This thesis applies entropy as a model independent measure to address research questions concerning the dynamics of various financial time series. The thesis consists of three main studies as presented in chapters 3, 4 and 5. Chapters 3 and 4 apply an entropy measure to conduct a bivariate analysis of drawdowns and drawups in foreign exchange rates. Chapter 5 investigates the dynamics of investment strategies of hedge funds using entropy of realised volatility in a conditioning model. In all three studies, methods from information theory are applied in novel ways to financial time series. As Information Theory and its central concept of entropy are not widely used in the economic sciences, a methodology chapter was therefore included in chapter 2 that gives an overview on the theoretical background and statistical features of the entropy measures used in the three main studies. In the first two studies the focus is on mutual information and transfer entropy. Both measures are used to identify dependencies between two exchange rates. The chosen measures generalise, in a well defined manner, correlation and Granger causality. A different entropy measure, the approximate entropy, is used in the third study to analyse the serial structure of S&P realised volatility. The study of drawdowns and drawups has so far been concentrated on their uni- variate characteristics. Encoding the drawdown information of a time series into a time series of discrete values, Chapter 3 uses entropy measures to analyse the correlation and cross correlations of drawdowns and drawups. The method to encode the drawdown information is explained and applied to daily and hourly EUR/USD and GBP/USD exchange rates from 2001 to 2012. For the daily series, we find evidence of dependence among the largest draws (i.e. 5% and 95% quantiles), but it is not as strong as the correlation between the daily returns of the same pair of FX rates. There is also dependence between lead/lagged values of these draws. Similar and stronger findings were found among the hourly data. We further use transfer entropy to examine the spill over and lead-lag information flow between drawup/drawdown of the two exchange rates. Such information flow is indeed detectable in both daily and hourly data. The amount of information transferred is considerably higher for the hourly than the daily data. Both daily and hourly series show clear evidence of information flowing from EUR/USD to GBP/USD and, slightly stronger, in the reverse direction. Robustness tests, using effective transfer entropy, show that the information measured is not due to noise. Chapter 4 uses state space models of volatility to investigate volatility spill overs between exchange rates. Our use of entropy related measures in the investigation of dependencies of two state space series is novel. A set of five daily exchange rates from emerging and developed economies against the dollar over the period 1999 to 2012 is used. We find that among the currency pairs, the co-movement of EUR/USD and CHF/USD volatility states show the strongest observed relationship. With the use of transfer entropy, we find evidence for information flows between the volatility state series of AUD, CAD and BRL.Chapter 5 uses the entropy of S&P realised volatility in detecting changes of volatility regime in order to re-examine the theme of market volatility timing of hedge funds. A one-factor model is used, conditioned on information about the entropy of market volatility, to measure the dynamic of hedge funds equity exposure. On a cross section of around 2500 hedge funds with a focus on the US equity markets we find that, over the period from 2000 to 2014, hedge funds adjust their exposure dynamically in response to changes in volatility regime. This adds to the literature on the volatility timing behaviour of hedge fund manager, but using entropy as a model independent measure of volatility regime. Finally, chapter 6 summarises and concludes with some suggestions for future research.

Dynamic risk management is not a much-resolved issue at municipal level, although the consequences of these risks can be very serious for the municipality. The Municipality mainly focuses on situations that are called extraordinary events and the hazards of common activities, mainly associated with the running of the village, are usually neglected. The diploma thesis deals with the analysis of the current state of this issue, which deals with approaches for dynamic risk management, municipalities, methods suitable for risk analysis and the possibility of using software tools in this area. Based on an analysis of the current situation, a general model for dynamic risk management at municipal level is created. The output of the thesis is the above-mentioned general model and its verification in a particular municipality. Additionally, the financial difficulty associated with the implementation of this model is presented.

Cette thèse traite la gestion juridique des risques liés à la pollution médicamenteuse. Aujourd’hui les études scientifiques signalent l’émergence des résidus médicamenteux dans notre environnement. Néanmoins, des incertitudes subsistent quant aux risques réels de ces résidus sur la santé humaine et sur l’environnement. Dans ce contexte, la politique actuelle fait recours au principe de précaution pour une maitrise de ce polluant émergent, mais ces mesures sont en pleine gestation. Fort de ce constat, ce travail se soldera par un état des lieux des outils juridiques pouvant servir la gestion des risques sur l’ensemble du cycle de vie du médicament, depuis la création de la molécule médicamenteuse jusqu’à sa pseudo-élimination par les stations d’épuration. La démonstration s’attache en particulier à retracer la récente prise de conscience de la pollution médicamenteuse par la politique environnementale. Dans un premier temps, il s’agira de mettre en exergue l’émergence d’un nouveau risque généré par le médicament et son impact sur la politique de la santé publique. Dans un second temps, il sera question d’analyser les moyens préventifs entrepris récemment par le gouvernement. Par ailleurs, l’insuffisante appréhension juridique de l’impact environnemental généré par les résidus médicamenteux sera évoquée. Il s’agira de mettre l’accès, dans un premier temps, sur les lacunes relatives à la réglementation régissant le médicament en tant que polluant. Dans un second temps, les insuffisances réglementaires pour les activités génératrices de pollution médicamenteuse seront abordées. / This thesis deals with the legal management of risks related to drug pollution. Nowadays, scientific studies indicate the emergence of drug residues in our environment. Nevertheless, uncertainties remain regarding the actual risks of these residues on the human health and on the environment. Given this observation, current policy makes use of the precautionary principle in order to control this emerging pollutant, but these measures are in the making. In light of the above, this work leads to a review of the legal tools that can be used to manage risks throughout the life cycle of the drug, from the its creation’s molecule to its pseudo-elimination by treatment plants. More precisely, the demonstration attempts to retrace the recent awareness of drug pollution by environmental policy. In a first step, we highlight the emergence of a new risk generated by the drug and its impact on public health policy. In a second phase, we analyze the preventive measures that have been recently undertaken by the government. the lack of a legal understanding concerning the environmental impact generated by drug residues will be mentioned. First, gaps in the regulations governing the medicinal product as a pollutant are identified. Then, regulatory deficiencies for drug-generating activities are being addressed.

The thesis deals with management of risks in finance shared service in international company Zebra Technologies CZ s.r.o. The thesis analyses and evaluates all risks which are common in this finance shared service. In the first part the thesis deals with important concepts which are linked with process management, business environment, risks, risk management and finance shared services. It is followed by analysis of processes then by environment and analysis of all known risks. The last part is made of evaluation of all identified risks and there are suggestions which could eliminate most of them.

No / The first stage of the argument in this paper is that regulation of the biotechnology revolution is required. Put simply, this is because there will be both positive and negative impacts of the revolution, and there is also the possibility of misuse. In each area that the revolution impacts upon, there are both harms to be avoided and benefits to be promoted. An important component of this will be identification and assessment of risks. Regulation of the biotechnology revolution at local, national and regional levels is important, but the revolution and its impacts are global, and in several issue areas coordinated state action will be required ¿ here international regulation has an essential part to play. When looking at the global impacts of the revolution it is clear that they are not evenly distributed ¿ the benefits of the revolution may fail to reach those who need them most. From this analysis four key roles fro regulation of the biotechnology revolution can be identified: promotion of benefits; identification, assessment and management of risks; prevention or minimisation of negative impacts; and promotion of capacity building. There are various international regulations relevant to the control of the biotechnology revolution, but they do not form a coherent set. This presents problems for fulfilment of the four roles.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:46:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 GrayceLTC_DISSERT.pdf: 1835806 bytes, checksum: f4f84109098e5cafa4fd9ac77f73ad99 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-02-07 / The attention with safety of the patients is important in the quality of the nursing and health care. In the pre-hospital care, such care is essential on site with the purpose of avoiding possible consequences to the individual, ensuring a fast and appropriate care, with improvement of the morbidity and reduction of the mortality. This medical attention is equally associated with the significant risks of adverse events and serious mistakes, which can be reduced with the awareness of the professionals, organization and quality management. It is a descriptive, transversal research, of quantitative approach, with the objective of identifying the risks for the safety of the patient during the mobile pre-hospital care under the view of the nurses, in a city of the Brazilian Northeast. The sample was formed by 23 nurses. The inclusion criteria: to have at least two years of experience and accept to participate on the research. The data collection was done in two steps, first photo collection, through the adapted method of photographic analysis, and the second with the application of questionnaire, divide in two parts: socio-professional data and digital photo punctuation instrument of the patient s safety. The majority of the nurses had an average working time in the mobile pre-hospital care of six years and six months, in the age group of 38 to 53 years old (69,56%) and with Lato sensu specialization (73,91%), being (29,41%) emergency and (29,41%) in intensive care. The (74%) have the Advance Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and (100%) have the Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS); (91, 30%) know the thematic safety of the patient. On the pictures it was observed a bigger variability of the categories (risks) where 44% of variance emerged on the first picture of the research. The pictures 4 and 9 with the average below 5 were classified as very insecure, while pictures 7 and 3 with an average above 7, very secure. On the results of risks observed for the patient s safety in the mobile pre-hospital care five categories emerged: organization and packaging of the equipment and materials, routines and specificities in the mobile pre-hospital care, risks on the management of medications, for traumas and infections. Starting from the analysis of these risks, it was proposed ten steps for the safety in the mobile pre-hospital care: 1- Identify the patient; 2- Safety related to prevention of infection; 3- Safety in the management of medications; 4- Safety and standardization of the packaging of equipment and materials; 5- Attention to the specificities of the mobile pre-hospital care; 6- Incentive and value the participation of the patient and family; 7- Promote the communication with the central of regulation; 8- Prevention of traumas and falls; 9- Protect the skin from additional injuries; 10- Understand the benefit of all the equipment in the ambulance. The multiple risks and their emerged combinations on the research indicate a variety of actions to be developed and stimulated, like the use of steps for the patient s safety in the mobile pre-hospital care which contributes with the aid and management of risks, reduction of mistakes, disabilities and death / A aten??o com a seguran?a dos pacientes ? importante na qualidade da assist?ncia de enfermagem e dos cuidados de sa?de. No atendimento pr?-hospitalar, estes cuidados s?o essenciais no local do evento, com prop?sito de minimizar poss?veis consequ?ncias ao indiv?duo, garantindo um atendimento precoce e adequado, com melhoria da morbidade e diminui??o da mortalidade. Estes atendimentos igualmente associam-se a riscos significativos de eventos adversos e erros graves, que podem ser diminu?dos com a conscientiza??o dos profissionais, organiza??o e qualidade da gest?o. Trata-se de estudo descritivo, transversal, de abordagem quantitativa, com o objetivo de identificar os riscos para a seguran?a do paciente no atendimento pr?-hospitalar m?vel sob a ?tica dos enfermeiros, em uma cidade do Nordeste Brasileiro. A amostra da pesquisa foi formada por 23 enfermeiros. Os crit?rios de inclus?o foram: ter no m?nimo dois anos de experi?ncia e aceitarem participar da pesquisa. A coleta de dados foi realizada em duas etapas: primeiramente coleta de fotos atrav?s do m?todo adaptado de an?lise fotogr?fica, e a segunda com a aplica??o de question?rio, dividido em duas partes: dados s?cio-profissionais e instrumento de pontua??o de fotografia digital sobre a seguran?a do paciente. Encontrou-se a predomin?ncia de enfermeiros com tempo m?dio de trabalho no atendimento pr?-hospitalar m?vel de seis anos e seis meses, na faixa et?ria de 38 a 53 anos (69,56%) e com especializa??o Lato sensu (73,91%), sendo (29,41%) em urg?ncia e emerg?ncia e (29,41%) em terapia intensiva. Possuem o Advanced Cardicologic Life Support (ACLS) (74%) e o Pre Hospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) (100%); conhecem a tem?tica seguran?a do paciente (91,30%). Nas fotos observou-se uma maior variabilidade de categorias (riscos) onde 44% de vari?ncia emergiu na foto 01 do estudo. As fotografias 4 e 9, com m?dias abaixo de 5, foram classificadas como muito inseguras, enquanto que as fotos 7 e 3 com m?dias acima de 7, muito seguras. Dos resultados de riscos observados para a seguran?a do paciente no atendimento pr?-hospitalar m?vel emergiram cinco categorias: organiza??o e acondicionamento de equipamentos e materiais, rotinas e especificidades no atendimento pr?-hospitalar m?vel, riscos para a administra??o de medicamentos, para traumas e para infec??o. Partindo da an?lise desses riscos foram propostos dez passos para a seguran?a do paciente no atendimento pr?-hospitalar m?vel: 1- Identificar o paciente; 2- Seguran?a relacionada ? preven??o de infec??o; 3- Seguran?a na administra??o de medicamentos; 4- Seguran?a e padroniza??o do acondicionamento de equipamentos e materiais; 5- Aten??o para as especificidades do atendimento pr?-hospitalar m?vel; 6- Incentivar e valorizar a participa??o do paciente e fam?lia; 7- Promover a comunica??o com a central de regula??o; 8- Preven??o de traumas e quedas; 9- Proteger a pele de les?es adicionais; 10- Compreender o benef?cio de todos os equipamentos da ambul?ncia. Os m?ltiplos riscos e suas combina??es emergidas no estudo indicam a multifatoriedade de a??es a serem desenvolvidas e estimuladas, como a utiliza??o de passos para a seguran?a do paciente no atendimento pr?-hospitalar m?vel que contribui como subs?dio no gerenciamento de riscos, diminui??o de erros, incapacidades e morte

A indústria de seguros é uma atividade econômica relativamente jovem, possuindo raízes na revolução industrial. O desenvolvimento dessa indústria ocorreu de forma bastante intensa durante o século passado, quando a atividade passou a ser inserida na área de gestão de riscos. As Companhias de Seguros que trabalham nesse ambiente de negócio fundamentam todo o processo de precificação dos seus produtos em rígidas bases técnicas e atuariais. O presente trabalho dedica-se ao estudo dessas questões, abordando especificamente os seguros de vida, com ênfase à cobertura de morte. A pesquisa tem por objetivo comparar duas modalidades distintas de seguros que são ofertadas ao mercado: o seguro de vida individual e o seguro de vida em grupo. Embora ofereçam aos consumidores coberturas bastante similares, ambas as modalidades devem obedecer a requisitos e princípios técnicos diferenciados por parte das instituições que fazem a sua gestão. / The insurance industry is a relatively young economic activity; its bases are found in the industrial revolution. The development of such industry occurred in a very intense way in the last century, when the activity started being placed in the area of management of risks. The insurance companies that work in this business environment base the whole pricing process of their products on rigid technical and actuarial bases. The present work aims at studying these questions, focusing on the life insurance, with emphasis on the death coverage. The research intends to explore and compare two distinct modalities of insurance that are offered to the market: the individual life insurance and the group life insurance. Even though they offer similar coverage, they must fulfill requirements and different technical principles ruled by the institutions which are responsible for their management.

A indústria de seguros é uma atividade econômica relativamente jovem, possuindo raízes na revolução industrial. O desenvolvimento dessa indústria ocorreu de forma bastante intensa durante o século passado, quando a atividade passou a ser inserida na área de gestão de riscos. As Companhias de Seguros que trabalham nesse ambiente de negócio fundamentam todo o processo de precificação dos seus produtos em rígidas bases técnicas e atuariais. O presente trabalho dedica-se ao estudo dessas questões, abordando especificamente os seguros de vida, com ênfase à cobertura de morte. A pesquisa tem por objetivo comparar duas modalidades distintas de seguros que são ofertadas ao mercado: o seguro de vida individual e o seguro de vida em grupo. Embora ofereçam aos consumidores coberturas bastante similares, ambas as modalidades devem obedecer a requisitos e princípios técnicos diferenciados por parte das instituições que fazem a sua gestão. / The insurance industry is a relatively young economic activity; its bases are found in the industrial revolution. The development of such industry occurred in a very intense way in the last century, when the activity started being placed in the area of management of risks. The insurance companies that work in this business environment base the whole pricing process of their products on rigid technical and actuarial bases. The present work aims at studying these questions, focusing on the life insurance, with emphasis on the death coverage. The research intends to explore and compare two distinct modalities of insurance that are offered to the market: the individual life insurance and the group life insurance. Even though they offer similar coverage, they must fulfill requirements and different technical principles ruled by the institutions which are responsible for their management.

A indústria de seguros é uma atividade econômica relativamente jovem, possuindo raízes na revolução industrial. O desenvolvimento dessa indústria ocorreu de forma bastante intensa durante o século passado, quando a atividade passou a ser inserida na área de gestão de riscos. As Companhias de Seguros que trabalham nesse ambiente de negócio fundamentam todo o processo de precificação dos seus produtos em rígidas bases técnicas e atuariais. O presente trabalho dedica-se ao estudo dessas questões, abordando especificamente os seguros de vida, com ênfase à cobertura de morte. A pesquisa tem por objetivo comparar duas modalidades distintas de seguros que são ofertadas ao mercado: o seguro de vida individual e o seguro de vida em grupo. Embora ofereçam aos consumidores coberturas bastante similares, ambas as modalidades devem obedecer a requisitos e princípios técnicos diferenciados por parte das instituições que fazem a sua gestão. / The insurance industry is a relatively young economic activity; its bases are found in the industrial revolution. The development of such industry occurred in a very intense way in the last century, when the activity started being placed in the area of management of risks. The insurance companies that work in this business environment base the whole pricing process of their products on rigid technical and actuarial bases. The present work aims at studying these questions, focusing on the life insurance, with emphasis on the death coverage. The research intends to explore and compare two distinct modalities of insurance that are offered to the market: the individual life insurance and the group life insurance. Even though they offer similar coverage, they must fulfill requirements and different technical principles ruled by the institutions which are responsible for their management.

This diploma thesis is focused on the analysis and description of the development market in the Czech Republic. The thesis describes the specific activities leading to the development project in all its phases, presents the project risks and defines the security and specifications of the development projects. The analysis is focused on commercial office projects and it is formed in three successive levels, at the level of the Czech Republic, at the level of the analysis of the Prague and Brno markets, to a specific analysis of the selected project.