The concept of disability adjusted life years (DALY) came forward in the early 1990’s to be used as a measurement of the burden of disease. The DALY combines the burden with regard to premature death and years lived with a disease. Much criticism has been raised since then with regard to e.g. ethics. This thesis focuses on the lack of contextual aspects of the DALY-concept because the measurement has a universal standard for all diseases in all countries. One aim of the study is to describe how regional and cultural context influence the view of disability and therefore contradicts with the underlying approaches of the DALY-concept. The regional and cultural differences are illustrated by examples like paraple-gia. Published burden of disease studies are examined for contextual considerations. The conclusion of the analysis is that regional and cultural issues are not taken into ac-count when using the DALY-approach of health assessments in public health. The second aim of the study is to discuss who should value the life of disabled. Follow-ing the transition of health, different views of fair health have developed and the need of health care. Underlying this assessment is an implicit valuation of disabilities among lay-people and health care professionals. If one uses DALY as a general measurement for the burden of disease and prioritising resources for disabled it is discussed who should be involved in the calculation of disability weights and a model for the collabo-ration is described. The conclusion is that lay people must be involved in a facilitated process. Overall the thesis show that the development of DALY is a serious attempt to give a simple tool for understanding and prioritise the complex challenges in public health. At present, an agenda for development of contextual DALY’s is needed. / Begrebet Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) kom frem i starten af 1990’erne som et redskab til at måle sygdomsbyrde. DALY kombinerer sygdomsbyrden med hensyn til for tidlig død og år levet med handicap. Megen kritik af DALY er rejst fx i forhold til etiske aspekter. Denne opgave fokuserer på manglen på kontekst i DALY-konceptet fordi instrumentet anvender en universel standard for alle sygdomme på tværs af lande. Ét formål med opgaven er at beskrive hvorledes regionale og kulturelle sammenhænge influerer synet på handicap og dermed er i modstrid med de bagvedliggende antagelser i DALY-konceptet. De regionale og kulturelle forskelle er illustreret ved eksempler som paraplegi. Publicerede sygdomsbyrde studier gennemgås i sammenhæng med regionale eller kulturelle overvejelser. Analysen konklusion er, at regionale og kulturelle hensyn ikke indarbejdet i DALY tilgangen. Det andet formål med opgaven er at diskutere, hvem skal vurdere handicappedes liv. Som følge af udviklingen af befolkningernes sundhedstilstand har opfattelse af helbred og adgang til sundhedsvæsenet ændret sig. I bedømmelsen heraf ligger en implicit vurdering af handicap bland såvel lægfolk som sundhedsprofessionelle. Hvis man anvender DALY som generelt mål for sygdomsbyrden og prioriterer på baggrund heraf, så diskuteres hvem der skal deltage i værdisætningen af vægtene, der indgår i beregningerne. En model for samarbejde omkring vægtene beskrives. Konklusionen er, at lægfolk bør involveres i processen med støtte af udefra kommende konsulenter. Overordnet viser opgaven, at udviklingen af DALY er et seriøst tiltag på et simpelt værktøj til at forstå og prioritere komplekse udfordringer i folkesundheden. For indeværende er der behov for en dagsorden for videreudviklingen af kontekstrelateret DALYs. / <p>ISBN 91-7997-155-5</p>

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Increasing sophistication of exchange traded fund (ETF) indexation methods required that a comparison be drawn between various methodologies. A performance and risk evaluation of four pre-selected ETF indexation categories were conducted to establish the diversification benefits that each contain. Fundamentally weighted, equally weighted and leveraged ETFs were compared to traditional market capitalisation weighted ETFs on the basis of risk and return. While a literature review presented the theory on ETFs and the various statistical measures used for this study, the main findings were obtained empirically from a sample of South African and American ETFs. Several risk-adjusted performance measures were employed to assess the risk and return of each indexation category. Special emphasis was placed on the Omega ratio due to the unique interpretation of the return series‟ distribution characteristics. The risk of each ETF category was evaluated using the exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA), while the diversification potential was determined by means of a regression analysis based on the single index model. According to the findings, fundamentally weighted ETFs perform the best during an upward moving market when compared by standard risk-adjusted performance measures. However, the Omega ratio analysis revealed the inherent unsystematic risk of alternatively indexed ETFs and ranked market capitalisation weighted ETFs as the best performing category. Equal weighted ETFs delivered consistently poor rankings, while leveraged ETFs exhibited a high level of risk associated with the amplified returns of this category. The diversification measurement concurred with the Omega ratio analysis and highlighted the market capitalisation weighted ETFs to be the most diversified ETFs in the selection. Alternatively indexed ETFs consequently deliver higher absolute returns by incurring greater unsystematic risk, while simultaneously reducing the level of diversification in the fund. / MCom (Risk Management), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

Increasing sophistication of exchange traded fund (ETF) indexation methods required that a comparison be drawn between various methodologies. A performance and risk evaluation of four pre-selected ETF indexation categories were conducted to establish the diversification benefits that each contain. Fundamentally weighted, equally weighted and leveraged ETFs were compared to traditional market capitalisation weighted ETFs on the basis of risk and return. While a literature review presented the theory on ETFs and the various statistical measures used for this study, the main findings were obtained empirically from a sample of South African and American ETFs. Several risk-adjusted performance measures were employed to assess the risk and return of each indexation category. Special emphasis was placed on the Omega ratio due to the unique interpretation of the return series‟ distribution characteristics. The risk of each ETF category was evaluated using the exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA), while the diversification potential was determined by means of a regression analysis based on the single index model. According to the findings, fundamentally weighted ETFs perform the best during an upward moving market when compared by standard risk-adjusted performance measures. However, the Omega ratio analysis revealed the inherent unsystematic risk of alternatively indexed ETFs and ranked market capitalisation weighted ETFs as the best performing category. Equal weighted ETFs delivered consistently poor rankings, while leveraged ETFs exhibited a high level of risk associated with the amplified returns of this category. The diversification measurement concurred with the Omega ratio analysis and highlighted the market capitalisation weighted ETFs to be the most diversified ETFs in the selection. Alternatively indexed ETFs consequently deliver higher absolute returns by incurring greater unsystematic risk, while simultaneously reducing the level of diversification in the fund. / MCom (Risk Management), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.

Modern analytical instrumentation is capable of creating enormous and complex volumes of data. Analysis of large data volumes are complicated by lengthy analysis time and high computational demand. Incorporating real-time analysis methods that are computationally efficient are desirable for modern analytical methods to be fully utilized. The use of modern instrumentation in on-line pharmaceutical process validation, remote sensing, and astrobiology applications requires real-time analysis methods that are computationally efficient. Integrated sensing and processing (ISP) is a method for minimizing the data burden and sensing time of a system. ISP is accomplished through implementation of chemometric calculations in the physics of the spectroscopic sensor itself. In ISP, the measurements collected at the detector are weighted to directly correlate to the sample properties of interest. This method is especially useful for large and complex data sets. In this research, ISP is applied to acoustic resonance spectroscopy, near-infrared hyperspectral imaging and a novel solid state spectral imager. In each application ISP produced a clear advantage over the traditional sensing method. The limitations of ISP must be addressed before it can become widely used. ISP is essentially a pattern recognition algorithm. Problems arise in pattern recognition when the pattern-recognition algorithm encounters a sample unlike any in the original calibration set. This is termed the false sample problem. To address the false sample problem the Bootstrap Error-Adjusted Single-Sample Technique (BEST, a nonparametric classification technique) was investigated. The BEST-ISP method utilizes a hashtable of normalized BEST points along an asymmetric probability density contour to estimate the BEST multidimensional standard deviation of a sample. The on-line application of the BEST method requires significantly less computation than the full algorithm allowing it to be utilized in real time as sample data is obtained. This research tests the hypothesis that a BEST-ISP metric can be used to detect false samples with sensitivity > 90% and specificity > 90% on categorical data.

<p>The review of the ethical funds literature shows the significant growth of the Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) in the last few decades. The increase of the interest towards SRI indicates that ethical issues have become more essential for the investors. However the number of surveys reveals that financial performance remains of an important concern for the socially responsible investors. Therefore the benchmark analysis of the expected returns and management fees of the ethical mutual funds is chosen as a topic for this thesis research. The risk-adjusted measures are used to analyze and compare the performance of the ethical and non-ethical mutual funds in United Kingdom. The analysis does not indicate the significant difference in the expected returns between the two groups of funds. However this study concludes that on average ethical funds charge higher management fees. Thus investing in ethical funds is more costly but gives about the same returns as investing in conventional funds.</p>

The use of statistical analysis has been prevalent in the sports gambling industry for years. More recently, we have seen the emergence of "adjusted statistics", a more sophisticated way to examine each play and each result (further explanation below). And while adjusted statistics have become commonplace for professional and recreational bettors alike, little research has been done to justify their use. In this paper the effectiveness of this data is tested on the most heavily wagered sport in the world – the National Football League (NFL). The results are studied with two central questions in mind: Does the market account for the information provided by adjusted statistics? And, can this data be interpreted to create a profitable betting strategy? First, the Efficient Market Hypothesis is introduced and tested using these new variables. Then, a betting model is built and tested.

The last decades have seen a rapid increase of sustainable investing, also known as ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investing. There has also been an increasing body of academic literature devoted to whether investors can gain any financial benefits from taking ESG under consideration. Previous literature of portfolio performance in terms of risk-adjusted returns has given much of its attention to best-in-class approaches, which is a strategy that selects top performers in ESG within a sector or industry. The purpose of this study is foremost to investigate a best-effort approach to ESG investing, which is a strategy that focuses on the top improvers in ESG. The purpose is further to compare this with a best-in-class approach, since the findings from earlier studies of this strategy still are inconsistent. The region chosen to perform this study in is the Eurozone. Several theories that have implications for portfolio studies and abnormal returns are taken under consideration in relation to the study and its findings. This includes the efficient market hypothesis, the adaptive market hypothesis and modern portfolio theory. The theoretical framework also cover asset-pricing models and the notions of risk-adjusted returns. A quantitative study with a deductive approach are used to form portfolios, with a Eurozone index as the investable universe. Best-effort and best-in-class portfolios as well as difference portfolios of the two approaches are created, based on ESG data and different cut-off rates for portfolio inclusion. As for risk-adjusted performance measure, the Carhart four-factor model are used. The overall results are mostly insignificant findings in terms of abnormal returns. However, three best-effort portfolios based on the top ESG improvers show significant positive abnormal returns. These findings are strongest for the environmental and social factor. As for the best-in-class approach, only the governance portfolios provided weakly significant results in terms of abnormal returns. Further, the study is not able to significantly distinguish between a best-effort and a best-in-class approach when it comes to risk-adjusted performance. The exception is the environmental factor based on the top performers in each approach, where the best-effort portfolio outperforms the best-in-class portfolio. Finally, none of the portfolios provided significant negative risk-adjusted returns. This can at least be considered as good news for ESG investing, since it indicates that investors do not have to sacrifice risk-adjusted returns in order to invest in a more sustainable way.