Australian Bank Capital and the Regulatory Framework

The amount and quality of the Australian banking sector’s capital has increased considerably over the past couple of years. As in a number of other countries, this is because the recent global financial crisis has prompted both markets and regulators to reappraise their views on acceptable levels and forms of capital. National and international regulatory bodies have proposed a number of major changes to existing capital regulations, details of which will be finalised later this year.banks; capital; bank capital; capital regulation; capital standards; Basel I; Basel II; Basel III; Tier 1 capital; credit risk; market risk; risk-weighted assets

The impact of Scotland’s economy on the environment : a response

This is a short response to the paper by Moffatt et al (2005) which comments on some of our earlier work. Our work uses a specific Input-Output (IO) based technique, labelled a Neo-Classical Linear Attribution System (NCLAS), to measure the impact of domestic consumption on the domestic environment. We have presented this as an alternative to the currently popular Ecological Footprint approach

Simplification of Robotics Through Autonomous Navigation

With self-driving vehicles, college campus food delivery, or even automated home vacuuming systems, robotics is undoubtedly becoming more prevalent in everyday society and it can be expected to continue with time. While many people are owners, users, or even just spectators of theses robotic products or services, there seems to be a negative perception of robotics that poses an intimidation factor regarding the attempt to understand the ideas driving technology. This perception tends to view robotics as machines that require rich education to understand the complexity and interworkings of, thus attempts understand the field are neglected. To combat this line of thinking, I have set out to break down concepts of robotics to satisfy the basic understanding of an individual from an untrained background. To do this, I have developed a lesson plan that teaches fundamental principles behind robotics and I have developed a beginner-level autonomous navigation project that participants can do to prove their newfound understanding. From the lesson plan aspect, participants are introduced to electronics, mechanical design, and various programming techniques. When the participant attempts the autonomous navigation project, the individual interacts with a pre-built robot and the focus is on developing ideas of how to program the robot to navigate a unidirectional hallway system in which the robot is able to autonomously travel through system of irregular turns. Participants actively test their understanding through application of their programming ideas to the robot. The inspiration for this project stems from my personal experience with secondary education and my experience as I transitioned into further education, but more iii specifically, the lack of direction individuals similar to me had through these experiences. I come from a part of my city that is known for having a much smaller base of financial resources and is also often perceived to be lesser in terms of educational quality. While my place of secondary education partnered with the local technical school to provide an opportunity to take a robotics course, few were able to take advantage of this opportunity. Other than this singular opportunity off campus, there were few other known opportunities within our school to help individuals find interests in STEM based fields and few opportunities that pointed in alternative directions to STEM fields. Unless one had a relative in a field, most individuals were left directionless as to what they may want to do as a future career or what they may want to study if college was an option. As an individual who attended college as a guess as to what to do next with life, selecting a major was also a blind throw at a dart board. The decision on my major was between creative writing and engineering, two very different subjects and if it were not for the simple ideas that I had already advanced through a couple of the beginning engineering math courses and my liking of the idea of “building things,” I would have chosen writing. Even so, the handful of my high school class graduates who also chose engineering had little idea of any differentiation between the disciplines and still barely knew what engineering as a whole was, thus we all chose different disciplines and hoped for the best. Simplication of Robotics Through Autonomous Navigation was created to give learning opportunities to individuals who lack such opportunity and have interest in fields related to robotics, yet may also lack comfort to associate with the field

The Handoff Culture: Can we change how an ICU to floor transfer works?

Handoffs between providers have increased following the implementation of the 2011 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) work hour restrictions. Properly structured and timed handoffs are essential to patient safety.1 Despite this, studies have shown that errors in code status, medication allergies, and important updates to the problem list are common, all of which can lead to adverse outcomes to patients.2 At Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (TJUH) the 2016 Safety Culture Survey revealed that across all specialties, 37% of residents felt that things “fall through the cracks” when transferring patients from one unit to another. Our interdepartmental Housestaff Quality and Safety Leadership Council (HQSLC) sought to evaluate and modify the TJUH ICU to floor handoff process. Through engaging our diverse membership, we realized that the ICU to floor handoff process at TJUH lacks standardization. The following areas demonstrated a high degree of variation, and were seen as targets for improvement: ● Timing of handoff: Some departments give the handoff at the time of transfer order, and others at bed assignment. ● Incorporation of best practices: Both verbal and written handoffs should be performed with time for follow up questions by the receiving team ● Closed loop communication: Both sending and receiving teams should clearly communicate the plan of care, and the receiving team should clearly indicate when they have taken over primary responsibility. Poster presented at: House Staff Quality and Safety Leadership Council conference at Thomas Jefferson University.https://jdc.jefferson.edu/patientsafetyposters/1073/thumbnail.jp

Construction of a multi-sectoral inter-regional IO and SAM database for the UK

The purpose of this paper is to explain the construction of the input-output (IO) and social accounting matrix (SAM) databases for the inter-regional computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the UK developed as part of the project 'An Analysis of National and Devolved Economic Policies' undertaken as part of the ESRC Devolution and Constitutional Change research programme. We identify four main regions of the UK: Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England. However, in Section 2, we begin by constructing a set of two-region accounts where we focus on Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland with the other aggregate 'region' labelled 'rest of the UK' or RUK. Then, in Section 3, we extend to a three-region framework where we identify Scotland, Wales and RUK. Finally, in Section 4, we extend further to construct the full 4-region IO and SAM

The Rebound Effect with Energy Production: A Partial Equilibrium Analysis

Rebound is the extent to which improvements in energy efficiency fail to translate fully into reductions in energy use because of the implicit fall in the price of energy, when measured in efficiency units. This paper discusses aspects of the rebound effect that are introduced once energy is considered as a domestically produced commodity. A partial equilibrium approach is adopted in order to incorporate both energy use and production in a conceptually tractable way. The paper explores analytically two interesting results revealed in previous numerical simulations. The first is the possibility that energy use could fall by more than the implied improvement in efficiency. This corresponds to negative rebound. The second is the finding that the short-run rebound value can be greater than the corresponding long-run value.Energy demand, energy efficiency, rebound, partial equilibrium

To What Extent Will Industrial Energy Efficiency Reduce Energy Use across the Economy?

Industrial energy efficiency policy is typically targeted at the most energy intensive sectorsin the economy. Less energy intensive sectors that use a relatively high level of energy due to the scale of their activity may also be targeted. Either of these types of sectors may be targeted on the basis that large energy savings could be realised at industry-level. However, particularly where national energy use and emissions are a policy concern, there is a need to consider how changes in energy efficiency in one industry may impact throughout the wider economy

Establishing a comprehensive census of undergraduate economics curricula:Foundational and special requirements for major programs in the U.S.

This study is the first of a series of studies, collectively embodying a multiphase mixed methods design. The overall objective of these studies is to explore and address a variety of issues and features of the discipline of economics, particularly as they relate to and represent past present and future factors of globalization, education, citizenship, and society. This is done by collecting and analyzing data on numerous aspects of the undergraduate economics curriculum, economics as a discipline, and economics as applied in the real world. The overall purpose of these studies is to inform ongoing debates concerning the future of the discipline of economics and how it is taught, by examining and creating paradigms and methods that may be of aide. Additionally these studies collectively aim to outline, and in small ways develop, potential technological and organizational solutions for detailed longitudinal curriculum tracking. The frameworks employed and developed in these studies may eventually be scaled and adapted for all sorts of curricula. Ideally, the completion of this study’s overall objective yields practical insights and tools that empower faculty and departments, in economics and eventually in general, to better understand and design their own curriculum. This immediate study fills gaps in and updates data on the curriculum of undergraduate economics majors in U.S. institutions, while also establishing a baseline data set for future studies to build on. A qualitative census methodology is adapted and employed to explore how various institutional and program factors relate to certain types of major program requirements. Descriptive statistics are used for analysis, primarily to allow for comparisons to previous studies. In sum, the purpose of the data collected and analyzed in this census is to give a glimpse into the current state of the undergraduate economics curriculum in the U.S., and to inform the qualitative, quantitative, and transformative studies that are to follow in this multiphase series