The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between antenatal care (ANC) adequacy and preterm births. The researcher used the quantitative, descriptive, correlational, retrospective, case control design on a sample size of 40 cases and 80 controls. A checklist was used to collect data at one state hospital in Windhoek. When the Adequacy of Prenatal Care Use (APNCU) index was applied, premature birth was found to be less likely for women in the higher categories of care (OR 0.121; 95% CI 0.124–0.613) as compared to those in the lower categories. Similarly when the Content and Timing of care in Pregnancy (CTP) tool was used; women in the higher categories of care, were less likely (OR 0.114; 95% CI 0.012–1.056) to give birth prematurely as compared to those in the lower categories / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

This thesis compares insurance premium principles with current financial risk paradigms and uses distorted probabilities, a recent development in premium principle literature, to synthesize the current models for financial risk measures in banking and insurance. This work attempts to broaden the definition of value-at-risk beyond the percentile measures. Examples are used to show how the percentile measure fails to give consistent results, and how it can be manipulated. A new class of consistent risk measures is investigated.

La problématique de cette thèse se tient à l'interface des domaines scientifiques de l'adéquation algorithme architecture, des systèmes de vision bio-inspirée en robotique mobile et du traitement d'images.Le but est de rendre un robot autonome dans son processus de perception visuelle, en intégrant au sein du robot cette tâche cognitive habituellement déportée sur un serveur de calcul distant.Pour atteindre cet objectif, l'approche de conception employée suit un processus d'adéquation algorithme architecture, où les différentes étapes de traitement d'images sont analysées minutieusement.Les traitements d'image sont modifiés et déployés sur une architecture embarquée de façon à respecter des contraintes d'exécution temps-réel imposées par le contexte robotique.La robotique mobile est un sujet de recherche académique qui s'appuie sur des approches bio-mimétiques.La vision artificielle étudiée dans notre contexte emploie une approche bio-inspirée multi-résolution, basée sur l'extraction et la mise en forme de zones caractéristiques de l'image.Du fait de la complexité de ces traitements et des nombreuses contraintes liées à l'autonomie du robot, le déploiement de ce système de vision nécessite une démarche rigoureuse et complète d'exploration architecturale logicielle et matérielle.Ce processus d'exploration de l'espace de conception est présenté dans cette thèse.Les résultats de cette exploration ont mené à la conception d'une architecture principalement composée d'accélérateurs matériels de traitements (IP) paramétrables et modulaires, qui sera déployée sur un circuit reconfigurable de type FPGA.Ces IP et le fonctionnement interne de chacun d'entre eux sont décrits dans le document.L'impact des paramètres architecturaux sur l'utilisation des ressources matérielles est étudié pour les traitements principaux.Le déploiement de la partie logicielle restante est présenté pour plusieurs plate-formes FPGA potentielles.Les performances obtenues pour cette solution architecturale sont enfin présentées.Ces résultats nous permettent aujourd'hui de conclure que la solution proposée permet d'embarquer le système de vision dans des robots mobiles en respectant les contraintes temps-réel imposées. / This Ph.D Thesis stands at the crossroads of three scientific domains : algorithm-architecture adequacy, bio-inspired vision systems in mobile robotics, and image processing.The goal is to make a robot autonomous in its visual perception, by the integration to the robot of this cognitive task, usually executed on remote processing servers.To achieve this goal, the design approach follows a path of algorithm architecture adequacy, where the different image processing steps of the vision system are minutely analysed.The image processing tasks are adapted and implemented on an embedded architecture in order to respect the real-time constraints imposed by the robotic context.Mobile robotics as an academic research topic based on bio-mimetism.The artificial vision system studied in our context uses a bio-inspired multi-resolution approach, based on the extraction and formatting of interest zones of the image.Because of the complexity of these tasks and the many constraints due to the autonomy of the robot, the implementation of this vision system requires a rigorous and complete procedure for the software and hardware architectural exploration.This processus of exploration of the design space is presented in this document.The results of this exploration have led to the design of an architecture primarly based on parametrable and scalable dedicated hardware processing units (IPs), which will be implemented on an FPGA reconfigurable circuit.These IPs and the inner workings of each of them are described in the document.The impact of their architectural parameters on the FPGA resources is studied for the main processing units.The implementation of the software part is presented for several potential FPGA platforms.The achieved performance for this architectural solution are finally presented.These results allow us to conclude that the proposed solution allows the vision system to be embedded in mobile robots within the imposed real-time constraints.

Historically, banks have always had a central role in the economy. Their decisions do not only affect their shareholders and customers but the whole economic system. As a consequence, the financial crisis of 2007-2008 has shown that bank management is a huge matter and that the failure of one bank can affect tremendously the whole banking system and the economy. For these reasons, banks need to be regulated by external organisations that constrain them to adjust their regulatory capital via their risk weighted assets. This paper examines the significant factors of the spread between the scenarios on Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) of the 2016 stress test for EU banks. CET1 is a component of capital adequacy ratio and measures the connections between capital euntens’ris-weighted assets. On a methodological standpoint, this research is based on a positivist approach this meaning that a quantitative analysis has been performed. The sample used in this research is composed of 51 banks from 15 countries across EU and European Economic Area. All of these banks have been analysed by the European Banking Authority (EBA) which has conducted stress test in order to assess CET1 as regards to Basel III framework. The researchers have elaborated a conceptual model in order to select the most relevant variables that might affect the spread of CET1. The hypotheses are based on previous researches and take into account the following independent variables: Size, Stock Exchange Listed, Leverage ratio, Loans on Assets, Net Interest Margin, Risk-Weighted Assets to Total Assets and Profitability. Simple linear regression and multiple linear regressions have been performed to test the impact of all the independent variables on the spread of CET1. The statistical analyses have revealed that there are no significant relationships between the selected variables, except for size that has a significant negative impact on the spread as part of the multiple regression. Therefore, none of the hypotheses can be supported. These results provide new insights in the banking sector and to a larger extent for finance. They may be considered as a basis for future research on the spread of CET1.

Relations of the Central bank to Commercial banks This thesis deals with the relations among the central bank and commercial banks laying emphasize on the situation in the Czech Republic. The aim of this thesis is to characterize and analyze relations among the Czech National Bank and commercial banks, to evaluate them and suggest possible legislative improvements to strengthen the stability of banking institutions and thus the entire economy. In the beginning of the thesis the basic terms are defined. Then the types of relations among the central bank and commercial banks are described. The thesis is due to the wide number of emerging relations among the central bank and commercial banks focused mainly on relations associated with entrance into the banking sector, on the proper functioning of banks and on the relations associated with their extinction. The main part of the thesis is logically divided into another three parts. The first part describes the mechanism of granting banking licenses and the possibility of foreign institutions's establishment in the Czech banking market. Huge attention is dedicated to the unique bank license concept. In the second part there are described the most important conditions that are necessary for the banking sector to run properly. Most of this section is...

This work concentrates on the issue of capital adequacy of banks. Inadequate capital base of the banking sector is often referred to as one of the causes of the latest financial crisis. Such topic is currently very actual. Even banking regulators pay high attention to this topic. In my thesis I focus on legal and economic aspects of this topic. It is typical for the banking sector that banks operate with much more leverage effect than enterprises belonging to other sectors. Therefore, I focus on the root cause of this phenomenon in the third chapter. I assess the bank indebtedness using the theory of optimal capital structure and I also address the relations between economic and regulatory capital. In the fourth chapter I focus on the concept of capital adequacy and its comparison with leverage indicator. The next chapter concentrates on the development of regulatory minimum capital adequacy standards developed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, known as Basel I and Basel II. The last but one chapter focuses on the latest regulatory rules Basel III governing the capital adequacy of banks and their legal implementation. Final chapter analyzes the impact of Basel III rules on the capital structure of banks in the European Union and the Czech Republic. A separate part of the chapter is...

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Hospitality Management and Dietetics / Elizabeth B. Barrett / Rebecca A. Gould / Equipment to store foods at proper temperatures is critical to serving safe and nutritious meals in schools yet little is known about the amount or the adequacy of refrigerated storage in school nutrition programs. The purposes of this study were to identify the types and capacity of refrigeration equipment used in schools, determine the perceived adequacy of refrigerated storage capacity to meet new meal pattern requirements, and examine differences in adequacy and capacity. A modified Delphi technique, site observations, pilot study, and electronic survey were used for data collection. School nutrition directors in the USDA/FNS Southwest Region (N=2392) served as the population. Respondents provided an inventory of refrigeration equipment for one of the schools in their district and information about perceived adequacy of refrigerated storage, barriers to purchasing refrigeration equipment, resources used to develop specifications, and practices to compensate for inadequate refrigerated storage in their program. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, independent sample t-tests, regression, and ANOVA. Over a third of directors indicated that refrigerated equipment was inadequate to meet new meal pattern requirements. Directors with more experience rated adequacy higher than directors with less experience. Milk coolers (n=212, 88.3%) and walk-in freezers (n=180, 75.0%) were the types of refrigeration equipment found most often in schools. Walk-in freezers and refrigerators provided over 95% of refrigerated storage space. The mean average cubic feet of refrigerated storage per school was 1423±1152. School enrollment is a significant predictor of refrigerated storage capacity. Refrigerated storage is a concern for school nutrition directors who reported practices to compensate for inadequate storage including maintaining low inventory and decreasing the number of items purchased. School nutrition professionals may use the results of this study to implement practices to compensate for inadequate refrigerated storage. Results cannot be generalized due to the regional nature of the survey and low response rate and possible non-response bias.

Abstract This dissertation consists of two essays. The first essay analyzes financial preparation for retirement of American men and women, using the 2013 Survey of Finances. Specifically, for retirement plan, income is an important factor for men and women aged 35-45 because of their insufficient income, health (excellent) for men and women aged 46-59 because of continuing work, number of weeks worked per year for men and women aged 60-67 because they have already retired or will retire and many of them are participating in a part time job. Also, health has significantly positive effects on the share of the financial wealth invested in the stocks while age has significantly negative effects in the analysis. The second essay analyzes the differences between the hippie cohort and the X and Y cohorts for the adequate preparation for retirement. In the hippie cohort, using the Internet or online for getting information to make decisions about investments and saving has positive effects on satisfaction of the retirement income from pensions and Social Security even if it’s statistically insignificant in the X and Y cohorts. In the responses regarding the question of how rate the retirement income from job pensions and Social Security, the findings show that the hippie cohort is more likely than the X and Y cohorts in satisfaction of the retirement income from pensions and Social Security income. The results show that the hippie cohort is better than the X and Y cohorts in preparation for retirement.

My dissertation thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of the principles of securitization techniques, of their attendant shortcomings, their regulatory treatment and the recent proposals for reducing complexity in accounting standards with relevance for securitizations. The explosion of securitization and related innovative credit risk transfer products largely expanded the magnitude and diversity of issuers, investors and securities. With this expansion numerous market participants began to wrongly believe that risk was not only shared more widely, but also that it disappeared from the system altogether. The application, or to be more precise, the misapplication of securitization in the mortgage market had fatal consequences for the financial sector worldwide. Before securitization, sub-prime mortgage lenders retained the loans that they originated on their balance sheets and therefore cared about their credit quality. Securitization techniques and related innovative financial instruments enabled the export of sub-prime mortgage structural problems from the United States globe-wide via the financial intermediaries. More over, securitization techniques and related credit risk transfer products enabled single banks to reduce their individual risk while at the same time transferred new and greater risks to the financial system. Meanwhile a lot was written on the causes for the recent financial crisis. In most cases inadequate ratings provided by the credit rating agencies and different principal agent problems were addressed. I present both for completeness in my work. However, I argue that not only the credit rating agencies are to blame for the inadequate reflection of securitization and related financial innovations and subsequently for the financial turmoil. The international and national financial supervisors in fact supported the credit rating agencies to further establish their businesses. What turned obvious during and after the financial turmoil started mid-2007 is that financial regulation failed to reach its main goal - ensuring stability of the financial system. It failed despite of the "regulatory achievements within Basel II" elaborated over the past ten years. In particular, securitization and related credit risk transfer products were not adequately treated in Basel II. Securitization-related products such as Credit Derivatives on Securitization Underlyings and numerous other complex financial innovations, as presented in my thesis, were not even thought of in Basel II. In fact, Basel II turned to do little to make the financial system more resilient. The need for further revisions in banking regulation is currently more than obvious. Furthermore, it is time to ask if the developments in Basel II are the right way to address the current risks within the financial system and hence if Basel II is the right way of banking regulation and supervision altogether. With the development of both Basel Accords (Basel I and Basel II) capital ratios became the center of banking regulation. However, capital ratios are obviously not sufficient as a measure for a systemic financial stability. These questions arise at least when financial stability and soundness are still the intended objectives and believed to be ensured through Basel II. My merits in this dissertation work root in the multi-facet analysis of securitization techniques that I provide. Up to date a comparable analysis of securitization techniques which addresses the wide spectrum of securitizations' issues - such as (i) their treatment and the related attendant flaws within the regulatory framework Basel II, (ii) the various microeconomic deficiencies related to securitizations, and (iii) the implicit macroeconomic threads of exporting credit risk and de-balancing financial stability through securitization techniques - has not been provided in the comprehensive way I built up my analysis. As a basis for my analysis, I provide a new classification of the characteristics of securitization techniques which were pre-crisis wrongly perceived as benefits. I analyze the reasons for the turmoil in the financial markets in their interplay and complexity and consider securitization techniques as a key driver for the financial crisis. I comprehensively criticize the current regulatory treatment. I present in detail why the recent financial crisis should be considered a clear regulatory failure due to the up to date short-sightedness of financial regulation. Through providing partial solutions and professional author's assessment of selected regulatory and accounting changes to securitizations I deliver an expert's contribution to the topic. My conclusions are that securitization markets, as they have been operating until today, brought a negative net macroeconomic effect which has been largely damaging to the global economy. I argue that international and national financial supervisors established an inadequate framework for financial regulation and supervision, and among other failures, even supported credit rating agencies to further establish their businesses. Further on, I show that early warning indicators of systemic risk in the financial sector and signs of the coming turmoil were irresponsibly ignored at the time they were perceived. What turned obvious during and after the recent financial turmoil is that capital regulation failed to reach its main goal -- ensuring stability of the financial system. In particular, securitization and related credit risk transfer products were adequately treated neither in Basel I nor in Basel II. Finally, I conclude that capital ratios as established with the development of both Basel Accords are not sufficient as a central measure for banking regulation and ensuring systemic financial stability.

Dissertation thesis deals with the topic of capital adequacy of financial institutions and tries to solve the problem of default and its prediction. In the theoretical part, the thesis provides summarization of historic and current approaches to capital adequacy of financial institutions and also presents currently used methodology of scoring models, which predict default of companies. Application part of the thesis aims to develop a scoring model, which would be usable by financial institutions for evaluation of their clients and their tendency to default.