumental and expressive needs and to their own and their husband's attitudes towards women's roles. (Author)

  7. 30 CFR 285.525 - What general requirements must a financial assurance instrument meet?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... terminate a surety's obligation under State law. (g) Your surety must notify you and MMS within 5 business... authorized corporate officer must sign the bond and attest to it over the corporate seal. (f) You may not...

  8. Mapping of reproductive health financing: methodological challenges.

    PubMed

    Pradhan, Jalandhar; Sidze, Estelle Monique; Khanna, Anoop; Beekink, Erik

    2014-10-01

    Low level of funding for reproductive health (RH) is a cause for concern, given that RH service utilization in the vast majority of the developing world is well below the desired level. Though there is an urgent need to track the domestic and international financial resource flows for RH, the instruments through which financial resources are tracked in developing countries are limited. In this paper we examined the methodological and conceptual challenges of monitoring financial resources for RH services at international and national level. At the international level, there are a number of estimates that highlights the need for financial resources for RH programmes but the estimates vary significantly. At the national level, Reproductive Health Accounts (RHA) in the framework of National Health Accounts (NHA) is considered to be the ideal source to track domestic financial flows for RH activities. However, the weak link between data production by the RHA and its application by the stakeholders as well as lack of political will impedes the institutionalization of RHA at the country level. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Detrended fluctuation analysis based on higher-order moments of financial time series

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Teng, Yue; Shang, Pengjian

    2018-01-01

    In this paper, a generalized method of detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) is proposed as a new measure to assess the complexity of a complex dynamical system such as stock market. We extend DFA and local scaling DFA to higher moments such as skewness and kurtosis (labeled SMDFA and KMDFA), so as to investigate the volatility scaling property of financial time series. Simulations are conducted over synthetic and financial data for providing the comparative study. We further report the results of volatility behaviors in three American countries, three Chinese and three European stock markets by using DFA and LSDFA method based on higher moments. They demonstrate the dynamics behaviors of time series in different aspects, which can quantify the changes of complexity for stock market data and provide us with more meaningful information than single exponent. And the results reveal some higher moments volatility and higher moments multiscale volatility details that cannot be obtained using the traditional DFA method.

  10. Modeling and complexity of stochastic interacting Lévy type financial price dynamics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Yiduan; Zheng, Shenzhou; Zhang, Wei; Wang, Jun; Wang, Guochao

    2018-06-01

    In attempt to reproduce and investigate nonlinear dynamics of security markets, a novel nonlinear random interacting price dynamics, which is considered as a Lévy type process, is developed and investigated by the combination of lattice oriented percolation and Potts dynamics, which concerns with the instinctive random fluctuation and the fluctuation caused by the spread of the investors' trading attitudes, respectively. To better understand the fluctuation complexity properties of the proposed model, the complexity analyses of random logarithmic price return and corresponding volatility series are preformed, including power-law distribution, Lempel-Ziv complexity and fractional sample entropy. In order to verify the rationality of the proposed model, the corresponding studies of actual security market datasets are also implemented for comparison. The empirical results reveal that this financial price model can reproduce some important complexity features of actual security markets to some extent. The complexity of returns decreases with the increase of parameters γ1 and β respectively, furthermore, the volatility series exhibit lower complexity than the return series

  11. Nonlinear stochastic interacting dynamics and complexity of financial gasket fractal-like lattice percolation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Wei; Wang, Jun

    2018-05-01

    A novel nonlinear stochastic interacting price dynamics is proposed and investigated by the bond percolation on Sierpinski gasket fractal-like lattice, aim to make a new approach to reproduce and study the complexity dynamics of real security markets. Fractal-like lattices correspond to finite graphs with vertices and edges, which are similar to fractals, and Sierpinski gasket is a well-known example of fractals. Fractional ordinal array entropy and fractional ordinal array complexity are introduced to analyze the complexity behaviors of financial signals. To deeper comprehend the fluctuation characteristics of the stochastic price evolution, the complexity analysis of random logarithmic returns and volatility are preformed, including power-law distribution, fractional sample entropy and fractional ordinal array complexity. For further verifying the rationality and validity of the developed stochastic price evolution, the actual security market dataset are also studied with the same statistical methods for comparison. The empirical results show that this stochastic price dynamics can reconstruct complexity behaviors of the actual security markets to some extent.

  12. Have we been successful? Monitoring horizontal forest complexity for forest restoration projects

    Treesearch

    Yvette L. Dickinson; Kristen A. Pelz; Emma Giles; Josh Howie

    2016-01-01

    Forest management today often seeks to restore ecological integrity and enhance human well-being by increasing forest complexity, resilience, and functionality. However, effective and financially expedient monitoring of forest complexity is challenging. In this study, we developed a practical and inexpensive technique to measure horizontal forest complexity....

  13. Novel indexes based on network structure to indicate financial market

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhong, Tao; Peng, Qinke; Wang, Xiao; Zhang, Jing

    2016-02-01

    There have been various achievements to understand and to analyze the financial market by complex network model. However, current studies analyze the financial network model but seldom present quantified indexes to indicate or forecast the price action of market. In this paper, the stock market is modeled as a dynamic network, in which the vertices refer to listed companies and edges refer to their rank-based correlation based on price series. Characteristics of the network are analyzed and then novel indexes are introduced into market analysis, which are calculated from maximum and fully-connected subnets. The indexes are compared with existing ones and the results confirm that our indexes perform better to indicate the daily trend of market composite index in advance. Via investment simulation, the performance of our indexes is analyzed in detail. The results indicate that the dynamic complex network model could not only serve as a structural description of the financial market, but also work to predict the market and guide investment by indexes.

  14. 75 FR 61786 - Northern Lights Fund Trust, et al.; Notice of Application

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-10-06

    ...] Northern Lights Fund Trust, et al.; Notice of Application September 30, 2010. AGENCY: Securities and... certain financial instruments. Applicants: Northern Lights Fund Trust (``NLFT''), Arrow Investment Advisors, LLC (``AIA''), and Northern Lights Distributors, LLC (``NLD''). Filing Dates: The application was...

  15. Collective Bargaining As an Instrument of Change.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ayers, Steven V.

    1998-01-01

    The Hilton Central School District, New York, utilized the collective bargaining process to create a financial incentive that would motivate teachers to achieve a baseline level of technological competency. Describes the negotiated agreement, results obtained during the initial year of implementation, and future plans. (MLF)

  16. 47 CFR 1.1158 - Form of payment for regulatory fees.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... instrument and cover mass media, common carrier, international, and cable service fee payments. Each... Section 1.1158 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE Schedule.... dollars and drawn on a United States financial institution and made payable to the Federal Communications...

  17. 77 FR 25706 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-05-01

    ... ensure that requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial... sections of the collection instrument to reflect changes in the performance measures as approved by OMB and which will capture appropriate data for the Corporation's required performance measurement reporting...

  18. 75 FR 15692 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-03-30

    ..., reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood... Performance Reporting System, also referred to as the Learn and Serve Systems and Information Exchange (LASSIE... information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Corporation, including whether the...

  19. 76 FR 20990 - Submission for OMB review; comment request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-04-14

    ... and unearned income information reported to IRS by employers and financial institutions. The IRS 1099 information is used to locate noncustodial parents and to verify income and employment. Respondents: Annual Burden Estimates Number of Average Instrument Number of responses per burden hours Total burden...

  20. The TI-99/4A Software.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wrege, Rachael; And Others

    1982-01-01

    Describes the software modules produced by Texas Instruments for use with the TI-99/4A home computer. Among the modules described are: Personal Real Estate, Programing Aids, Home Financial Decisions, Music Maker, Weight Control and Nutrition, Early Learning Fun, and Tax/Investment Record Keeping. (JL)

  1. 10 CFR 4.21 - General requirements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... purpose involving the provision of similar services or benefits. In the case of personal property the... instrument effecting or recording the transfer shall contain a covenant running with the land assuring... benefits. Where no transfer of property is involved, but property is improved with Federal financial...

  2. 31 CFR 596.311 - Transaction.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ...)(3), as from time to time amended. As of the effective date, this term includes a purchase, sale, loan, pledge, gift, transfer, delivery, or other disposition, and with respect to a financial... of credit, purchase or sale of any stock, bond, certificate of deposit, or other monetary instrument...

  3. Intergenerational Exchanges of Middle-Aged Adults With Their Parents and Parents-In-Law in Korea

    PubMed Central

    Kim, Kyungmin; Zarit, Steven H.; Fingerman, Karen L.; Han, Gyounghae

    2015-01-01

    The authors investigated patterns of support exchanges between Korean adult children and their parents and parents-in-law, gender differences in these patterns, and implications of children’s marital quality for exchange patterns. Data were from a nationally representative sample of married adults (N = 920, age 30–59 years) with at least 1 living parent and 1 living parent-in-law. Latent class analysis was applied to 12 indicators of exchanges (financial, instrumental, emotional support given to and received from parents and parents-in-law). Five classes of exchanges were identified, 3 showing balanced patterns of exchanges with parents and parents-in-law across three types of support and 2 classes with unbalanced patterns (e.g., giving instrumental and financial, but not emotional support). The findings revealed variability in intergenerational exchange patterns, with a mix of patrilineal traditional and balanced patterns. Significant associations of exchange patterns with adult children’s marital quality suggest the importance of balanced exchanges with parents for marriage. PMID:25937670

  4. Mesoscopic Community Structure of Financial Markets Revealed by Price and Sign Fluctuations.

    PubMed

    Almog, Assaf; Besamusca, Ferry; MacMahon, Mel; Garlaschelli, Diego

    2015-01-01

    The mesoscopic organization of complex systems, from financial markets to the brain, is an intermediate between the microscopic dynamics of individual units (stocks or neurons, in the mentioned cases), and the macroscopic dynamics of the system as a whole. The organization is determined by "communities" of units whose dynamics, represented by time series of activity, is more strongly correlated internally than with the rest of the system. Recent studies have shown that the binary projections of various financial and neural time series exhibit nontrivial dynamical features that resemble those of the original data. This implies that a significant piece of information is encoded into the binary projection (i.e. the sign) of such increments. Here, we explore whether the binary signatures of multiple time series can replicate the same complex community organization of the financial market, as the original weighted time series. We adopt a method that has been specifically designed to detect communities from cross-correlation matrices of time series data. Our analysis shows that the simpler binary representation leads to a community structure that is almost identical with that obtained using the full weighted representation. These results confirm that binary projections of financial time series contain significant structural information.

  5. The highly intelligent virtual agents for modeling financial markets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, G.; Chen, Y.; Huang, J. P.

    2016-02-01

    Researchers have borrowed many theories from statistical physics, like ensemble, Ising model, etc., to study complex adaptive systems through agent-based modeling. However, one fundamental difference between entities (such as spins) in physics and micro-units in complex adaptive systems is that the latter are usually with high intelligence, such as investors in financial markets. Although highly intelligent virtual agents are essential for agent-based modeling to play a full role in the study of complex adaptive systems, how to create such agents is still an open question. Hence, we propose three principles for designing high artificial intelligence in financial markets and then build a specific class of agents called iAgents based on these three principles. Finally, we evaluate the intelligence of iAgents through virtual index trading in two different stock markets. For comparison, we also include three other types of agents in this contest, namely, random traders, agents from the wealth game (modified on the famous minority game), and agents from an upgraded wealth game. As a result, iAgents perform the best, which gives a well support for the three principles. This work offers a general framework for the further development of agent-based modeling for various kinds of complex adaptive systems.

  6. Campus Financial Systems for the Future.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jonas, Stephen; And Others

    This handbook guides college and university business officers, from small liberal arts colleges to community colleges to research universities, through the complex set of decisions and actions associated with replacing financial management systems. It lists the steps necessary to evaluate an institution's current hardware, network, and software;…

  7. Communicating with Investigators about Financial Compensation for Statistical Collaboration

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ittenbach, Richard F.; DeAngelis, Francis W.; Altaye, Mekibib

    2013-01-01

    Communicating with investigators about financial compensation in the area of statistical collaboration represents an important but often underemphasized component of biomedical research. The more complex the area, the greater the need for sound and effective communication strategies. Ittenbach and DeAngelis (2012) recently compared two…

  8. LP instrument for "Obstanovka" experiment: use of wireless communication in complex space-borne experiments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kirov, Boian; Batchvarov, Ditchko; Krasteva, Rumiana; Boneva, Ani; Nedkov, Rumen; Klimov, Stanislav; Stainov, Gencho

    The advance of the new wireless communications provides additional opportunities for spaceborne experiments. It is now possible to have one basic instrument collecting information from several sensors without burdensome harnessing among them. Besides, the wireless connection among various elements inside the instrument allows the hardware upgrading to be realized without changing globally the whole instrument. In complex experiments consisting of several instruments, the possibility is provided for continuous communication among the instruments, and for optimal choice of the appropriate mode of operation by the central processor. In the present paper, the LP instrument (electrostatic Langmuir probe) is described - an element of "Obstanovka" experiment designed to operate aboard the International Space Station, emphasizing on the use of wireless communication between the sensors and the main instrument.

  9. Health-related quality of life in HIV/AIDS patients on antiretroviral therapy at a tertiary care facility in Zimbabwe.

    PubMed

    Mafirakureva, N; Dzingirai, B; Postma, M J; van Hulst, M; Khoza, S

    2016-07-01

    Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a broad concept reflecting a patient's general subjective perception of the effect of an illness or intervention on physical, psychological and social aspects of their daily life. HRQoL among patients infected with HIV has become an important indicator of impact of disease and treatment outcomes. A cross-sectional survey was carried out at Chitungwiza Central Hospital, Zimbabwe, to assess HRQoL in patients with HIV/AIDS receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART), using two validated instruments. The HIV/AIDS-targeted quality of life (HAT-QoL) and EuroQoL Five-dimensions-Three-level (EQ-5D-3L) instruments were used to assess HRQoL. Internal consistency reliability and convergent validity of the two instruments were also evaluated. For construct validity, the relationships between HRQoL scores and socio-economic and HIV/AIDS-related characteristics were explored. The median scores for the HAT-QoL dimensions ranged from 33.3 (financial worries) to 100 (HIV mastery). A considerably low HAT-QoL dimension score of 50.0 was observed for sexual function. There were ceiling effects for all HAT-QoL dimension scores except for financial worries and disclosure worries. Floor effects were observed for financial worries and sexual function. The median of the EQ-5D-3L index and visual analogue scale (VAS) was 0.81 and 79.0, respectively. There were no floor or ceiling effects for both the EQ-5D-3L index and VAS. The overall scale Cronbach's alpha was 0.83 for HAT-Qol and 0.67 for EQ-5D-3L. HAT-QoL demonstrated good convergent validity with EQ-5D index (0.58) and VAS (0.40). A higher level of HRQoL was positively and significantly related to income, education and employment. The patients' self-reported HRQoL was generally satisfactory in all the HAT-QoL dimensions as well as the two components on the EQ-5D-3L instrument. The two instruments demonstrated good measurement properties in HIV/AIDS patients receiving ART and have potential for use, alongside biomarkers, in monitoring outcomes of interventions.

  10. Non-arbitrage in financial markets: A Bayesian approach for verification

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cerezetti, F. V.; Stern, Julio Michael

    2012-10-01

    The concept of non-arbitrage plays an essential role in finance theory. Under certain regularity conditions, the Fundamental Theorem of Asset Pricing states that, in non-arbitrage markets, prices of financial instruments are martingale processes. In this theoretical framework, the analysis of the statistical distributions of financial assets can assist in understanding how participants behave in the markets, and may or may not engender arbitrage conditions. Assuming an underlying Variance Gamma statistical model, this study aims to test, using the FBST - Full Bayesian Significance Test, if there is a relevant price difference between essentially the same financial asset traded at two distinct locations. Specifically, we investigate and compare the behavior of call options on the BOVESPA Index traded at (a) the Equities Segment and (b) the Derivatives Segment of BM&FBovespa. Our results seem to point out significant statistical differences. To what extent this evidence is actually the expression of perennial arbitrage opportunities is still an open question.

  11. Impact of Financial Structure on the Cost of Solar Energy

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Mendelsohn, M.; Kreycik, C.; Bird, L.

    2012-03-01

    To stimulate investment in renewable energy generation projects, the federal government developed a series of support structures that reduce taxes for eligible investors--the investment tax credit, the production tax credit, and accelerated depreciation. The nature of these tax incentives often requires an outside investor and a complex financial arrangement to allocate risk and reward among the parties. These financial arrangements are generally categorized as 'advanced financial structures.' Among renewable energy technologies, advanced financial structures were first widely deployed by the wind industry and are now being explored by the solar industry to support significant scale-up in project development. This reportmore » describes four of the most prevalent financial structures used by the renewable sector and evaluates the impact of financial structure on energy costs for utility-scale solar projects that use photovoltaic and concentrating solar power technologies.« less

  12. Health Information Technology (HIT) Adaptation: Refocusing on the Journey to Successful HIT Implementation

    PubMed Central

    McAlearney, Ann Scheck; Sieck, Cynthia J; Hefner, Jennifer L; Huerta, Timothy R

    2017-01-01

    In past years, policies and regulations required hospitals to implement advanced capabilities of certified electronic health records (EHRs) in order to receive financial incentives. This has led to accelerated implementation of health information technologies (HIT) in health care settings. However, measures commonly used to evaluate the success of HIT implementation, such as HIT adoption, technology acceptance, and clinical quality, fail to account for complex sociotechnical variability across contexts and the different trajectories within organizations because of different implementation plans and timelines. We propose a new focus, HIT adaptation, to illuminate factors that facilitate or hinder the connection between use of the EHR and improved quality of care as well as to explore the trajectory of changes in the HIT implementation journey as it is impacted by frequent system upgrades and optimizations. Future research should develop instruments to evaluate the progress of HIT adaptation in both its longitudinal design and its focus on adaptation progress rather than on one cross-sectional outcome, allowing for more generalizability and knowledge transfer. PMID:28882812

  13. Cosmic Discovery

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Harwit, Martin

    1984-04-01

    In the remarkable opening section of this book, a well-known Cornell astronomer gives precise thumbnail histories of the 43 basic cosmic discoveries - stars, planets, novae, pulsars, comets, gamma-ray bursts, and the like - that form the core of our knowledge of the universe. Many of them, he points out, were made accidentally and outside the mainstream of astronomical research and funding. This observation leads him to speculate on how many more major phenomena there might be and how they might be most effectively sought out in afield now dominated by large instruments and complex investigative modes and observational conditions. The book also examines discovery in terms of its political, financial, and sociological context - the role of new technologies and of industry and the military in revealing new knowledge; and methods of funding, of peer review, and of allotting time on our largest telescopes. It concludes with specific recommendations for organizing astronomy in ways that will best lead to the discovery of the many - at least sixty - phenomena that Harwit estimates are still waiting to be found.

  14. 14 CFR 1274.103 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... defined by 31 U.S.C. 6305, cooperative agreements are financial assistance instruments used to stimulate... Government and the recipient share the funding requirements of a program or project at an agreed upon ratio or percentage (normally 50/50). Normally, the Government's payment of its share of the costs is...

  15. 14 CFR 1274.103 - Definitions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... defined by 31 U.S.C. 6305, cooperative agreements are financial assistance instruments used to stimulate... Government and the recipient share the funding requirements of a program or project at an agreed upon ratio or percentage (normally 50/50). Normally, the Government's payment of its share of the costs is...

  16. 45 CFR 74.21 - Standards for financial management systems.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... performance data and develop unit cost information whenever practical. For awards that support research, unit... cost data. (Unit cost data are usually not appropriate for awards that support research.) (5) Written... part 205) apply, payment methods of State agencies, instrumentalities, and fiscal agents shall be...

  17. 76 FR 72729 - SEI Investments Management Corporation, et al.

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-11-25

    ...] SEI Investments Management Corporation, et al. November 18, 2011. AGENCY: Securities and Exchange... Application: Applicants request an order to permit open-end management investment companies relying on rule 12d1-2 under the Act to invest in certain financial instruments. Applicants: SEI Investments Management...

  18. 78 FR 8497 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-02-06

    ... ensure that requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial... Senior Companion Program (SCP) grantees are required to uses these instruments to collect performance... whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of...

  19. 12 CFR 1731.3 - Unsafe and unsound conduct.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... DEVELOPMENT SAFETY AND SOUNDNESS MORTGAGE FRAUD REPORTING § 1731.3 Unsafe and unsound conduct. An Enterprise may not require the repurchase of or may not decline to purchase a mortgage, mortgage backed security, or similar financial instrument because of possible mortgage fraud without promptly reporting to the...

  20. ANNUAL REPORT

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    None

    1959-07-01

    The national laboratory concept, laboratory objectives, the staff, research facilities. research activities, and administration are discussed in general terms and a financial statement is given. Fairly detailed accounts are given for the research programs in the fields of physics, accelerator development, instrumentation, applied mathematics, chemistry, nuclear engineering, biology, and medicine. (W.D.M.)

  1. 40 CFR 93.150 - Prohibition.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... or instrumentality of the Federal Government shall engage in, support in any way or provide financial... Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis was completed as evidenced by a final environmental assessment (EA... January 31, 1994; or (2)(i) Prior to January 31, 1994, an environmental analysis was commenced or a...

  2. 78 FR 40517 - National Endowment for the Arts Proposed Collection; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-07-05

    ... NATIONAL FOUNDATION ON THE ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES National Endowment for the Arts Proposed Collection; Comment Request ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), as part of... financial resources) is minimized; collection instruments are clearly understood; and the impact of...

  3. The Dopamine Receptor D4 Gene (DRD4) and Financial Risk-Taking: Stimulating and Instrumental Risk-Taking Propensity and Motivation to Engage in Investment Activity

    PubMed Central

    Muda, Rafał; Kicia, Mariusz; Michalak-Wojnowska, Małgorzata; Ginszt, Michał; Filip, Agata; Gawda, Piotr; Majcher, Piotr

    2018-01-01

    The Dopamine receptor D4 gene (DRD4) has been previously linked to financial risk-taking propensity. Past works demonstrated that individuals with a specific variant of the DRD4 gene (7R+) are more risk-seeking than people without it (7R−). The most prominent explanation for this effect is the fact that 7R+ individuals are less sensitive to dopamine and thus seek more stimulation to generate “normal” dopaminergic activity and feel pleasure. However, results about this relationship have not been conclusive, and some revealed a lack of the relationship. In the current work, we tested if those unclear results might be explained by the motivation that underlies the risk-taking activity; i.e., if people take risks to feel excitement or if they take risk to obtain a specific goal. In our study we tested the differences in risk-taking between 7R+ and 7R− among people who are experienced in financial risk-taking (113 investors) and non-experienced financial decision makers (104 non-investors). We measured risk-taking propensity with the Holt-Laury test and the Stimulating-Instrumental Risk Inventory. Moreover, we asked investors about their motivations for engaging in investment activity. Our study is the next one to report a lack of differences in risk-taking between 7R+ and 7R− individuals. As well, our results did not indicate any differences between the 7R+ and 7R− investors in motivation to engage in investment activity. We only observed that risk-taking propensity was higher among investors than non-investors and this was noticed for all measures. More research is needed to better understand the genetic foundations of risk-taking, which could answer the question about the substantial variation in the domain of risky financial decisions. PMID:29551965

  4. Student Aid Research. A Manual for Financial Aid Administrators.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Davis, Jerry Sheehan, Ed.

    This manual contains nine articles intended to assist student financial aid professionals in conducting research. Initial chapters provide basic information for those starting to do such research while later chapters deal with more complex issues. Some chapters include appendices that provide examples of the techniques under consideration. from…

  5. Navigating the Complex World of Financial Aid

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baum, Sandy

    2010-01-01

    The financial-aid policies and practices of colleges and universities have made too many headlines in recent times to remain the domain of technical experts. Boards of trustees, like other constituencies that are responsible for the health and well-being of postsecondary institutions, should be asking how issues being raised about student…

  6. Governance and Funding of Higher Education in Germany.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hufner, Klaus

    2003-01-01

    Describes the complex functioning of decision making in relation to legal, administrative, planning, and financial matters in Germany, examining the current increase of privatization of higher education and the ensuring legal and financial problem, and discussing the introduction of new funding schemes based on performance indicators which augur…

  7. Community College Budgeting and Financing Demystified

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Murphy, David S.; Katsinas, Stephen G.

    2014-01-01

    The topic of budgeting and financial resources often strikes fear in the hearts of community college administrators and faculty, as they believe it is an arcane and complex art understood only by accountants and financial specialists. This chapter attempts to demystify the basic concepts involved in budgeting and addresses approaches to budgeting,…

  8. Application of system dynamics for developing financially self-sustaining management policies for water and wastewater systems.

    PubMed

    Rehan, R; Knight, M A; Haas, C T; Unger, A J A

    2011-10-15

    Recently enacted regulations in Canada and elsewhere require water utilities to be financially self-sustaining over the long-term. This implies full cost recovery for providing water and wastewater services to users. This study proposes a new approach to help water utilities plan to meet the requirements of the new regulations. A causal loop diagram is developed for a financially self-sustaining water utility which frames water and wastewater network management as a complex system with multiple interconnections and feedback loops. The novel System Dynamics approach is used to develop a demonstration model for water and wastewater network management. This is the first known application of System Dynamics to water and wastewater network management. The network simulated is that of a typical Canadian water utility that has under invested in maintenance. Model results show that with no proactive rehabilitation strategy the utility will need to substantially increase its user fees to achieve financial sustainability. This increase is further exacerbated when price elasticity of water demand is considered. When the utility pursues proactive rehabilitation, financial sustainability is achieved with lower user fees. Having demonstrated the significance of feedback loops for financial management of water and wastewater networks, the paper makes the case for a more complete utility model that considers the complexity of the system by incorporating all feedback loops. Crown Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Me, Myself, and Money II: Relative Deprivation Predicts Disordered Gambling Severity via Delay Discounting, Especially Among Gamblers Who Have a Financially Focused Self-Concept.

    PubMed

    Tabri, Nassim; Will Shead, N; Wohl, Michael J A

    2017-12-01

    In the current research, we examined whether the known link between relative deprivation and disordered gambling (via delay discounting; i.e., preferences for immediate smaller rewards relative to delayed larger rewards) is moderated by the extent to which gamblers have a financially focused self-concept. Specifically, we hypothesized that delay discounting would be a strong predictor of disordered gambling among those who base their self-worth on their financial success. To test this moderated-mediation model, a community sample of gamblers (N = 239) completed measures that assessed relative deprivation, delay discounting, financially focused self-concept, and disordered gambling severity. As predicted, people who felt more relative deprivation reported more severe symptoms of disordered gambling and this association was mediated by delay discounting. Importantly, this mediated relationship was moderated by the extent to which participants' self-concept was focused on financial success. Among participants whose self-concept was high in financial focus, greater delay discounting (stemming from relative deprivation) was a strong predictor of disordered gambling. Among people whose self-concept was low in financial focus, delay discounting (stemming from relative deprivation) was a weak predictor of disordered gambling. Thus, the magnitude of the indirect effect of relative deprivation on disordered gambling severity was larger among people with a more financially focused self-concept-an effect mediated by delay discounting. These findings suggest that targeting gamblers' financial focus in prevention and treatment interventions may be instrumental in curtailing the development and maintenance of disordered gambling.

  10. The development of an instrument to measure the self-efficacy of students participating in VEX robotics competitions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Robinson, Trevor P.

    The number of robotics competitions has steadily increased over the past 30 years. Schools are implementing robotics competitions to increase student content knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Companies in STEM-related fields are financially supporting robotics competitions to help increase the number of students pursuing careers in STEM among other reasons. These financial supporters and school administrations are asking what the outcomes of students participating in competitive robotics are. Few studies have been conducted to investigate these outcomes. The studies that have been conducted usually compare students in robotics to students not in robotics. There have not been any studies that compare students to themselves before and after participating in robotics competitions. This may be due to the lack of available instruments to measure student outcomes. This study developed an instrument to measure the self-efficacy of students participating in VEX Robotics Competitions (VRC). The VRC is the world's largest and fastest growing robotics competition available for middle and high school students. Self-efficacy was measured because of its importance to the education community. Students with higher self-efficacy tend to persevere through difficult tasks more frequently than students with low self-efficacy. A person's self-efficacy has major influence over what interests, activities, classes, college majors, and careers he or she will pursue in life. The self-efficacy survey instrument created through this study was developed through an occupational and task analysis (OTA), and initial content and face validity was established through the OTA process. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were also conducted to assist in instrument validation. The reliability was calculated using Cronbach's alpha. Face validity was established through the OTA process. Construct validity was established through the factor analyses. The processes of the OTA and factor analyses have created an instrument that results indicate is reliable and valid to use in further research studies.

  11. Build It: Will They Come?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Corrie, Brian; Zimmerman, Todd

    Scientific research is fundamentally collaborative in nature, and many of today's complex scientific problems require domain expertise in a wide range of disciplines. In order to create research groups that can effectively explore such problems, research collaborations are often formed that involve colleagues at many institutions, sometimes spanning a country and often spanning the world. An increasingly common manifestation of such a collaboration is the collaboratory (Bos et al., 2007), a “…center without walls in which the nation's researchers can perform research without regard to geographical location — interacting with colleagues, accessing instrumentation, sharing data and computational resources, and accessing information from digital libraries.” In order to bring groups together on such a scale, a wide range of components need to be available to researchers, including distributed computer systems, remote instrumentation, data storage, collaboration tools, and the financial and human resources to operate and run such a system (National Research Council, 1993). Media Spaces, as both a technology and a social facilitator, have the potential to meet many of these needs. In this chapter, we focus on the use of scientific media spaces (SMS) as a tool for supporting collaboration in scientific research. In particular, we discuss the design, deployment, and use of a set of SMS environments deployed by WestGrid and one of its collaborating organizations, the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in the Mathematical and Computational Sciences (IRMACS) over a 5-year period.

  12. [Monitoring of nursing service context factors: first descriptive results of a cross-sectional Swiss study prior the introduction of SwissDRG].

    PubMed

    Kleinknecht-Dolf, Michael; Spichiger, Elisabeth; Frei, Irena Anna; Müller, Marianne; Martin, Jacqueline S; Spirig, Rebecca

    2015-04-01

    The adoption of DRG-based payment systems has narrowed hospitals' financial margins, necessitating streamlining and process optimization. The experience of other countries shows that this restructuring can influence context factors essential to the delivery of nursing care. As a result, nursing care quality and patient safety may be impacted. The Sinergia Project aims to develop a monitoring model and related instruments to continuously monitor the impact of DRG-based reimbursement on central nursing service context factors. The descriptive, quantitative results were collected within the framework of a study with a mixed methods design by means of an online survey in which nurses from five hospitals participated. The results show that the nursing service context factors examined (nursing care complexity, quality of the work environment, management, moral distress and job satisfaction), have relevance in all practice areas as regards practice setting and nursing care delivery. Patterns can be recognized that are consistent with those found in the literature and which could be an indication of the relationships between the context factors above, as was hypothesized in the model. The study has provided the participating hospitals with useful data upon which to base discussions on ensuring quality of nursing care and practice development, in addition to information important to the further development of the model and the instruments employed.

  13. Analyzing Crisis in Global Financial Indices

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kumar, Sunil; Deo, Nivedita

    We apply the Random Matrix Theory and complex network techniques to 20 global financial indices and study the correlation and network properties before and during the financial crisis of 2008 respectively. We find that the largest eigenvalue deviate significantly from the upper bound which shows a strong correlation between financial indices. By using a sliding window of 25 days we find that largest eigenvalue represent the collective information about the correlation between global financial indices and its trend indicate the market conditions. It is confirmed that eigenvectors corresponding to second largest eigenvalue gives useful information about the sector formation in the global financial indices. We find that these clusters are formed on the basis of the geographical location. The correlation network is constructed using threshold method for different values of threshold θ in the range 0 to 0.9, at θ=0.2 the network is fully connected. At θ=0.6, the Americas, Europe and Asia/Pacific form different clusters before the crisis but during the crisis Americas and Europe are strongly linked. If we further increase the threshold to 0.9 we find that European countries France, Germany and UK consistently constitute the most tightly linked markets before and during the crisis. We find that the structure of Minimum Spanning Tree before the crisis is more star like whereas during the crisis it changes to be more chain like. Using the multifractal analysis, we find that Hurst exponents of financial indices increases during the period of crisis as compared to the period before the crisis. The empirical results verify the validity of measures, and this has led to a better understanding of complex financial markets.

  14. Weighted fractional permutation entropy and fractional sample entropy for nonlinear Potts financial dynamics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, Kaixuan; Wang, Jun

    2017-02-01

    In this paper, recently introduced permutation entropy and sample entropy are further developed to the fractional cases, weighted fractional permutation entropy (WFPE) and fractional sample entropy (FSE). The fractional order generalization of information entropy is utilized in the above two complexity approaches, to detect the statistical characteristics of fractional order information in complex systems. The effectiveness analysis of proposed methods on the synthetic data and the real-world data reveals that tuning the fractional order allows a high sensitivity and more accurate characterization to the signal evolution, which is useful in describing the dynamics of complex systems. Moreover, the numerical research on nonlinear complexity behaviors is compared between the returns series of Potts financial model and the actual stock markets. And the empirical results confirm the feasibility of the proposed model.

  15. A review of financial instruments to pay for predator conservation and encourage human–carnivore coexistence

    PubMed Central

    Dickman, Amy J.; Macdonald, Ewan A.; Macdonald, David W.

    2011-01-01

    One of the greatest challenges in biodiversity conservation today is how to facilitate protection of species that are highly valued at a global scale but have little or even negative value at a local scale. Imperiled species such as large predators can impose significant economic costs at a local level, often in poverty-stricken rural areas where households are least able to tolerate such costs, and impede efforts of local people, especially traditional pastoralists, to escape from poverty. Furthermore, the costs and benefits involved in predator conservation often include diverse dimensions, which are hard to quantify and nearly impossible to reconcile with one another. The best chance of effective conservation relies upon translating the global value of carnivores into tangible local benefits large enough to drive conservation “on the ground.” Although human–carnivore coexistence involves significant noneconomic values, providing financial incentives to those affected negatively by carnivore presence is a common strategy for encouraging such coexistence, and this can also have important benefits in terms of reducing poverty. Here, we provide a critical overview of such financial instruments, which we term “payments to encourage coexistence”; assess the pitfalls and potentials of these methods, particularly compensation and insurance, revenue-sharing, and conservation payments; and discuss how existing strategies of payment to encourage coexistence could be combined to facilitate carnivore conservation and alleviate local poverty. PMID:21873181

  16. A review of financial instruments to pay for predator conservation and encourage human-carnivore coexistence.

    PubMed

    Dickman, Amy J; Macdonald, Ewan A; Macdonald, David W

    2011-08-23

    One of the greatest challenges in biodiversity conservation today is how to facilitate protection of species that are highly valued at a global scale but have little or even negative value at a local scale. Imperiled species such as large predators can impose significant economic costs at a local level, often in poverty-stricken rural areas where households are least able to tolerate such costs, and impede efforts of local people, especially traditional pastoralists, to escape from poverty. Furthermore, the costs and benefits involved in predator conservation often include diverse dimensions, which are hard to quantify and nearly impossible to reconcile with one another. The best chance of effective conservation relies upon translating the global value of carnivores into tangible local benefits large enough to drive conservation "on the ground." Although human-carnivore coexistence involves significant noneconomic values, providing financial incentives to those affected negatively by carnivore presence is a common strategy for encouraging such coexistence, and this can also have important benefits in terms of reducing poverty. Here, we provide a critical overview of such financial instruments, which we term "payments to encourage coexistence"; assess the pitfalls and potentials of these methods, particularly compensation and insurance, revenue-sharing, and conservation payments; and discuss how existing strategies of payment to encourage coexistence could be combined to facilitate carnivore conservation and alleviate local poverty.

  17. Elderly Care and Intrafamily Resource Allocation when Children Migrate.

    PubMed

    Antman, Francisca M

    2012-01-01

    This paper considers the intrafamily allocation of elderly care in the context of international migration where migrant children may be able to provide financial assistance to their parents, but are unable to offer physical care. To investigate the interaction between siblings, I take a non-cooperative view of family decision-making and estimate best response functions for individual physical and financial contributions as a function of siblings' contributions. I address the endogeneity of siblings' contributions and individual migration decisions by using siblings' characteristics as instrumental variables as well as models including family fixed effects. For both migrants and non-migrants, I find evidence that financial contributions function as strategic complements while siblings' time contributions operate as strategic substitutes. This suggests that children's contributions toward elderly care may be based on both strategic bequest and public good motivations.

  18. Elderly Care and Intrafamily Resource Allocation when Children Migrate *

    PubMed Central

    Antman, Francisca M.

    2012-01-01

    This paper considers the intrafamily allocation of elderly care in the context of international migration where migrant children may be able to provide financial assistance to their parents, but are unable to offer physical care. To investigate the interaction between siblings, I take a non-cooperative view of family decision-making and estimate best response functions for individual physical and financial contributions as a function of siblings’ contributions. I address the endogeneity of siblings’ contributions and individual migration decisions by using siblings’ characteristics as instrumental variables as well as models including family fixed effects. For both migrants and non-migrants, I find evidence that financial contributions function as strategic complements while siblings’ time contributions operate as strategic substitutes. This suggests that children’s contributions toward elderly care may be based on both strategic bequest and public good motivations. PMID:22518064

  19. Serotonergic genotypes, neuroticism, and financial choices.

    PubMed

    Kuhnen, Camelia M; Samanez-Larkin, Gregory R; Knutson, Brian

    2013-01-01

    Life financial outcomes carry a significant heritable component, but the mechanisms by which genes influence financial choices remain unclear. Focusing on a polymorphism in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR), we found that individuals possessing the short allele of this gene invested less in equities, were less engaged in actively making investment decisions, and had fewer credit lines. Short allele carriers also showed higher levels of the personality trait neuroticism, despite not differing from others with respect to cognitive skills, education, or wealth. Mediation analysis suggested that the presence of the 5-HTTLPR short allele decreased real life measures of financial risk taking through its influence on neuroticism. These findings show that 5-HTTLPR short allele carriers avoid risky and complex financial choices due to negative emotional reactions, and have implications for understanding and managing individual differences in financial choice.

  20. Market-based Instruments for optimal control of Invasive Insect Species: B. tabaci in Arizona.

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Invasive insect species represent a significant economic risk to both the financial viability of agricultural producers and to the sustainability of U.S. agriculture more generally. With the rapid growth of international trade in agricultural commodities of all types, agricultural systems in the U.S...

  1. The Construction and Initial Validation of the Work Volition Scale

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duffy, Ryan D.; Diemer, Matthew A.; Perry, Justin C.; Laurenzi, Cathy; Torrey, Carrie L.

    2012-01-01

    This study constructed an instrument measuring work volition for adult populations, defined as the perceived capacity to make occupational choices despite constraints. In Study 1, an exploratory factor analysis produced a 3-factor structure containing subscales assessing general volition, financial constraints, and structural constraints. The full…

  2. 78 FR 5841 - Symetra Life Insurance Company, et al.; Notice of Application

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-01-28

    ...] Symetra Life Insurance Company, et al.; Notice of Application January 22, 2013. AGENCY: Securities and... rule 12d1-2 under the Act to invest in certain financial instruments. Applicants: Symetra Life Insurance Company (``Symetra''), First Symetra National Life Insurance Company of New York (``First Symetra...

  3. 78 FR 45534 - Proposed Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-07-29

    ... must have an annual audit of its consolidated financial statements by an independent public accountant... information instruments are placed into OMB's public docket files. The Federal Reserve may not conduct or... public comments are available from the Board's Web site at www.federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/foia...

  4. A Survey of Gender Biases of Freshman Students toward Engineering.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schaer, Barbara; And Others

    1991-01-01

    A survey of 724 freshman engineering orientation students investigated the significance of 5 literature-cited barriers to women's success in engineering--sexual discrimination, financial concerns, academic comfort, career awareness, and locus of control. Significant main effects were found for gender but not ethnic group. The instrument is…

  5. 26 CFR 1.1092(d)-1 - Definitions and special rules.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... organized (such as the London International Financial Futures Exchange, the Marche a Terme International de... covenants relating to the issuer's performance with respect to the debt instrument are materially less... personal property of a type that is actively traded if contracts based on the same or substantially similar...

  6. 26 CFR 1.1092(d)-1 - Definitions and special rules.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... organized (such as the London International Financial Futures Exchange, the Marche a Terme International de... covenants relating to the issuer's performance with respect to the debt instrument are materially less... personal property of a type that is actively traded if contracts based on the same or substantially similar...

  7. 78 FR 72715 - Proposed Revision and Extension of the Approval of Information Collection Requirements

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-12-03

    ... financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of...: [email protected] ; Mail, Hand Delivery, Courier: Regulatory Analysis Branch, Wage and Hour Division, U.S... experience delays in receiving mail in the Washington, DC area, commenters are strongly encouraged to...

  8. Hypoxia, Monitoring, and Mitigation System

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2015-08-01

    Oxygen Saturation Measured via Pulse - Oximeter SRS Software Requirements Specification SW Software TI Texas Instruments uPROC Micro-Processor USAARL...Financial) Table of Figures Figure 1: Pulse OX custom module...Tasks 3, 4 and 5 have not been exercised. Sensor definition testing continued on the custom pulse -ox design. Additional refinement on the pulse

  9. 78 FR 3029 - Comment Request for Information Collection for the Trade Activity Participant Report (TAPR...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-01-15

    ... format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly... (OMB No. 1205-0392), which provides information on participant activities and performance outcomes for... the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the...

  10. 77 FR 3287 - Proposed Information Collection of the Tax Performance System Handbook ETA 407; Extension Without...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-01-23

    ... Tax Performance System Handbook ETA 407; Extension Without Change AGENCY: Employment and Training..., reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood... Tax Performance System (TPS). A copy of the proposed information collection request can be obtained by...

  11. 50 CFR 86.118 - What does this survey instrument include?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... THE INTERIOR (CONTINUED) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE-WILDLIFE SPORT FISH RESTORATION PROGRAM BOATING... boat owners. Part B is for trailerable or “car-top” boat owners. Part C is for State agency and non... and non-State providers of access sites for trailerable or “car-top” boats. (b) Follow these...

  12. 50 CFR 86.118 - What does this survey instrument include?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... THE INTERIOR (CONTINUED) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE-WILDLIFE SPORT FISH RESTORATION PROGRAM BOATING... boat owners. Part B is for trailerable or “car-top” boat owners. Part C is for State agency and non... and non-State providers of access sites for trailerable or “car-top” boats. (b) Follow these...

  13. 50 CFR 86.118 - What does this survey instrument include?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... THE INTERIOR (CONTINUED) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE-WILDLIFE SPORT FISH RESTORATION PROGRAM BOATING... boat owners. Part B is for trailerable or “car-top” boat owners. Part C is for State agency and non... and non-State providers of access sites for trailerable or “car-top” boats. (b) Follow these...

  14. 78 FR 77170 - Division of Federal Employees' Compensation Proposed Extension of Existing Collection; Comment...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-12-20

    ... can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can... Party Settlement (CA- 1032). A copy of the proposed information collection request can be obtained by...

  15. 78 FR 35981 - Proposed Extension of the Approval of Information Collection Requirements

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-06-14

    ... format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly...: Medical Travel Refund Request (OWCP-957). A copy of the proposed information collection request can be... beneficiaries for travel expenses for covered medical treatment. In order to determine whether amounts requested...

  16. 75 FR 7292 - Proposed Extension of the Approval of Information Collection Requirements

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-02-18

    ... format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly...: Medical Travel Refund Request (OWCP-957). A copy of the proposed information collection request can be... beneficiaries for travel expenses for covered medical treatment. In order to determine whether amounts requested...

  17. 75 FR 71456 - Division of Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Proposed Extension of Existing Collection...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-11-23

    ... requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on... comments concerning the proposed collection: Pre-Hearing Statement (LS- 18). A copy of the proposed...

  18. 7 CFR 3015.158 - Competition in the awarding of discretionary grants and cooperative agreements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... as the Federal Register, professional trade journals, agency or program handbooks, the Catalog of... funding instrument intended to be used (grant or cooperative agreement); and (10) The Catalog of Federal... Agriculture (Continued) OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE UNIFORM FEDERAL...

  19. 7 CFR 3015.158 - Competition in the awarding of discretionary grants and cooperative agreements.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... as the Federal Register, professional trade journals, agency or program handbooks, the Catalog of... funding instrument intended to be used (grant or cooperative agreement); and (10) The Catalog of Federal... Agriculture (Continued) OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE UNIFORM FEDERAL...

  20. 77 FR 48566 - The Hartford Mutual Funds, Inc., et al.;

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-08-14

    ...] The Hartford Mutual Funds, Inc., et al.; Notice of Application August 8, 2012. AGENCY: Securities and... to invest in certain financial instruments. Applicants: The Hartford Mutual Funds, Inc., The Hartford Mutual Funds II, Inc., Hartford Series Fund, Inc., Hartford HLS Series Fund II, Inc., Hartford Variable...

  1. 34 CFR 110.23 - Assurances required.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... provision of similar services or benefits. (2) In the case of Federal financial assistance extended to..., the instrument effecting or recording this transfer must contain a covenant running with the land to... services or benefits. (2) If no transfer of property is involved but property is purchased or improved with...

  2. Derivatives and Risk Management in the Petroleum, Natural Gas, and Electricity Industries

    EIA Publications

    2002-01-01

    In February 2002 the Secretary of Energy directed the Energy Information Administration (EIA) to prepare a report on the nature and use of derivative contracts in the petroleum, natural gas, and electricity industries. Derivatives are contracts ('financial instruments') that are used to manage risk, especially price risk.

  3. 48 CFR 31.205-6 - Compensation for personal services.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ...) Corporate securities, such as stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments (see paragraph (d)(2) of this... on changes in the prices of corporate securities or corporate security ownership, such as stock... compensation which is calculated, or valued, based on changes in the price of corporate securities is...

  4. 48 CFR 31.205-6 - Compensation for personal services.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ...) Corporate securities, such as stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments (see paragraph (d)(2) of this... on changes in the prices of corporate securities or corporate security ownership, such as stock... compensation which is calculated, or valued, based on changes in the price of corporate securities is...

  5. Reframing European Doctoral Training for the New ERA

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Repeckaite, Daiva

    2016-01-01

    In 2014 the institutionalization of European higher education and training, as well as research and innovation, policy entered a new phase: a number of financial instruments were simplified and merged. The Erasmus Mundus programme, wherein consortia of European and overseas universities built joint master's or doctoral degrees, was split into two…

  6. Early harvest: The upper atmosphere and cosmic rays

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1980-01-01

    Achievements in space science through 1958 are summarized. Topics discussed are: the scheduling of V-2 flights; the development of newer rockets; the testing of spaceborne instruments; the seeking of financial support for space research; and the problems of international cooperation. Special emphasis is placed on atmospheric sounding.

  7. 76 FR 55288 - Capital Plans; Proposed Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-09-07

    ... and revenues. This is organized similar to, but not identical to, the mandatory Consolidated Financial... statements and approved collection of information instruments are placed into OMB's public docket files. The... statement, and other documentation will be placed into OMB's public docket files, once approved. These...

  8. 78 FR 17235 - Global X Funds, et al.; Notice of Application

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-03-20

    ... SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION [Investment Company Act Release No. 30426; 812-14079] Global X... relying on rule 12d1-2 under the 1940 Act to invest in certain financial instruments. Applicants: Global X Funds (``Trust'''), Global X Management Company LLC (``Adviser'') and SEI Investment Distribution Co...

  9. 77 FR 57597 - Wells Fargo Funds Trust, et al.; Notice of Application

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-09-18

    ...] Wells Fargo Funds Trust, et al.; Notice of Application September 12, 2012. AGENCY: Securities and... companies and unit investment trusts (``UITs'') that are within and outside the same group of investment... the Act to invest in certain financial instruments. Applicants: Wells Fargo Funds Trust (``Trust...

  10. 78 FR 5846 - Securian Funds Trust, et al.; Notice of Application

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-01-28

    ...] Securian Funds Trust, et al.; Notice of Application January 22, 2013. AGENCY: Securities and Exchange... the Act to invest in certain financial instruments. Applicants: Securian Funds Trust (the ``Trust... Trust is organized as a Delaware statutory trust and is registered under the Act as an open-end...

  11. 75 FR 33369 - EQ Advisors Trust, et al.; Notice of Application

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-06-11

    ...] EQ Advisors Trust, et al.; Notice of Application June 4, 2010. AGENCY: Securities and Exchange... trusts (``UITs'') that are within or outside the same group of investment companies, and (b) permit... to invest in certain financial instruments. Applicants: EQ Advisors Trust, AXA Premier VIP Trust...

  12. 76 FR 77857 - Seasons Series Trust, et al.; Notice of Application

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-12-14

    ...] Seasons Series Trust, et al.; Notice of Application December 8, 2011. AGENCY: Securities and Exchange... 12d1-2 under the Act to invest in certain financial instruments. Applicants: Seasons Series Trust (``Seasons''), SunAmerica Series Trust (``Series Trust''), VALIC Company II (``VALIC II''), SunAmerica Series...

  13. Mars Miniature Science Instruments

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kim, Soon Sam; Hayati, Samad; Lavery, David; McBrid, Karen

    2006-01-01

    For robotic Mars missions, all the science information is gathered through on-board miniature instruments that have been developed through many years of R&D. Compared to laboratory counterparts, the rover instruments require miniaturization, such as low mass (1-2 kg), low power (> 10 W) and compact (1-2 liter), yet with comparable sensitivity. Since early 1990's, NASA recognized the need for the miniature instruments and launched several instrument R&D programs, e.g., PIDDP (Planetary Instrument Definition and Development). However, until 1998, most of the instrument R&D programs supported only up to a breadboard level (TRL 3, 4) and there is a need to carry such instruments to flight qualifiable status (TU 5, 6) to respond to flight AOs (Announcement of Opportunity). Most of flight AOs have only limited time and financial resources, and can not afford such instrument development processes. To bridge the gap between instrument R&D programs and the flight instrument needs, NASA's Mars Technology Program (MTP) created advanced instrumentation program, Mars Instrument Development Project (MIDP). MIDP candidate instruments are selected through NASA Research Announcement (NRA) process [l]. For example, MIDP 161998-2000) selected and developed 10 instruments, MIDP II (2003-2005) 16 instruments, and MIDP III (2004-2006) II instruments.Working with PIs, JPL has been managing the MIDP tasks since September 1998. All the instruments being developed under MIDP have been selected through a highly competitive NRA process, and employ state-of-the-art technology. So far, four MIDP funded instruments have been selected by two Mars missions (these instruments have further been discussed in this paper).

  14. Quantitative analysis of residual protein contamination of podiatry instruments reprocessed through local and central decontamination units

    PubMed Central

    2011-01-01

    Background The cleaning stage of the instrument decontamination process has come under increased scrutiny due to the increasing complexity of surgical instruments and the adverse affects of residual protein contamination on surgical instruments. Instruments used in the podiatry field have a complex surface topography and are exposed to a wide range of biological contamination. Currently, podiatry instruments are reprocessed locally within surgeries while national strategies are favouring a move toward reprocessing in central facilities. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of local and central reprocessing on podiatry instruments by measuring residual protein contamination of instruments reprocessed by both methods. Methods The residual protein of 189 instruments reprocessed centrally and 189 instruments reprocessed locally was determined using a fluorescent assay based on the reaction of proteins with o-phthaldialdehyde/sodium 2-mercaptoethanesulfonate. Results Residual protein was detected on 72% (n = 136) of instruments reprocessed centrally and 90% (n = 170) of instruments reprocessed locally. Significantly less protein (p < 0.001) was recovered from instruments reprocessed centrally (median 20.62 μg, range 0 - 5705 μg) than local reprocessing (median 111.9 μg, range 0 - 6344 μg). Conclusions Overall, the results show the superiority of central reprocessing for complex podiatry instruments when protein contamination is considered, though no significant difference was found in residual protein between local decontamination unit and central decontamination unit processes for Blacks files. Further research is needed to undertake qualitative identification of protein contamination to identify any cross contamination risks and a standard for acceptable residual protein contamination applicable to different instruments and specialities should be considered as a matter of urgency. PMID:21219613

  15. Quantitative analysis of residual protein contamination of podiatry instruments reprocessed through local and central decontamination units.

    PubMed

    Smith, Gordon Wg; Goldie, Frank; Long, Steven; Lappin, David F; Ramage, Gordon; Smith, Andrew J

    2011-01-10

    The cleaning stage of the instrument decontamination process has come under increased scrutiny due to the increasing complexity of surgical instruments and the adverse affects of residual protein contamination on surgical instruments. Instruments used in the podiatry field have a complex surface topography and are exposed to a wide range of biological contamination. Currently, podiatry instruments are reprocessed locally within surgeries while national strategies are favouring a move toward reprocessing in central facilities. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of local and central reprocessing on podiatry instruments by measuring residual protein contamination of instruments reprocessed by both methods. The residual protein of 189 instruments reprocessed centrally and 189 instruments reprocessed locally was determined using a fluorescent assay based on the reaction of proteins with o-phthaldialdehyde/sodium 2-mercaptoethanesulfonate. Residual protein was detected on 72% (n = 136) of instruments reprocessed centrally and 90% (n = 170) of instruments reprocessed locally. Significantly less protein (p < 0.001) was recovered from instruments reprocessed centrally (median 20.62 μg, range 0 - 5705 μg) than local reprocessing (median 111.9 μg, range 0 - 6344 μg). Overall, the results show the superiority of central reprocessing for complex podiatry instruments when protein contamination is considered, though no significant difference was found in residual protein between local decontamination unit and central decontamination unit processes for Blacks files. Further research is needed to undertake qualitative identification of protein contamination to identify any cross contamination risks and a standard for acceptable residual protein contamination applicable to different instruments and specialities should be considered as a matter of urgency.

  16. Piloting the older adult financial exploitation measure in adult safeguarding services.

    PubMed

    Phelan, A; Fealy, G; Downes, C

    Financial abuse is arguably the most complex form of elder abuse as it may occur remote to the older person and it is impacted by issues such as cultural values, perpetrator intent and family expectations. Financial abuse may not be recognised by either the older person or the perpetrator, thus, its prevention, early identification and amelioration are important. The (Irish) National Centre for the Protection of Older People undertook a study to determine the appropriateness of the Older Adult Financial Exploitation Measure for use by the national safeguarding older person services. Findings from a small pilot study involving 16 safeguarding staff's use of the Older Adult Financial Exploitation Measure with 52 community dwelling older people referred to their service demonstrate a higher suspicion of financial abuse as well as identifying multiple instances of possible financial exploitation in a single individual. Thus, the Older Adult Financial Exploitation Measure is considered appropriate to assist safeguarding personnel's assessment of older people related to a suspicion of financial abuse. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. FINANCIAL CAPACITY OF OLDER AFRICAN AMERICANS WITH AMNESTIC MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT

    PubMed Central

    Triebel, Kristen L.; Okonkwo, Ozioma C.; Martin, Roy; Griffith, H. Randall; Crowther, Martha; Marson, Daniel C.

    2010-01-01

    This study investigated financial abilities of 154 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (116 Caucasian, 38 African American) using the Financial Capacity Instrument (FCI). In a series of linear regression models, we examined the effect of race on FCI performance and identified preliminary predictor variables that mediated observed racial differences on the FCI. Prior/premorbid abilities were identified. Predictor variables examined in the models included race and other demographic factors (age, education, gender), performance on global cognitive measures (MMSE, DRS-2 Total Score), history of cardiovascular disease (hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia), and a measure of educational achievement (WRAT-3 Arithmetic). African American patients with MCI performed below Caucasian patients with MCI on six of the seven FCI domains examined and on the FCI total score. WRAT-3 Arithmetic emerged as a partial mediator of group differences on the FCI, accounting for 54% of variance. In contrast, performance on global cognitive measures and history of cardiovascular disease only accounted for 14% and 2%, respectively, of the variance. Racial disparities in financial capacity appear to exist among patients with amnestic MCI. Basic academic math skills related to educational opportunity and quality of education account for a substantial proportion of the group difference in financial performance. PMID:20625268

  18. Financial capacity of older African Americans with amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

    PubMed

    Triebel, Kristen L; Okonkwo, Ozioma C; Martin, Roy; Griffith, Henry Randall; Crowther, Martha; Marson, Daniel C

    2010-01-01

    This study investigated financial abilities of 154 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (116 white, 38 African American) using the Financial Capacity Instrument (FCI). In a series of linear regression models, we examined the effect of race on FCI performance and identified preliminary predictor variables that mediated observed racial differences on the FCI. Prior/premorbid abilities were identified. Predictor variables examined in the models included race and other demographic factors (age, education, sex), performance on global cognitive measures (MMSE, DRS-2 Total Score), history of cardiovascular disease (hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia), and a measure of educational achievement (WRAT-3 Arithmetic). African American patients with MCI performed below white patients with MCI on 6 of the 7 FCI domains examined and on the FCI total score. WRAT-3 Arithmetic emerged as a partial mediator of group differences on the FCI, accounting for 54% of variance. In contrast, performance on global cognitive measures and history of cardiovascular disease only accounted for 14% and 2%, respectively, of the variance. Racial disparities in financial capacity seem to exist among patients with amnestic MCI. Basic academic math skills related to educational opportunity and quality of education account for a substantial proportion of the group difference in financial performance.

  19. Evaluating musical instruments

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Campbell, D. Murray

    Scientific measurements of sound generation and radiation by musical instruments are surprisingly hard to correlate with the subtle and complex judgments of instrumental quality made by expert musicians.

  20. Integrating Physical Actions and Financial Instruments to Manage Environmental Financial Risk

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Foster, B.

    2016-12-01

    Exposure to extreme weather events can be reduced through physical actions (e.g., dams/reservoirs) or mitigated financially (e.g., insurance). Often physical actions involve investments in expensive infrastructure that reduce exposure, but whose benefits are only occasionally realized. Financial risk management does not reduce the impacts of an event, but rather redistributes them temporally, albeit at a cost. Nonetheless, these costs are typically much smaller, at least in the short run, than those incurred for physical actions. Financial strategies are also more flexible than physical ones in the face of an uncertain future. Financial contracts specifically designed to manage extreme environmental risks are becoming more common and can either replace or complement infrastructural investments as part of a risk management portfolio. In order to make optimal decisions as to the relative levels of physical and financial risk mitigation to employ, it is necessary to understand the relative merits of each strategy. This research develops a method for analyzing tradeoffs between physical and financial risk management strategies. We identify the unique cost and benefit properties of each strategy and integrate them into a single model that details the tradeoffs involved in various portfolios of physical and financial strategies. These methods are then applied to evaluate decisions to pursue emergency dredging during drought on the Mississippi River, which is used to mitigate the increased costs and/or reduced revenues barge operators face when water levels are low. Currently the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers funds most emergency dredging operations during major droughts and they are considering more intensive strategies for future droughts. Barge carriers and shippers though could manage at least some portion of their financial risks through a series of existing and experimental financial contracts. This work involves the formulation of these experimental contracts and the development of methods to evaluate integrated portfolios of physical and financial risk management strategies.

  1. Financial abuse of older people by a family member: a difficult terrain for service providers in Australia.

    PubMed

    Adams, Valerie Margaret; Bagshaw, Dale; Wendt, Sarah; Zannettino, Lana

    2014-01-01

    Financial abuse by a family member is the most common form of abuse experienced by older Australians, and early intervention is required. National online surveys of 228 chief executive officers and 214 aged care service providers found that, while they were well placed to recognize financial abuse, it was often difficult to intervene successfully. Problems providers encountered included difficulties in detecting abuse, the need for consent before they could take action, the risk that the abusive family member would withdraw the client from the service, and a lack of resources to deal with the complexities inherent in situations of financial abuse.

  2. The Visioning of Policy and the Hope of Implementation: Support for Graduate Students' Teaching at a Canadian Institution

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hoessler, Carolyn; Godden, Lorraine

    2015-01-01

    Graduate students teach within the complex higher education environment of financial constraint, greater student diversity, and growing graduate enrolment (e.g., Austin, 2003). Teaching roles offer financial support and skill development while multiplying responsibilities (Price, 2008). Across the national working papers and institutional reports,…

  3. 78 FR 49311 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; International Securities Exchange, LLC; Order Approving Proposed...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-08-13

    ... to provide market makers with a risk management tool to assist managing the financial exposure of... the management of financial risk exposure could enable market makers to enter quotations with larger... Maker Risk Parameters and Complex Orders August 7, 2013. I. Introduction On June 5, 2013, the...

  4. Valuing the Implementation of Financial Literacy Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Davis, Kimberlee; Durband, Dorothy Bagwell

    2008-01-01

    Placing a monetary value on education is a complex task. A more difficult task is to determine at what monetary level individuals will support educational improvements. The contingent valuation method was used to estimate the value of the implementation of financial literacy education in Texas public schools. A Web-based survey was administered to…

  5. Goal Complexity in Financial Aid and the Contingency of Organizational Sector

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rutherford, Amanda

    2016-01-01

    Expectations of public institutions of higher education now include a growing number of competing goals. Financial assistance policies are expected to reward student talent, expand access to education, boost retention and graduation rates, and more. Yet research has not generally provided an empirical assessment of whether and how higher levels of…

  6. Using Interaction to Teach the Basics of Financial Intermediation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haggard, K. Stephen

    2009-01-01

    Many professors assume that their courses are exciting and worthy of students' attention. However, students find some finance courses to be more appealing than others. The introductory college course in financial intermediaries and markets often can be found at the bottom of student interest rankings of finance courses due to its complex nature.…

  7. Chaotic examination

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bildirici, Melike; Sonustun, Fulya Ozaksoy; Sonustun, Bahri

    2018-01-01

    In the regards of chaos theory, new concepts such as complexity, determinism, quantum mechanics, relativity, multiple equilibrium, complexity, (continuously) instability, nonlinearity, heterogeneous agents, irregularity were widely questioned in economics. It is noticed that linear models are insufficient for analyzing unpredictable, irregular and noncyclical oscillations of economies, and for predicting bubbles, financial crisis, business cycles in financial markets. Therefore, economists gave great consequence to use appropriate tools for modelling non-linear dynamical structures and chaotic behaviors of the economies especially in macro and the financial economy. In this paper, we aim to model the chaotic structure of exchange rates (USD-TL and EUR-TL). To determine non-linear patterns of the selected time series, daily returns of the exchange rates were tested by BDS during the period from January 01, 2002 to May 11, 2017 which covers after the era of the 2001 financial crisis. After specifying the non-linear structure of the selected time series, it was aimed to examine the chaotic characteristic for the selected time period by Lyapunov Exponents. The findings verify the existence of the chaotic structure of the exchange rate returns in the analyzed time period.

  8. Operating room waste reduction in plastic and hand surgery.

    PubMed

    Albert, Mark G; Rothkopf, Douglas M

    2015-01-01

    Operating rooms (ORs), combined with labour and delivery suites, account for approximately 70% of hospital waste. Previous studies have reported that recycling can have a considerable financial impact on a hospital-wide basis; however, its importance in the OR has not been demonstrated. To propose a method of decreasing cost through judicious selection of instruments and supplies, and initiation of recycling in plastic and hand surgery. The authors identified disposable supplies and instruments that are routinely opened and wasted in common plastic and hand surgery procedures, and calculated the savings that can result from eliminating extraneous items. A cost analysis was performed, which compared the expense of OR waste versus single-stream recycling and the benefit of recycling HIPAA documents and blue wrap. Fifteen total items were removed from disposable plastic packs and seven total items from hand packs. A total of US$17,381.05 could be saved per year from these changes alone. Since initiating single-stream recycling, the authors' institution has saved, on average, US$3,487 per month at the three campuses. After extrapolating at the current savings rate, one would expect to save a minimum of US$41,844 per year. OR waste reduction is an effective method of decreasing cost in the surgical setting. By revising the contents of current disposable packs and instrument sets designated for plastic and hand surgery, hospitals can reduce the amount of opened and unused material. Significant financial savings and environmental benefit can result from this judicious supply and instrument selection, as well as implementation of recycling.

  9. Application of Complex Adaptive Systems in Portfolio Management

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Su, Zheyuan

    2017-01-01

    Simulation-based methods are becoming a promising research tool in financial markets. A general Complex Adaptive System can be tailored to different application scenarios. Based on the current research, we built two models that would benefit portfolio management by utilizing Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) in Agent-based Modeling (ABM) approach.…

  10. Mesoscopic Community Structure of Financial Markets Revealed by Price and Sign Fluctuations

    PubMed Central

    Almog, Assaf; Besamusca, Ferry; MacMahon, Mel; Garlaschelli, Diego

    2015-01-01

    The mesoscopic organization of complex systems, from financial markets to the brain, is an intermediate between the microscopic dynamics of individual units (stocks or neurons, in the mentioned cases), and the macroscopic dynamics of the system as a whole. The organization is determined by “communities” of units whose dynamics, represented by time series of activity, is more strongly correlated internally than with the rest of the system. Recent studies have shown that the binary projections of various financial and neural time series exhibit nontrivial dynamical features that resemble those of the original data. This implies that a significant piece of information is encoded into the binary projection (i.e. the sign) of such increments. Here, we explore whether the binary signatures of multiple time series can replicate the same complex community organization of the financial market, as the original weighted time series. We adopt a method that has been specifically designed to detect communities from cross-correlation matrices of time series data. Our analysis shows that the simpler binary representation leads to a community structure that is almost identical with that obtained using the full weighted representation. These results confirm that binary projections of financial time series contain significant structural information. PMID:26226226

  11. Instrumentation for Epitaxial Growth of Complex Oxides

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2015-12-17

    synthesis of complex oxide heterostructures. A RF oxygen plasma source was acquired to increase the oxidizing ability of the growth environment, an...improvement that will prove critical in stabilizing materials with high oxidization states. The plasma source and accompanying electronics were purchased...2014 14-Aug-2015 Approved for Public Release; Distribution Unlimited Final Report: Instrumentation for Epitaxial Growth of Complex Oxides The views

  12. Complex Network for a Crisis Contagion on AN Interbank System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tirado, Mariano

    2012-09-01

    The main focus of this research is the contagion of a financial crisis on an interbank debt network. In order to simulate the crisis propagation a weighted community complex network based on growth strategy has been created. The contagion is described by a new way of disease propagation perspective based on the concept of a financial virus. The model reproduces the existence of TBTF banks and shows the impact that an initial TBTF bank crash produces in the interbank network depending on the magnitude of the initial crash and on the resistance that the network offers against the contagion propagation.

  13. Deep bore hole instrumentation along San Francisco Bay Bridges

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Bakun, W.; Bowman, J.; Clymer, R.

    1998-10-01

    The Bay Bridges down hole network consists of sensors in bore holes that are drilled 100 ft. into bedrock around and in the San Francisco Bay. Between 2 and 8 instruments have been spaced along the Dumbarton, San Mateo, Bay, and San Rafael bridges. The instruments will provide multiple use data that is important to geotechnical, structural engineering, and seismological studies. The holes are between 100 and 1000 ft deep and were drilled by Caltrans. There are twenty- one sensor packages at fifteen sites. Extensive financial support is being contributed by Caltrans, UCB, LBL, LLNL-LDRD, U.C. Campus/Laboratory Collaboration (CLC) program,more » and USGS. The down hole instrument package contains a three component HS-1 seismometer and three orthogonal Wilcox 73 1 accelerometers, and is capable of recording a micro g from local M = 1.0 earthquakes to 0.5 g strong ground motion form large Bay Area earthquakes.« less

  14. The risk concept and its application in natural hazard risk management in Switzerland

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bründl, M.; Romang, H. E.; Bischof, N.; Rheinberger, C. M.

    2009-05-01

    Over the last ten years, a risk-based approach to manage natural hazards - termed the risk concept - has been introduced to the management of natural hazards in Switzerland. Large natural hazard events, new political initiatives and limited financial resources have led to the development and introduction of new planning instruments and software tools that should support natural hazard engineers and planners to effectively and efficiently deal with natural hazards. Our experience with these new instruments suggests an improved integration of the risk concept into the community of natural hazard engineers and planners. Important factors for the acceptance of these new instruments are the integration of end-users during the development process, the knowledge exchange between science, developers and end-users as well as training and education courses for users. Further improvements require the maintenance of this knowledge exchange and a mindful adaptation of the instruments to case-specific circumstances.

  15. Complex home care: Part 2- family annual income, insurance premium, and out-of-pocket expenses.

    PubMed

    Piamjariyakul, Ubolrat; Yadrich, Donna Macan; Ross, Vicki M; Smith, Carol E; Clements, Faye; Williams, Arthur R

    2010-01-01

    Annual costs paid by families for intravenous infusion of home parenteral nutrition (HPN) health insurance premiums, deductibles, co-payments for health services, and the wide range of out-of-pocket home health care expenses are significant. The costs of managing complex chronic care at home cannot be completely understood until all out-of-pocket costs have been defined, described, and tabulated. Non-reimbursed and out-of-pocket costs paid by families over years for complex chronic care negatively impact the financial stability of families. National health care reform must take into account the long-term financial burdens of families caring for those with complex home care. Any changes that may increase the out-of-pocket costs or health insurance costs to these families can also have a negative long-term impact on society when greater numbers of patients declare bankruptcy or qualify for medical disability.

  16. The Value of Risk Pooling for Mitigating Water Utility Financial Risks Arising From Water Scarcity

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Baum, R.; Characklis, G. W.; Hughes, J.; Eskaf, S.

    2015-12-01

    Water utilities across the United States face growing supply risks as demand growth and extreme weather events make water scarcity more common. As it has become more difficult and expensive to build new supply capacity to accommodate these events, many utility managers respond by either imposing conservation measures, which reduces revenues, or acquiring additional water from other sources, which increases costs. These actions lead to changing financial trends that are difficult to predict and that utilities are currently ill-equipped to manage. As a result, adaptation strategies and tools are being developed to reduce utility vulnerabilities, ensuring both financial stability and continued access to low cost financing, a critical consideration for a capital intensive industry. Previous work in this area has involved the development of utility specific financial hedging tools. However, the time and informational requirements associated with developing these individualized strategies may be a limiting factor for widespread implementation. The objective of this research is to develop more generalized hedging instruments that can be applied simultaneously to multiple utilities across the United States, thereby increasing the potential for widespread implementation. This work first analyzes the financial risks of water scarcity for a large set of water utilities across the country and then proposes a financial hedging solution to mitigate these risks through hydrologic index-based financial insurance. Results provide insights into the most effective indices, the potential for risk pooling to reduce insurance costs, and the performance of these contracts in managing utility financial risk arising from drought.

  17. Quantifying risks with exact analytical solutions of derivative pricing distribution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Kun; Liu, Jing; Wang, Erkang; Wang, Jin

    2017-04-01

    Derivative (i.e. option) pricing is essential for modern financial instrumentations. Despite of the previous efforts, the exact analytical forms of the derivative pricing distributions are still challenging to obtain. In this study, we established a quantitative framework using path integrals to obtain the exact analytical solutions of the statistical distribution for bond and bond option pricing for the Vasicek model. We discuss the importance of statistical fluctuations away from the expected option pricing characterized by the distribution tail and their associations to value at risk (VaR). The framework established here is general and can be applied to other financial derivatives for quantifying the underlying statistical distributions.

  18. Serotonergic Genotypes, Neuroticism, and Financial Choices

    PubMed Central

    Kuhnen, Camelia M.; Samanez-Larkin, Gregory R.; Knutson, Brian

    2013-01-01

    Life financial outcomes carry a significant heritable component, but the mechanisms by which genes influence financial choices remain unclear. Focusing on a polymorphism in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR), we found that individuals possessing the short allele of this gene invested less in equities, were less engaged in actively making investment decisions, and had fewer credit lines. Short allele carriers also showed higher levels of the personality trait neuroticism, despite not differing from others with respect to cognitive skills, education, or wealth. Mediation analysis suggested that the presence of the 5-HTTLPR short allele decreased real life measures of financial risk taking through its influence on neuroticism. These findings show that 5-HTTLPR short allele carriers avoid risky and complex financial choices due to negative emotional reactions, and have implications for understanding and managing individual differences in financial choice. PMID:23382929

  19. The business of death: a qualitative study of financial concerns of widowed older women.

    PubMed

    DiGiacomo, Michelle; Lewis, Joanne; Phillips, Jane; Nolan, Marie; Davidson, Patricia M

    2015-04-18

    The feminisation of ageing and increasing number of widowed women in contemporary society has significant implications. Older women are at risk of poor health, social, and economic outcomes upon widowhood. The aim of the study was to describe women's experiences in the period soon after their husbands' death, including their financial issues and concerns, and the ways in which these experiences impacted on the transition to widowhood late in life. This was a longitudinal study using serial in-depth semi-structured interviews with 21 community-dwelling women over the age of 65 in Australia. Verbatim transcripts underwent Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Thematic analysis revealed: 1) administrative burden increases vulnerability; 2) gender roles impact on transitions; and 3) financial adjustments render housing insecurity and health risk. High administrative burden within the context of significant grief and mourning was a defining feature of the early bereavement period. Complicated protracted administrative processes, insensitive interactions, and reminders of loss contributed to distress, anxiety and feelings of demoralisation. Several women identified assumption of household financial management as the most difficult aspect of coping with their husband's death. Older women may have unmet needs for assistance with administrative, financial, and legal issues immediately following spousal death and potentially for years afterward. Lack of familiarity and absence of instrumental support with financial and legal issues signal the need for policy reform, resources to improve financial literacy in women throughout the life course, increased advocacy, and consideration of different support and service models.

  20. Development of a conceptual framework for understanding financial barriers to care among patients with cardiovascular-related chronic disease: a protocol for a qualitative (grounded theory) study.

    PubMed

    Campbell, David J T; Manns, Braden J; Hemmelgarn, Brenda R; Sanmartin, Claudia; King-Shier, Kathryn M

    2016-01-01

    Patients with cardiovascular-related chronic diseases may face financial barriers to accessing health care, even in Canada, where universal health care insurance is in place. No current theory or framework is adequate for understanding the impact of financial barriers to care on these patients or how they experience financial barriers. The overall objective of this study is to develop a framework for understanding the role of financial barriers to care in the lives of patients with cardiovascular-related chronic diseases and the impact of such barriers on their health. We will perform an inductive qualitative grounded theory study to develop a framework to understand the effect of financial barriers to care on patients with cardiovascular-related chronic diseases. We will use semistructured interviews (face-to-face and telephone) with a purposive sample of adult patients from Alberta with at least 1 of hypertension, diabetes, heart disease or stroke. We will analyze interview transcripts in triplicate using grounded theory coding techniques, including open, focused and axial coding, following the principle of constant comparison. Interviews and analysis will be done iteratively to theoretical saturation. Member checking will be used to enhance rigour. A comprehensive framework for understanding financial barriers to accessing health care is instrumental for both researchers and clinicians who care for patients with chronic diseases. Such a framework would enable a better understanding of patient behaviour and nonadherence to recommended medical therapies and lifestyle modifications.

  1. Information driving force and its application in agent-based modeling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Ting-Ting; Zheng, Bo; Li, Yan; Jiang, Xiong-Fei

    2018-04-01

    Exploring the scientific impact of online big-data has attracted much attention of researchers from different fields in recent years. Complex financial systems are typical open systems profoundly influenced by the external information. Based on the large-scale data in the public media and stock markets, we first define an information driving force, and analyze how it affects the complex financial system. The information driving force is observed to be asymmetric in the bull and bear market states. As an application, we then propose an agent-based model driven by the information driving force. Especially, all the key parameters are determined from the empirical analysis rather than from statistical fitting of the simulation results. With our model, both the stationary properties and non-stationary dynamic behaviors are simulated. Considering the mean-field effect of the external information, we also propose a few-body model to simulate the financial market in the laboratory.

  2. The convergence between self-reports and observer ratings of financial skills and direct assessment of financial capabilities in patients with schizophrenia: more detail is not always better.

    PubMed

    Harvey, Philip D; Stone, Laura; Lowenstein, David; Czaja, Sara J; Heaton, Robert K; Twamley, Elizabeth W; Patterson, Thomas L

    2013-06-01

    Despite multiple lines of evidence suggesting that people with schizophrenia tend to overestimate their ability to perform everyday tasks such as money management, self-report methods are still widely used to assess functioning. In today's technology driven financial world patients are faced with increasingly complex financial management tasks. To meet these challenges adequate financial skills are required. Thus, accurate assessments of these abilities are critical to decisions regarding a patient's need for support such as a financial trustee. As part of the larger VALERO study, 195 patients with schizophrenia were asked to self-report their everyday financial skills (five common financial tasks) with the Independent Living Skills Survey (ILSS). They were also assessed with performance-based measures of neuro-cognition and functional capacity with a focus on financial skills. In addition, a friend, relative, or clinician informant was interviewed with the ILSS and a best estimate rating of functioning was generated. Scores on the performance-based measures of financial skills and neuropsychological tests were uncorrelated with self-reported financial activities. Interviewer and all informant judgments of financial abilities were also minimally correlated with performance on functional skill tests. Discrete financial skills appear to be challenging for clinicians to rate with accuracy without the use of direct assessments. Direct assessment of financial skills seems prudent when making determinations about the need for guardianship or other financial supervision. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. The Convergence between Self-reports and Observer Ratings of Financial Skills and Direct Assessment of Financial Capabilities in Patients with Schizophrenia: More Detail is Not Always Better

    PubMed Central

    Harvey, Philip D.; Stone, Laura; Lowenstein, David; Czaja, Sara J.; Heaton, Robert K.; Patterson, Thomas L

    2013-01-01

    Despite multiple lines of evidence suggesting that people with schizophrenia tend to overestimate their ability to perform everyday tasks such as money management, self-report methods are still widely used to assess functioning. In today’s technology driven financial world patients are faced with increasingly complex financial management tasks. To meet these challenges adequate financial skills are required. Thus, accurate assessments of these abilities are critical to decisions regarding a patient’s need for support such as a financial trustee. As part of the larger VALERO study, 195 patients with schizophrenia were asked to self-report their everyday financial skills (five common financial tasks) with the Independent Living Skills Survey (ILSS). They were also assessed with performance-based measures of neuro-cognition and functional capacity with a focus on financial skills. In addition, a friend, relative, or clinician informant was interviewed with the ILSS and a best estimate rating of functioning was generated. Scores on the performance-based measures of financial skills and neuropsychological tests were uncorrelated with self-reported financial activities. Interviewer and all informant judgments of financial abilities were also minimally correlated with performance on functional skills tests. Discrete financial skills appear to be challenging for clinicians to rate with accuracy without the use of direct assessments. Direct assessment of financial skills seems prudent when making determinations about the need for guardianship or other financial supervision. PMID:23537475

  4. Hope or hype in the treatment of schizophrenia - what's the role of the physician?

    PubMed

    Bressan, Rodrigo A; Grohs, Geder E M; Matos, Gabriela; Shergill, Sukhi

    2018-01-01

    According to the experience of people with schizophrenia, their psychiatrists' attitude towards the outcome of their illness is lacking in hope, which directly affects mutual faith in treatment. Here we discuss the scientific basis of hope and show its instrumental role in optimising the best treatment strategies for schizophrenia. Declaration of interest R.A.B has received honoraria for educational input and non-financial support from Ache; honoraria for educational input from Lundbeck; grants, honoraria for educational input and non-financial support from Janssen; all outside the submitted work. G.E.M.G. has received honoraria for educational input and non-financial support from Janssen outside the submitted work. G.M. reports support from Janssen-Cilag, outside the submitted work, and is an employee at Janssen-Cilag. S.S. has received grants and honoraria for educational input from EnVivo Pharmaceuticals, Takeda, AbbVie and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, outside the submitted work.

  5. Belgium: risk adjustment and financial responsibility in a centralised system.

    PubMed

    Schokkaert, Erik; Van de Voorde, Carine

    2003-07-01

    Since 1995 Belgian sickness funds are partially financed through a risk adjustment system and are held partially financially responsible for the difference between their actual and their risk-adjusted expenditures. However, they did not get the necessary instruments for exerting a real influence on expenditures and the health insurance market has not been opened for new entrants. At the same time the sickness funds have powerful tools for risk selection, because they also dominate the market for supplementary health insurance. The present risk-adjustment system is based on the results of a regression analysis with aggregate data. The main proclaimed purpose of this system is to guarantee a fair treatment to all the sickness funds. Until now the danger of risk selection has not been taken seriously. Consumer mobility has remained rather low. However, since the degree of financial responsibility is programmed to increase in the near future, the potential profits from cream skimming will increase.

  6. The Cutting-Edge Challenge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Share, Joani

    2005-01-01

    In a time of educational budget cuts, the arts seem to take the major brunt of the financial ax. Fine arts programs are often pitted against one another for survival. The music industry and supporting corporations, such as American Express, campaign to have instruments donated or purchased to keep educational programs alive. The visual arts do not…

  7. 50 CFR 86.118 - What does this survey instrument include?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... THE INTERIOR (CONTINUED) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE-WILDLIFE AND SPORT FISH RESTORATION PROGRAM BOATING... boat owners. Part B is for trailerable or “car-top” boat owners. Part C is for State agency and non... and non-State providers of access sites for trailerable or “car-top” boats. (b) Follow these...

  8. 50 CFR 86.118 - What does this survey instrument include?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... THE INTERIOR (CONTINUED) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE-WILDLIFE AND SPORT FISH RESTORATION PROGRAM BOATING... boat owners. Part B is for trailerable or “car-top” boat owners. Part C is for State agency and non... and non-State providers of access sites for trailerable or “car-top” boats. (b) Follow these...

  9. 25 CFR 547.7 - What are the minimum technical hardware standards applicable to Class II gaming systems?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... or integrity of the game, and are specially manufactured or proprietary and not off-the-shelf, must... the potential to affect the outcome or integrity of any game, progressive award, financial instrument... of a robust construction designed to resist determined illegal entry. All protuberances and...

  10. 25 CFR 547.7 - What are the minimum technical hardware standards applicable to Class II gaming systems?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... or integrity of the game, and are specially manufactured or proprietary and not off-the-shelf, must... the potential to affect the outcome or integrity of any game, progressive award, financial instrument... of a robust construction designed to resist determined illegal entry. All protuberances and...

  11. 40 CFR 264.151 - Wording of the instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... assurance for closure or post-closure care is demonstrated through the financial test specified in subpart H... parts 264 and 265. The current closure and/or post-closure cost estimates covered by such a test are... CFR parts 264 and 265. The current closure and/or post-closure cost estimate covered by the test are...

  12. 40 CFR 264.151 - Wording of the instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... assurance for closure or post-closure care is demonstrated through the financial test specified in subpart H... parts 264 and 265. The current closure and/or post-closure cost estimates covered by such a test are... CFR parts 264 and 265. The current closure and/or post-closure cost estimate covered by the test are...

  13. 40 CFR 264.151 - Wording of the instruments.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... assurance for closure or post-closure care is demonstrated through the financial test specified in subpart H... parts 264 and 265. The current closure and/or post-closure cost estimates covered by such a test are... CFR parts 264 and 265. The current closure and/or post-closure cost estimate covered by the test are...

  14. 76 FR 75922 - AllianceBernstein Cap Fund, Inc., et al.; Notice of Application

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-12-05

    ... SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION [Investment Company Act Release No. 29876; File No. 812-13939] AllianceBernstein Cap Fund, Inc., et al.; Notice of Application November 29, 2011. AGENCY: Securities and... 12d1-2 under the Act to invest in certain financial instruments. APPLICANTS: AllianceBernstein Cap Fund...

  15. Interactions between Federal Academic Earmarks and State Funding for Higher Education: An Instrumental Variables Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Delaney, Jennifer A.

    2016-01-01

    This study considers the relationship between federal academic earmarks and three types of state spending for higher education--general appropriations, capital outlays, and student financial aid. Often referred to as "pork," federal academic earmarks are both controversial and understudied. Using a unique panel dataset from 1990-2003,…

  16. 76 FR 24919 - Division of Coal Mine Workers' Compensation Proposed Renewal of Existing Collection; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-05-03

    ... can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can... collection request can be obtained by contacting the office listed below in the ADDRESSES section of this...

  17. 76 FR 24918 - Division of Coal Mine Workers' Compensation Proposed Renewal of Existing Collection; Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-05-03

    ... can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can... Employment History (CM- 911A). A copy of the proposed information collection request can be obtained by...

  18. Effective Evaluation of Training and Development in Higher Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thackwray, Bob

    This book examines approaches, techniques, and instruments that relate to the evaluation of training and development in the context of higher education in the United Kingdom (UK), focusing on the importance of identifying the purpose of the evaluation as an initial step. Some financial evaluation methods are also considered. It is suggested that…

  19. Critical Pedagogy and Learning to Dialogue: Towards Reflexive Practice for Financial Management and Accounting Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Armitage, Andrew

    2011-01-01

    Mainstream accounting historians study accounting in terms of its progressive development of instrumental techniques and practices, this being counterpoised to critical accounting that sees the world as socially constructed, and intrinsically linked to organisational, social and political contexts. This is exemplified by the notion of the…

  20. 31 CFR 1010.370 - Reports of certain domestic coin and currency transactions.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... this chapter, the Secretary may issue an order requiring any domestic financial institution or group of... transaction to file a report in the manner and to the extent specified in such order. The order shall contain... other monetary instruments as the Secretary may describe in such order) the total amounts or...

  1. 12 CFR 1233.4 - Internal controls, policies, procedures, and training.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Internal controls, policies, procedures, and training. 1233.4 Section 1233.4 Banks and Banking FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY ENTITY REGULATIONS REPORTING OF FRAUDULENT FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS § 1233.4 Internal controls, policies, procedures, and training. (a) In general. Each regulated entity...

  2. 12 CFR 1233.4 - Internal controls, policies, procedures, and training.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 9 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Internal controls, policies, procedures, and training. 1233.4 Section 1233.4 Banks and Banking FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY ENTITY REGULATIONS REPORTING OF FRAUDULENT FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS § 1233.4 Internal controls, policies, procedures, and training. (a) In general. Each regulated entity...

  3. 12 CFR 1233.4 - Internal controls, policies, procedures, and training.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 10 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Internal controls, policies, procedures, and training. 1233.4 Section 1233.4 Banks and Banking FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY ENTITY REGULATIONS REPORTING OF FRAUDULENT FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS § 1233.4 Internal controls, policies, procedures, and training. (a) In general. Each regulated entity...

  4. 12 CFR 1233.4 - Internal controls, policies, procedures, and training.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 9 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Internal controls, policies, procedures, and training. 1233.4 Section 1233.4 Banks and Banking FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY ENTITY REGULATIONS REPORTING OF FRAUDULENT FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS § 1233.4 Internal controls, policies, procedures, and training. (a) In general. Each regulated entity...

  5. 78 FR 62842 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; EDGA Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-10-22

    ... Rule 5270 defines the term ``related financial instrument'' as ``any option, derivative, security-based... SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION [Release No. 34-70625; File No. SR-EDGA-2013-29] Self...) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the ``Act''),\\1\\ and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,\\2\\ notice is...

  6. 76 FR 36584 - Highmark Funds and Highmark Capital Management, Inc.

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-22

    ...] Highmark Funds and Highmark Capital Management, Inc. June 16, 2011. AGENCY: Securities and Exchange... the Act to invest in certain financial instruments. APPLICANTS: HighMark Funds (``Trust'') and High... investment companies (``Underlying Funds'') in reliance on section 12(d)(1)(G) of the Act and rule 12d1-2...

  7. 12 CFR 211.6 - Permissible activities of Edge and agreement corporations in the United States.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    .... persons are with respect to foreign assets only; and 3 For purposes of this section, management of an investment portfolio does not include operational management of real property, or industrial or commercial... management with respect to securities, other financial instruments, real-property interests, and other...

  8. Financial burden is associated with worse health-related quality of life in adults with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1.

    PubMed

    Peipert, Benjamin J; Goswami, Sneha; Helenowski, Irene; Yount, Susan E; Sturgeon, Cord

    2017-12-01

    Health-related quality of life and financial burden among patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 is poorly described. It is not known how financial burden influences health-related quality of life in this population. We hypothesized that the financial burden attributable to multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 is associated with worse health-related quality of life. United States adults (≥18 years) with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 were recruited from the AMENSupport MEN online support group. Patient demographics, clinical characteristics, and financial burden were assessed via an online survey. The instrument Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System 29-item profile measure was used to assess health-related quality of life. Multivariable linear regression was used to identify significant variables in each Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System domain. Out of 1,378 members in AMENSupport, our survey link was accessed 449 times (33%). Of 153 US respondents who completed our survey, 84% reported financial burden attributable to multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1. The degree of financial burden had a linear relationship with worse health-related quality of life across all Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System domains (r = 0.36-0.55, P < .001); 63% reported experiencing ≥1 negative financial event(s). Borrowing money from friends/family (30%), unemployment (13%), and spending >$100/month out-of-pocket on prescription medications (46%) were associated consistently with impaired health-related quality of life (ß = 3.75-6.77, P < .05). Respondents were 3- and 34-times more likely to be unemployed and declare bankruptcy than the US population, respectively. This study characterizes the financial burden in patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1. Individuals with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 report a high degree of financial burden, negative financial events, and unemployment. Each of these factors was associated with worse health-related quality of life. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Quantum finance Hamiltonian for coupon bond European and barrier options.

    PubMed

    Baaquie, Belal E

    2008-03-01

    Coupon bond European and barrier options are financial derivatives that can be analyzed in the Hamiltonian formulation of quantum finance. Forward interest rates are modeled as a two-dimensional quantum field theory and its Hamiltonian and state space is defined. European and barrier options are realized as transition amplitudes of the time integrated Hamiltonian operator. The double barrier option for a financial instrument is "knocked out" (terminated with zero value) if the price of the underlying instrument exceeds or falls below preset limits; the barrier option is realized by imposing boundary conditions on the eigenfunctions of the forward interest rates' Hamiltonian. The price of the European coupon bond option and the zero coupon bond barrier option are calculated. It is shown that, is general, the constraint function for a coupon bond barrier option can -- to a good approximation -- be linearized. A calculation using an overcomplete set of eigenfunctions yields an approximate price for the coupon bond barrier option, which is given in the form of an integral of a factor that results from the barrier condition times another factor that arises from the payoff function.

  10. College Savings Plans, Financial Aid, and Tax Strategy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Whiteside, Richard; Mentz, George S.

    2004-01-01

    A college degree is one of the most expensive purchases an American family can make. While today's costs are higher than ever before, parents have many more options whose sheer number and complexity have given rise to a whole new field-financial planning for college. This article, which is based on materials created for the enrollment management…

  11. The financial management of catastrophic flood risks in emerging-economy countries.

    PubMed

    Kunreuther, Howard C; Linnerooth-Bayer, Joanne

    2003-06-01

    This article examines the potential of pre- and post-disaster instruments for funding disaster response and recovery and for creating incentives for flood loss mitigation in countries with emerging or transition economies. As a concrete case, we discuss the disaster recovery arrangements following the 1997 flood disaster in Poland. We examine the advantages and limitations of hedging instruments, which are instruments for transferring the risk to investors either through insurance or capital market-based securities. We compare these mechanisms with financing instruments whereby the government sets aside funds prior to a disaster or taps its own funding sources after the event occurs. We show how hedging instruments can be designed to create incentives for the mitigation of damage to public infrastructure using the flood proofing of a water-treatment plant on the hypothetical Topping River as an illustrative example. We conclude that hedging instruments can be an attractive alternative to financing instruments that have been traditionally used in the poorer, emerging-economy countries to fund disaster recovery. Since very poor countries are likely to have difficulty paying the price of protection prior to a disaster, we suggest that international lending institutions consider innovations for subsidizing these payments.

  12. Flash crashes, bursts, and black swans: parallels between financial markets and healthcare systems.

    PubMed

    West, Bruce J; Clancy, Thomas R

    2010-11-01

    As systems evolve over time, their natural tendency is to become increasingly more complex. Studies in the field of complex systems have generated new perspectives on management in social organizations such as hospitals. Much of this research appears as a natural extension of the cross-disciplinary field of systems theory. This is the 16th in a series of articles applying complex systems science to the traditional management concepts of planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and controlling. In this article, Dr Clancy, the editor of this column, and co-author, Dr West, discuss how the collapse of global financial markets in 2008 may provide valuable insight into mechanisms of complex system behavior in healthcare. Dr West, a physicist and expert in the field of complex systems and network science, is author of a chapter in the book, On the Edge: Nursing in the Age of Complexity (Lindberg C, Nash S, Linberg C. Bordertown, NJ: Plexus Press; 2008) and his most recent book, Disrupted Networks: From Physics to Climate Change (West BJ, Scafetta N. Singapore: Disrupted Networks, World Scientific Publishing; 2010).

  13. Understanding Risky Behavior: The Influence of Cognitive, Emotional and Hormonal Factors on Decision-Making under Risk.

    PubMed

    Kusev, Petko; Purser, Harry; Heilman, Renata; Cooke, Alex J; Van Schaik, Paul; Baranova, Victoria; Martin, Rose; Ayton, Peter

    2017-01-01

    Financial risky decisions and evaluations pervade many human everyday activities. Scientific research in such decision-making typically explores the influence of socio-economic and cognitive factors on financial behavior. However, very little research has explored the holistic influence of contextual, emotional, and hormonal factors on preferences for risk in insurance and investment behaviors. Accordingly, the goal of this review article is to address the complexity of individual risky behavior and its underlying psychological factors, as well as to critically examine current regulations on financial behavior.

  14. Structure of local interactions in complex financial dynamics

    PubMed Central

    Jiang, X. F.; Chen, T. T.; Zheng, B.

    2014-01-01

    With the network methods and random matrix theory, we investigate the interaction structure of communities in financial markets. In particular, based on the random matrix decomposition, we clarify that the local interactions between the business sectors (subsectors) are mainly contained in the sector mode. In the sector mode, the average correlation inside the sectors is positive, while that between the sectors is negative. Further, we explore the time evolution of the interaction structure of the business sectors, and observe that the local interaction structure changes dramatically during a financial bubble or crisis. PMID:24936906

  15. Understanding Risky Behavior: The Influence of Cognitive, Emotional and Hormonal Factors on Decision-Making under Risk

    PubMed Central

    Kusev, Petko; Purser, Harry; Heilman, Renata; Cooke, Alex J.; Van Schaik, Paul; Baranova, Victoria; Martin, Rose; Ayton, Peter

    2017-01-01

    Financial risky decisions and evaluations pervade many human everyday activities. Scientific research in such decision-making typically explores the influence of socio-economic and cognitive factors on financial behavior. However, very little research has explored the holistic influence of contextual, emotional, and hormonal factors on preferences for risk in insurance and investment behaviors. Accordingly, the goal of this review article is to address the complexity of individual risky behavior and its underlying psychological factors, as well as to critically examine current regulations on financial behavior. PMID:28203215

  16. Is a Universal Science of Complexity Conceivable?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    West, Geoffrey B.

    Over the past quarter of a century, terms like complex adaptive system, the science of complexity, emergent behavior, self-organization, and adaptive dynamics have entered the literature, reflecting the rapid growth in collaborative, trans-disciplinary research on fundamental problems in complex systems ranging across the entire spectrum of science from the origin and dynamics of organisms and ecosystems to financial markets, corporate dynamics, urbanization and the human brain...

  17. The complex remuneration of human resources for health in low-income settings: policy implications and a research agenda for designing effective financial incentives.

    PubMed

    Bertone, Maria Paola; Witter, Sophie

    2015-07-28

    Human resources for health represent an essential component of health systems and play a key role to accelerate progress towards universal health coverage. Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa face challenges regarding the availability, distribution and performance of health workers, which could be in part addressed by providing effective financial incentives. Based on an overview of the existing literature, the paper highlights the gaps in the existing research in low-income countries exploring the different components of health workers' incomes. It then proposes a novel approach to the analysis of financial incentives and delineates a research agenda, which could contribute to shed light on this topic. The article finds that, while there is ample research that investigates separately each of the incomes health workers may earn (for example, salary, fee-for-service payments, informal incomes, "top-ups" and per diems, dual practice and non-health activities), there is a dearth of studies which look at the health workers' "complex remuneration", that is, the whole of the financial incentives available. Little research exists which analyses simultaneously all revenues of health workers, quantifies the overall remuneration and explores its complexity, its multiple components and their features, as well as the possible interaction between income components. However, such a comprehensive approach is essential to fully comprehend health workers' incentives, by investigating the causes (at individual and system level) of the fragmentation in the income structure and the variability in income levels, as well as the consequences of the "complex remuneration" on motivation and performance. This proposition has important policy implications in terms of devising effective incentive packages as it calls for an active consideration of the role that "complex remuneration" plays in determining recruitment, retention and motivation patterns, as well as, more broadly, the performance of health systems. This paper argues that research focusing on the health workers' "complex remuneration" is critical to address some of the most challenging issues affecting human resources for health. An empirical research agenda is proposed to fill the gap in our understanding.

  18. An elective course in personal finance for health care professionals.

    PubMed

    Chui, Michelle A

    2009-02-19

    To create, implement, and assess an elective course on the principles and applications of personal finance. A 1.5 unit (15 hours total) elective course was designed using active-learning pedagogy, lecture, and group discussion. Homework assignments were designed to provide practical tools and materials that students could individualize and apply to their personal financial goals. Student satisfaction, using a standard course evaluation form, revealed consistent high ratings. Student enrollment increased from 19 students in its initial year to 90 students in its fourth year. Student knowledge, assessed using the Jump$tart Financial Literacy Survey, indicated significant knowledge acquisition. Many pharmacy students are ill equipped to effectively handle the complex financial decisions they face after graduation. This course provides students with practical tools to identify appropriate ways to achieve their financial goals and critically evaluate financial advice and advisors.

  19. A complex systems approach to constructing better models for managing financial markets and the economy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Farmer, J. Doyne; Gallegati, M.; Hommes, C.; Kirman, A.; Ormerod, P.; Cincotti, S.; Sanchez, A.; Helbing, D.

    2012-11-01

    We outline a vision for an ambitious program to understand the economy and financial markets as a complex evolving system of coupled networks of interacting agents. This is a completely different vision from that currently used in most economic models. This view implies new challenges and opportunities for policy and managing economic crises. The dynamics of such models inherently involve sudden and sometimes dramatic changes of state. Further, the tools and approaches we use emphasize the analysis of crises rather than of calm periods. In this they respond directly to the calls of Governors Bernanke and Trichet for new approaches to macroeconomic modelling.

  20. Two different flavours of complexity in financial data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Buonocore, R. J.; Musmeci, N.; Aste, T.; Matteo, T. Di

    2016-12-01

    We discuss two elements that define the complexity of financial time series: one is the multiscaling property, which is linked to how the statistics of a single time-series changes with the time horizon; the second is the structure of dependency between time-series, which accounts for the collective behaviour, i.e. the market structure. Financial time-series have statistical properties which change with the time horizon and the quantification of such multiscaling property has been successful to distinguish among different degrees of development of markets, monitor the stability of firms and estimate risk. The study of the structure of dependency between time-series with the use of information filtering graphs can reveal important insight on the market structure highlighting risks, stress and portfolio management strategies. In this contribution we highlight achievements, major successes and discuss major challenges and open problems in the study of these two elements of complexity, hoping to attract the interest of more researchers in this research area. We indeed believe that with the advent of the Big Data era, the need and the further development of such approaches, designed to deal with systems with many degrees of freedom, have become more urgent.

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