SAPPI Limited ("SAPPI") is a company that was established in South Africa in the 1930's and has grown into a global player in the paper and pulp industry, as well as the chemical cellulose industry. Historical financing decisions made in the growth phases of the company's life cycle left it with the need to refinance debt obligations payable in the early 2010's. In order to meet these obligations, four callable bonds with high coupon rates denominated in Euro and US Dollar were issued in 2011 and 2012 below investment grade. This study examines the cost at which these high yield bonds were issued by SAPPI and discusses the potential reasoning behind the decisions made by SAPPI in the process to obtain further financing. Financing solutions within the South African market are discussed with the conclusion that the South African listed high yield corporate bond market was not adequate for SAPPI, given its credit rating being below investment grade and the value of funding required. In addition, SAPPI's exposure to foreign currencies through global operations made the Euro and US Dollar denominated bond issues favourable to the business. To illustrate the cost of the bonds issued in both Euro and US Dollar, the second part of this study consists of an analysis of the option‐adjusted spreads at which these bonds were issued. Our analysis involved taking into account the probability of the call provisions being exercised by SAPPI at the date of issue through a detailed application of the option‐adjusted spread methodology and the use of a recombining binomial lattice. Through a quantitative example of the process followed and a discussion of the spreads determined, we indicate the true cost at which finance was obtained by SAPPI for each bond issued. A brief discussion on the hedging decisions taken by SAPPI management on the issuance of the debt has also been included. Furthermore, the retrospective performance of the foreign exchange hedging decisions made have been assessed through movements in global financial markets from the time hedging decisions were enacted up until 30 September 2015.

This master’s thesis explains what the term risk means, how the project of risk management is running and financial risks existing in the company ABC, s.r.o. are described. These risks are currency risk, credit risk and liquidity risk. The methods of their analysis and measurement and also instruments are stated. These procedures and project of the risk management are explained.

Theses "Risk Management of the selected business entity" is focused on risk management, analysis and optimization in the consumer cooperative COOP. Consumer cooperative covers 121 sales units in the district Zdar nad Sazavou and devoted mainly selling food and non-food goods, which are facing high competition from hypermarkets and supermarkets. The first part contains the definition of consumer cooperatives deals with general characteristics of the risks division and possible measures for its reduction, which is nowadays a very important part of risk analysis. The second part deals with the analysis in five categories of risk and risk assessment. These suggestions are based on analysis of solutions found to eliminate the risks, which will help to create a stronger team position in the market.

The aim of the diploma thesis Risk analysis at STAVBA krbů s.r.o. is to identify and analyze risks and propose measures for its reduction. The first part of the thesis contains the problem situation and deals with the general characteristics of risk, dividing of the risks, basic methods for determining risks and possible measures for its reduction. The second part of the thesis deals with analysis of risks in the company of using strategic analysis and qualitative risk analysis. These analyzes are the basis for determining the measures and recommendations to reduce identified risks.

MPH / Department of Public Health / See the attached abstract below

In this thesis, we study random bridges of a certain class of Lévy processes and their applications to credit risky asset pricing. In the first part, we construct the compound random bridges(CLRBs) and analyze some tools and properties that make them suitable models for information processes. We focus on the Markov property, dynamic consistency, measure changes and increment distributions. Thereafter, we consider applications in credit risky asset pricing. We generalize the information based credit risky asset pricing framework to incorporate prematurity default possibilities. Lastly we derive closed-form expressions for default trends and intensities for credit risky bonds with CLRB as the background partial information process. We obtain analytical expressions for specific CLRBs. The second part looks at application of stochastic filtering in the current information based asset pricing framework. First, we formulate credit risky asset pricing in the information-based framework as a filtering problem under incomplete information. We derive the Kalman-Bucy filter in one dimension for bridges of Lévy processes with a given finite variance.

This thesis aims at providing reasonable explications of theprecautionary principle and the concept of precaution, todefend the precautionary principle against some commoncriticisms, and to give an indication of how the precautionaryprinciple might be operationalised. In Essay I, the concept of precaution is analysed in termsof precautionary actions. Distinctions between precaution andtwo related concepts, prevention and pessimism, are discussed.A definition involving three necessary and jointly sufficientconditions is proposed as a reasonable explication of aprecautionary action. Essay II attempts to provide an analytical apparatus whichmay be used for finding an authoritative formulation of theprecautionary principle. Several formulations of theprecautionary principle are examined. It is argued that theprecautionary principle can be recast into a four-dimensionalif-clause, and that this format can be used in negotiationsconcerning the precautionary principle. In Essay III, the precautionary principle is defendedagainst five common charges, namely that it is ill-defined,absolutist, and a value judgement, increases risk-taking, andmarginalises science. In Essay IV, a simple formalised model is introduced, inwhich the precautionary principle is interpreted in terms ofdefault values of chemicals regulation. <b>Key words:</b>Precautionary principle, precaution, risk / NR 20140805

Risker är något som ständigt finns närvarande i IT-projekt, både positiva och negativa risker. Syftet med denna studie är därav att undersöka hur projektledare i IT-branschen arbetar med risker och möjligheter samt hur arbetet upplevs. Studien genomfördes efter en kvalitativ ansats och med hjälp av en tematisk analys utformades fyra huvudteman: (1) Ta risker på allvar, (2) Förståelsens innebörd: förstår du mig nu?, (3) Oanade möjligheter och (4) Tio nyanser av lärdomar. Tidigare forskning och studiens resultat visar på att riskarbete ska göras noggrant och regelbundet. Då risker är en stor del av ett projekt bör detta arbete tas på allvar. Till skillnad från risker är möjligheter något som endast ett fåtal arbetar aktivt med. Störst fokus ligger på att analysera och hantera risker, inte möjligheter. En av slutsatserna som denna studie därav resulterat i är att riskarbete är ett viktigt arbete som behöver noggrannhet, tid, kommunikation, transparens, reflektion och kontinuitet för att bli så bra som möjligt. Arbetet med möjligheter kan däremot utvecklas avsevärt. Studiens deltagare blev även ombedda att dela med sig av en viktig lärdom vid arbetet med risker. Detta resulterade förvånande nog i tio olika svar vilket visar på att den enade synen som först antogs finnas, gällande arbetet med risker i IT-projekt, inte är helt enad. Det finns liknande nyanser i lärdomarna men själva lärdomarna i sig är olika. En slutsats som kan dras av detta är att arbetet med risker är liknande, både i teorin och i praktiken, men att erfarenheter och olika synsätt påverkar vad respektive projektledare anser vara den viktigaste lärdomen inom riskarbete. / The work with risk and risk factors are something that must be taken seriously in IT-projects. The work must be done carefully and regularly throughout the whole project, otherwise the consequences will affect the project in a negative way. But a project risk doesn´t always have to be something negative. Possibilities in IT-projects are still an unknown way of work. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine how project managers in IT work with risks and possibilities and how their experiences where with this work. The study was conducted using a qualitative approach and with the help of thematic analysis, four themes were created; (1) Take risks seroiusly, (2) The meaning of understanding: do you understand me now?, (3) Unimagined possibilities och (4) Ten nuances of lessons leatned. Working with risks where something that all project managers did. They thought that their work with project risks is the key to implementing a successful project. But the result of this study also shows that working with possibilities where something that just a minority of the participants did. Both research and the result of this study highlights that some of the keys to a successful work with project risks are; precision, time, communication, transparency, reflection and continuity. Even though this was something every participant agreed on, the idea on what was the most important thing to do in the work with project risk where different among them all. That result shows that the work with project risks might, at the first sight, be equal but when you dig deeper there are differences. The project manager must therefore find a way to communicate and identify the project risks so everyone working in the project have a united way of identifying the project and the project risks.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of technical efficiency, using data envelopment analysis and the Tobit regression model, of the six largest listed South African banks for the years 2008-2018. An input-oriented intermediary constant-return-to-scale approach was followed to determine technical efficiency scores. After technical efficiency scores were obtained, a binary data set was created by assigning a score of 1 to all observations that were regarded as technical efficient, whereas all observations that were regarded as technically inefficient were assigned a score of 0. Thereafter, a Tobit regression analysis was performed to test the following hypotheses: skimping hypothesis, diversification hypothesis, bad management hypothesis and the funding hypothesis. The results of the regression analysis show that the skimping, diversification, and bad management hypotheses were not relevant for the six largest South African banks over the period under review. Regression results pointed towards the funding hypothesis being applicable to the six largest listed banks over the review period. It can therefore be suggested that the banks under review were generally well managed with a keen focus on expense control and thorough underwriting. To ensure the efficiency of large listed banks, it is proposed that regulators continue to monitor large banks as evidence of the study suggests that as deposit bases grow, a deterioration in technical efficiency is experienced. Generally, the results of the study indicate that the six large listed banks are overall relatively efficient over the review period.

Paratuberculosis (Johne's disease) imposes a significant problem to the world dairy and beef industries and today is considered a potential zoonosis. The disease is caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis and is characterized by progressive weight loss and profuse diarrhoea. Susceptibility to infection is suspected to have a genetic component, and moderated values for heritability of infection have been reported. Interferon gamma is an inducible cytokine with a crucial role in the innate host response to intracellular bacteria. Toll-like receptors are trans-membrane structures responsible for coordination of innate and adaptive immune responses. The solute carrier family 11 member 1 (SLC11A1, formerly NRAMP1) gene plays an important role in innate immunity, preventing bacterial growth in macrophages during the initial stages of infection. The objective of this candidate gene case-control study was to characterize the distribution of polymorphisms in three candidate genes related to the immune function; interferon gamma (BoIFNG), toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), and SLC11A1 genes and to test their role as potential risk factors for paratuberculosis infection in cattle. The statistical analysis demonstrated significant differences in allelic frequencies between cases and controls for BoIFNG-SNP12781 and SLC11A1 microsatellites, indicating a significant association between infection and variant alleles. In the analysis of genotypes, a significant association was also found between infection status and BoIFNG-SNP12781 and SLC11A1-275-279-281 microsatellites. However, when variables such as breed and age were included in the multivariate logistic regression analysis, a tendency toward statistical significance for the effect of polymorphisms in the odds of infection was only found for alleles SLC11A1-275 and 279.