Improving resolvability: partial property transfers and central counterparties

One of the most significant reforms introduced in the wake of the global financial crisis was the introduction of mandatory clearing for certain standardised ‘over the counter’ (OTC) derivatives. As a result of this policy, central counterparties (CCPs) have assumed a larger role in the global financial system. Designing a harmonised regime for the orderly management of failing CCPs is an integral part of post-crisis regulatory reforms but is challenging. This work remains ongoing at the international, regional and national levels. This article seeks to contribute to the ongoing debates. The article’s focus is on a particularly appealing resolution tool, partial property transfer. It explains how a resolution strategy using partial property transfer interacts with the typical legal structure of systemically significant CCPs. The first thesis developed in this article is that in order for resolution authorities to be able to implement a partial property transfer of a failing clearing service or services while ensuring the continuity of critical service provision, ex ante reforms to the organisational structure of some clearing houses should be considered. The second is that, to be fit for purpose, the creditor safeguard used in a partial property transfer resolution needs to be framed in terms of the losses at the point of transfer to creditors of the affected clearing service. The article offers proposals designed to facilitate effective resolutions in this context. It provides worked examples to illustrate the rationale behind the proposals and to explore how they improve the resolvability of large CCPs

Accreditation of health services: is it money and time well spent?

The research evidence shows that accreditation is a useful tool for stimulating improvements in the quality and safety of health services. Accreditation programs are deployed widely to monitor and promote safety and quality in healthcare. Governments, health service organisations and accreditation agencies have invested considerable resources into accreditation programs, but to date evidence of their effectiveness is limited and varied in some areas. Without more robust evidence – on what aspects of accreditation programs work, in what contexts and why – policymakers will have to continue drawing on expert opinion, small-scale program evaluations and cautious comparative assessments of the literature when reviewing, revising or implementing  accreditation programs

User-Interface Coding for the CERN/GEANT Nuclear Physics Program

Explanations will be given of the various user-written routines required by the Monte Carlo detector-modeling program GEANT, developed by CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. User-written routines must be linked with the CERN library to accomplish the researcher\u27s intentions. Examples will illustrate how GEANT passes information to subprograms needed to model events. Various data structures used by GEANT library calls and included in each user routine, are similarly illustrated. Both computational-speed and memory-size limitations need to be factored into the construction of a simulation model. This will constrain the calls used in the user-written routines. Examples are provided of GEANT input data flags, defined by the user to determine simulation parameters and to control various testing choices in GEANT

Distinctive Features of Mobile Messages Processing

World’s mobile market pushes past 2 billion lines in 2005. Success in these competitive markets requires operational excellence with product and service innovation to improve the mobile performance. Mobile users very often prefer to send a mobile instant message or text messages rather than talking on a mobile. Well developed “written speech analysis” does not work not only with “verbal speech” but also with “mobile text messages”. The main purpose of our paper is, firstly, to highlight the problems of mobile text messages processing and, secondly, to show the possible ways of solving these problems

Vocal Response to Pain in Piglets

Three experiments were performed attempting to establish the validity of vocal measures as an indicator of the immediate response to pain in domestic piglets. Vocalisations were measured while piglets were subjected to the routine farm practice of castration without anaesthetic, or restrained identically but not castrated (i.e., sham-castrated). In Experiment 1 we measured how calling changed during the different stages of the procedure, and in Experiments 2 and 3 we measured the effect of different restraint techniques. Piglets that were castrated produced significantly more high frequency calls ( \u3e1000 Hz) than sham castrates in all three experiments. In Experiment 1, we found the greatest differences between the castrated and sham piglets during the severing of the spermatic cords (1.0 high calls/s vs. 0.3 calls/s, P \u3c 0.01., and lesser differences when the scrotum was incised and the testicles extruded. In Experiments 2 and 3, castrates again produced high frequency calls at significantly faster rates than shams. The rate of low calls (frequency \u3c 1000 Hz), the mean frequency of the high calls, and mean call duration did not vary consistently between sham and castrated pigs. These results suggest that the increased rate of high calls is a reliable indicator of the pain due to castration. In Experiments 2 and 3, calling varied in response to how the piglets were restrained. However, there was no significant interaction between castration and restraint method for the rate of high calls, suggesting that the way in which the piglets were restrained did not affect the pain caused by castration

Central counterparties (CCPs) and the law of default management

This article explores the legal framework around the process of ‘default management’ and explains its significance in the setting of central clearing. Having contextualised the discussion by considering central counterparties (CCPs) as default managers, and examined the safe harbours that CCPs enjoy from various provisions of insolvency law, the article considers the legal challenges arising along a ‘default timeline’ consisting of three different stages: declaration of default; close out; and collateral management. It finds that even in the context of central clearing, where robust default management is now of systemic importance to the financial system and the law is generally supportive, material risks remain and must be accounted for. The article suggests that while some of these risks may be mitigated by the parties, others require action from legislators, so addressing the fragmentary nature of the framework governing CCP default management should be a legislative priority

Get the balance right: private rights and public policy in the post-crisis regime for OTC derivatives

The reforms introduced since the 2008 financial crisis have left the OTC derivatives market in a state of hybridity, governed by elements of private and public law and with a wide-ranging set of stakeholders. This article explores the implications of this hybridity for the ongoing debate about the recovery and resolution of central counterparties (CCPs) and for rule-making in this area. A conflict of rights analysis is applied to five key policy questions (around framing the rules; tear-up; the resolution trigger; the creditor safeguard and the role of equity holders) and potential legal challenges are explored. On this basis, we propose a set of recommendations for the future regime governing CCP recovery and resolution

Health sector accreditation research: a systematic review

Abstract Purpose. The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze research into accreditation and accreditation processes. Data sources. A multi-method, systematic review of the accreditation literature was conducted from March to May 2007. The search identified articles researching accreditation. Discussion or commentary pieces were excluded. Study selection. From the initial identification of over 3000 abstracts, 66 studies that met the search criteria by empirically examining accreditation were selected. Data extraction and results of data synthesis. The 66 studies were retrieved and analyzed. The results, examining the impact or effectiveness of accreditation, were classified into 10 categories: professions' attitudes to accreditation, promote change, organizational impact, financial impact, quality measures, program assessment, consumer views or patient satisfaction, public disclosure, professional development and surveyor issues. Results. The analysis reveals a complex picture. In two categories consistent findings were recorded: promote change and professional development. Inconsistent findings were identified in five categories: professions' attitudes to accreditation, organizational impact, financial impact, quality measures and program assessment. The remaining three categories-consumer views or patient satisfaction, public disclosure and surveyor issues-did not have sufficient studies to draw any conclusion. The search identified a number of national health care accreditation organizations engaged in research activities. Conclusion. The health care accreditation industry appears to be purposefully moving towards constructing the evidence to ground our understanding of accreditation