Financing the embedded value of life insurance portfolios

In May 2004 the CFO Forum harmonized the various efforts of reporting the embedded valueof life insurance companies by issuing the European Embedded Value (EEV) Principles.In this working paper a methodology is proposed to derive a maximum lending amountfrom EEV figures without much additional data requirements from the originating insurer. The approach chosen is similar to that of other financing areas, e.g. real estate finance, where first a prudent best estimate valuation is done and later risk deductions are performed in the form of applying loan to value ratios, e.g. 60-80 % of the prudent amount. Here, this prudent value is called bankable embedded value and the loan to value analysis presented leads to the maximum lending amount. The deductions proposed to arrive at a maximum lending amount are based on parameter adjustments and risk allowances for unexpected risks. There is an analogy with insurers for determining their own capital needs. The methodology proposed is based on the stress test approach which increasingly gains popularity with insurance supervisors in Europe. --European embedded value,embedded value,life insurance policies,maximum lending amount,required capital,risk analysis,risk discount rate,value reporting and analysis,value sensitivity analysis

An Exploratory Study into the Use of Psychology Participant Panels in Psychology Departments in the United Kingdom

Psychology Participant Pools (PPP) are known to be used within psychology departments in the United Kingdom as a way to promote understanding of psychological research and as a means to aid students and researchers to collect data. However, there is currently no information regarding the different practices undertaken in each department. This article represents a first exploration in this endeavour by asking representatives from these departments to complete a survey. General findings revealed that the number of studies conducted were either under 20 or over 40, Level 4 students had to obtain slightly more credits than Level 5 students, a range of activities were observed for those participants who did not obtain all their credits, and the PPP was more often than not tied to a research methods module. Despite receiving responses from around only a third of departments, the results revealed a wide range of behaviours across the departments. We feel that these are useful for departments who wish to establish, or update, their own PPP, but also recognise that a larger study is required to more accurately capture the use of PPPs in the United Kingdom

The shape of invasion perclation clusters in random and correlated media

The shape of two-dimensional invasion percolation clusters are studied numerically for both non-trapping (NTIP) and trapping (TIP) invasion percolation processes. Two different anisotropy quantifiers, the anisotropy parameter and the asphericity are used for probing the degree of anisotropy of clusters. We observe that in spite of the difference in scaling properties of NTIP and TIP, there is no difference in the values of anisotropy quantifiers of these processes. Furthermore, we find that in completely random media, the invasion percolation clusters are on average slightly less isotropic than standard percolation clusters. Introducing isotropic long-range correlations into the media reduces the isotropy of the invasion percolation clusters. The effect is more pronounced for the case of persisting long-range correlations. The implication of boundary conditions on the shape of clusters is another subject of interest. Compared to the case of free boundary conditions, IP clusters of conventional rectangular geometry turn out to be more isotropic. Moreover, we see that in conventional rectangular geometry the NTIP clusters are more isotropic than TIP clusters

Knockout studies reveal an important role of <i>plasmodium</i> lipoic acid protein ligase a1 for asexual blood stage parasite survival

Lipoic acid (LA) is a dithiol-containing cofactor that is essential for the function of a-keto acid dehydrogenase complexes. LA acts as a reversible acyl group acceptor and 'swinging arm' during acyl-coenzyme A formation. The cofactor is post-translationally attached to the acyl-transferase subunits of the multienzyme complexes through the action of octanoyl (lipoyl): &lt;i&gt;N&lt;/i&gt;-octanoyl (lipoyl) transferase (LipB) or lipoic acid protein ligases (LplA). Remarkably, apicomplexan parasites possess LA biosynthesis as well as scavenging pathways and the two pathways are distributed between mitochondrion and a vestigial organelle, the apicoplast. The apicoplast-specific LipB is dispensable for parasite growth due to functional redundancy of the parasite's lipoic acid/octanoic acid ligases/transferases. In this study, we show that &lt;i&gt;LplA1&lt;/i&gt; plays a pivotal role during the development of the erythrocytic stages of the malaria parasite. Gene disruptions in the human malaria parasite &lt;i&gt;P.falciparum&lt;/i&gt; consistently were unsuccessful while in the rodent malaria model parasite &lt;i&gt;P. berghei&lt;/i&gt; the &lt;i&gt;LplA1&lt;/i&gt; gene locus was targeted by knock-in and knockout constructs. However, the &lt;i&gt;LplA1&lt;/i&gt; &lt;sup&gt;(-)&lt;/sup&gt; mutant could not be cloned suggesting a critical role of LplA1 for asexual parasite growth &lt;i&gt;in vitro&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;in vivo&lt;/i&gt;. These experimental genetics data suggest that lipoylation during expansion in red blood cells largely occurs through salvage from the host erythrocytes and subsequent ligation of LA to the target proteins of the malaria parasite