Building a coherent risk measurement and capital optimisation model for financial firms

This paper was presented at the conference "Financial services at the crossroads: capital regulation in the twenty-first century" as part of session 5, "International capital allocation at financial institutions." The conference, held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on February 26-27, 1998, was designed to encourage a consensus between the public and private sectors on an agenda for capital regulation in the new century.Risk ; Econometric models ; Bank capital ; Financial institutions

Family-focused cognitive behaviour therapy versus psycho-education for chronic fatigue syndrome in 11- to 18-year-olds: a randomized controlled treatment trial

Background - Only one previous randomized controlled trial (RCT) has examined the efficacy of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) in children. The aim of this study was to compare family-focused CBT with psycho-education for CFS in adolescents. Method - Sixty-three 11- to 18-year-olds (43 girls, 20 boys) with CFS were randomly assigned to either family-focused CBT or psycho-education delivered over 6 months. School attendance was the main outcome, which was assessed at the end of treatment and at 3, 6 and 12 months follow-up. Results - At the main outcome point (the 6-month follow-up) both groups had improved similarly. However, although those who received family-focused CBT were attending school for longer than those who received psycho-education, at discharge from treatment and at 3 months follow-up, they improved less quickly across the follow-up period. Conclusions - Adolescents with CFS get back to school more quickly after family-focused CBT. This is important as they are at a crucial stage of their development. However, the finding that psycho-education was as effective as family-focused CBT at 6 and 12 months follow-up has important implications for health service delivery

Family-focused cognitive behaviour therapy versus psycho-education for chronic fatigue syndrome in 11- to 18-year-olds: a randomized controlled treatment trial

Background - Only one previous randomized controlled trial (RCT) has examined the efficacy of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) in children. The aim of this study was to compare family-focused CBT with psycho-education for CFS in adolescents. Method - Sixty-three 11- to 18-year-olds (43 girls, 20 boys) with CFS were randomly assigned to either family-focused CBT or psycho-education delivered over 6 months. School attendance was the main outcome, which was assessed at the end of treatment and at 3, 6 and 12 months follow-up. Results - At the main outcome point (the 6-month follow-up) both groups had improved similarly. However, although those who received family-focused CBT were attending school for longer than those who received psycho-education, at discharge from treatment and at 3 months follow-up, they improved less quickly across the follow-up period. Conclusions - Adolescents with CFS get back to school more quickly after family-focused CBT. This is important as they are at a crucial stage of their development. However, the finding that psycho-education was as effective as family-focused CBT at 6 and 12 months follow-up has important implications for health service delivery

A recommender system for e-retail

The e-retail sector in South Africa has a significant opportunity to capture a large portion of the country's retail industry. Central to seizing this opportunity is leveraging the advantages that the online setting affords. In particular, the e-retailer can offer an extremely large catalogue of products; far beyond what a traditional retailer is capable of supporting. However, as the catalogue grows, it becomes increasingly difficult for a customer to efficiently discover desirable products. As a consequence, it is important for the e-retailer to develop tools that automatically explore the catalogue for the customer. In this dissertation, we develop a recommender system (RS), whose purpose is to provide suggestions for products that are most likely of interest to a particular customer. There are two primary contributions of this dissertation. First, we describe a set of six characteristics that all effective RS's should possess, namely; accuracy, responsiveness, durability, scalability, model management, and extensibility. Second, we develop an RS that is capable of serving recommendations in an actual e-retail environment. The design of the RS is an attempt to embody the characteristics mentioned above. In addition, to show how the RS supports model selection, we present a proof-of-concept experiment comparing two popular methods for generating recommendations that we implement for this dissertation, namely, implicit matrix factorisation (IMF) and Bayesian personalised ranking (BPR)

The Use of the Technological Innovation Systems Framework to Identify the Critical Factors for a Successful Sustainability Transition to Rooftop Solar in Low-Income Communities within South Africa

South Africa has a large unemployment rate with many households almost completely dependent on social grants for survival. Under such circumstances the potential of rooftop solar in developing vibrant and local energy micro-economies, which can generate and trade in electricity, is highly attractive. In this chapter, it is shown that such systems are uneconomic if considered from the perspective of a private investor. However a different conclusion emerges with respect to public funding. Even without considering the additional benefits of improved health and learning opportunities, lower levels of crime and lower levels of non-payment, rooftop solar becomes an attractive investment for the state, especially in areas of high solar irradiation. The ‘electrification grant’ could be delivered in several ways including the use of a subsidised feed-in-tariff. An initial analysis using the framework of technological innovation systems shows that much of the required structure for a rooftop solar system is already in place. However the state will need to boost efforts to train technicians to install and maintain the infrastructure, accelerate its initiatives to support local manufacture of photovoltaic modules, and strengthen the capability of the science and technology system to support the processes of technology diffusion and adoption

Electronic Resource Acquisition Pilot Study Final Report

In light of the increasing numbers of e-resources targeted at academic libraries and the increase in the e-resource budget for 2007, a pilot study was held to investigate the integration of e-resource acquisition into current print acquisition processes. To this end, the Electronic Resource Acquisition Team was established for the period May – December 2007. The team was trained in the complexities of e-resource acquisition and management, achieving a 12% increase in e-resource acquisition from 2006 (as at September 2007). In addition, several sub-projects were also undertaken by the team throughout the project period: Browse by Subject Project, Info Page Clean Up Project, Ledger Clean Up Project, Updates Page Project and the ERMS Project. As a result of the work completed by the team throughout the ERAT project, documentation and strategies were created and developed to enable the continued effective acquisition and management of e-resources ..

Perspectives of Traditional Health Practitioners on the Use of Microbicides for the Prevention of HIV

In many South African communities, Traditional Health Practitioners (THPs) are significant participants within a plural health care system. For several years, it has been argued that this role, especially in the context of HIV/AIDS, has not been fully optimised and THPs continue to operate outside the formal biomedical sector, where the latter forms the central means by which public health campaigns are delivered and implemented. In our previous research, we have shown that this separation of the biomedical and traditional sectors perpetuates a low level of understanding of HIV by THPs with adverse consequences for patients and the overall health care system. In this study we investigated whether biomedical/traditional division could be transformed through the involvement of THPs in the distribution of barrier microbicides; the latter are presently under investigation as a means of preventing HIV infection. We concluded that THPs could provide a willing and effective distribution network for the gel-based microbicides; given the large number of THPs and their patients, such a distribution strategy would ensure that microbicides are accessible and adopted relatively quickly within the target  communities of the HIV prevention campaigns.Keywords: Traditional Health Practitioners, HIV, AIDS, prevention, microbicides

Case Study: ResearchArchive@Victoria

The research archive was established to provide long-term storage and access to University research outputs such as theses and academic papers. The repository enables research students and academics (past, present and future) to highlight their work wherever in the world they are, thereby increasing the presence and impact of Victoria University of Wellington research outputs both nationally and internationally