An analysis of the MSHSAA competitive balance policy of 2020: has equity been achieved?

The proliferation of private schools' success in interscholastic athletics has led many state activities governing bodies to develop policies that help to ensure competitive balance (Johnson, Maxwell and Scott, 2019). The biggest single factor in interscholastic competitive balance is whether a high school is public or private (Cohen, 1997: Epstien, 2008: Johnson et al., 2015: Popke, 2012). Private and public schools have distinct differences that are paramount in the competitive balance problem. School boundary limitations, student recruitment, student body demographics, and tuition assistance are all pieces of the equation. In the State of Missouri, differences in public and private schools' postseason success are apparent in sports and activities. The purpose of this study was to examine proportions of non-MSIP schools (private) success in post season championships. Research implications and scholarly context were presented by looking at the available historical data. A majority of the statistical tests for the research questions revealed statistically nonsignificant differences in pre- and post-policy proportions of non-MSIP schools in the top-four of the state championship series. Two tests revealed a difference in proportion, men's track and field with a decrease in proportion and baseball with an increase in proportion. The null hypothesis is accepted in all cases except for baseball and men's track and field.Includes bibliographical references

VALUING CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS I: NO COUNTERPARTY DEFAULT RISK

This paper provides a methodology for valuing credit default swaps when the payoff is contingent on default by a single reference entity and there is no counterparty default risk. The paper tests the sensitivity of credit default swap valuations to assumptions about the expected recovery rate. It also tests whether approximate no-arbitrage arguments give accurate valuations and provides an example of the application of the methodology to real data. In a companion paper entitled Valuing Credit Default Swaps II: Modeling Default Correlation, the analysis is extended to cover situations where the payoff is contingent on default by multiple reference entities and situations where there is counterparty default risk

VALUING CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS II: MODELING DEFAULT CORRELATIONS

This paper extends the analysis in Valuing Credit Default Swaps I: No Counter party Default Risk to provide a methodology for valuing credit default swaps that takes account of counterparty default risk and allows the payoff to be contingent on defaults by multiple reference entities. It develops a model of default correlations between different corporate or sovereign entities. The model is applied to the valuation of vanilla credit default swaps when the seller may default and to the valuation of basket credit default swaps

The General Hull-White Model and Super Calibration

Term structure models are widely used to price interest-rate derivatives such as swaps and bonds with embedded options. This paper describes how a general one-factor model of the short-rate can be implemented as a recombining trinomial tree and calibrated to market prices of actively traded instruments such as caps and swap options. The general model encompasses most popular one-factor Markov models as special cases. The implementation and the calibration procedures are sufficiently general that they can select the functional form of the model that best fits the market prices. This allows the model to fit the prices of in- and out-ofthe- money options when there is a volatility skew. It also allows the model to work well very low interest-rate economies such as Japan where other models often fail

Improving empathy of physicians through guided reflective writing

Objectives: This study was designed to explore how guided reflective writing could evoke empathy and reflection in a group of practicing physicians. Methods: Total participants recruited included 40 staff physicians at Cleveland Clinic, a tertiary care academic medical center. Twenty physicians (intervention group) were assigned to participate in a 6-session faculty development program introducing narrative medicine and engaging in guided reflective writing. Ten physicians (comparison group 1) received the assigned course reading materials but did not participate in the course sessions. Ten physicians (comparison group 2) neither received the reading materials nor participated in the sessions. Qualitative analysis of the physicians\u27 reflective writings was performed to identify major themes. The Jefferson Scale of Empathy was administered three times during the course. Results: Qualitative analysis of physicians\u27 writings showed themes of both compassionate solidarity and detached concern. Exploration of negative emotions occurred more frequently than positive ones. The most common writing style was case presentation. A total of 36 staff physicians completed the Jefferson Scale of Empathy. Results of statistical analysis suggested an improvement in empathy in the intervention group at the end of the course (p \u3c 0 .05). Conclusions: These results suggest a faculty development program using guided narrative writing can promote reflection and may enhance empathy among practicing physicians. These findings should encourage medical educators to design additional strategies for enhancing reflection and empathic behavior in trainees and specifically practicing physicians who can role model these behaviors to achieve the ultimate goal of improving the quality of patient care

VALUING CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS II: MODELING DEFAULT CORRELATIONS

This paper extends the analysis in Valuing Credit Default Swaps I: No Counter party Default Risk to provide a methodology for valuing credit default swaps that takes account of counterparty default risk and allows the payoff to be contingent on defaults by multiple reference entities. It develops a model of default correlations between different corporate or sovereign entities. The model is applied to the valuation of vanilla credit default swaps when the seller may default and to the valuation of basket credit default swaps