Yes / This paper aims to capture the perception of banking services providers on how to restore their customers’ trust in the UK banking industry. Twenty frontline employees (FLEs) who have customer-facing responsibilities are interviewed and a thematic analysis of the interview transcripts is undertaken. Through the emergence of three different major themes and a number of sub-themes, we have presented our findings in the form of a trust restoration model. Interviewees have reported three major themes as an action framework to restore their customers’ trust. Firstly, banks are implementing enhanced transparency in their operations, by appropriately disclosing the key features of their lending and other banking activities. Secondly, they are implementing policies and procedures that can help strengthen their relationship banking, such as improving employee and customer engagement activities for supporting small businesses and the community. Thirdly, they are promoting operational efficiency by adequately investing in information technology infrastructure. However, some financial service practices identified by the interviewees, for example, the deliberate sale of financial products that are unsuitable for their customers or too complex to understand, still continues. Ultimately, this ‘sale before service’ tactic is incompatible with the industry claims of compliance with the new financial regulations.

Yes / Bioarchaeological and clinical data show that diet influences health, and this relationship is crucial to how we understand past health with respect to sex and age. We propose a new method that coinvestigates the relationship between mortality risk and diet in the past. Our method integrates dietary stable isotope data (δ13 Carbon and δ 15 Nitrogen) from Roman Britain (N=659) with hazards analysis. The results show that these data can be informatively used in this type of analysis in general, and that in the context of Roman Britain, higher δ 13C is associated with lower risks of mortality while higher δ 15N is associated with elevated risks of mortality. Importantly, the results emphasize that a bioarchaeological approach to interpretation must be taken in order to more fully understand the results obtained by the method

Studiens syfte: Denna studie har som syfte att undersöka hur svenska venture capital aktörer minimerar asymmetrisk information i samarbetsprocessen med entreprenören. Metod: Studien är av fallstudiedesign med kvalitativ ansats där semistrukturerade intervjuer samt enkät med slutna frågor har använts för att samla in data. Empiri: Det empiriska materialet visar hur tre svenska venture capital aktörer noggrant och effektivt väljer investeringsobjekt och sedan arbetar aktivt för att dessa bolag ska bli så bra som möjligt. Slutsats: Studien visar att svenska venture capital aktörer använder sig av en kombination av olika verktyg och att bygga förtroende mellan de olika parterna för att minimera risken med asymmetrisk information. / Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine how the Swedish venture capital operators minimize the asymmetric information that may occur during an investment process. Method: This study has a case study design using a qualitative approach in which semi- structured interviews and a questionnaire with closed-end questions were used to collect data. Research: The empirical data shows how Swedish Venture Capital operators accurately and efficiently selects investment targets and then actively work for the companies they invest in. Conclusion: The main result of this investigation is that Swedish venture capital operators use a combination of different tools and trust to minimize the risk of asymmetric information.

Landslides, in their various forms, are a common hazard in mountainous terrain, especially in seismically active areas and regions of high rainfall. The West Coast region of New Zealand is dissected by many active faults, experiences frequent earthquakes and in many locations annual rainfall exceeds ten meters. Consequently, landslides are widespread in the region and since European settlement began, have been responsible for 27 deaths, along with frequent damages to road and rail infrastructure, settlements and agricultural land. This study identifies areas that are susceptible to rainfall triggered landslides in the West Coast region. To achieve this, a landslide susceptibility map was produced using bivariate statistics and the analytical hierarchy process. It has an accuracy that predicts 80% of all the landslides in the top 40% of the susceptibility scores on the map. As part of this process, 3221 rainfall triggered landslides and 522 earthquake (or other trigger) triggered landslides have been mapped and digitised into a Geographic Information System. In parallel with this, a descriptive historical catalogue of 1987 landslides has been compiled from the available sources. These new tools provide decision-makers with an enhanced means of managing landslide hazards in the West Coast region. In order to avoid misinterpretation the study has been carried out in compliance with the “Guidelines for landslide susceptibility, hazard and risk zoning for land use planning”, which was published in 2008 by the Joint Technical Committee on Landslides and Engineered Slopes. The tools developed in this thesis represent a fundamental step in land-use planning and set-up of landslide hazard management in the West Coast region.

Safety of workers in the construction environment remains one of the greatest challenges faced by the construction industry today. Activity-based hazard identification and prevention is limited because construction safety information and knowledge tends to be scattered and fragmented throughout safety regulations, accident records, and experience. With the advancement of information technology in the building and construction industry, a missing link between effective activity-level construction planning and Building Information Modeling (BIM) becomes more evident. The objectives of this study are 1) to formalize the safety management knowledge and to integrate safety aspects into BIM, and 2) to facilitate activity-based hazard identification and prevention in construction planning. To start with, a Construction Safety Ontology is created to organize, store, and re-use construction safety knowledge. Secondly, activity-based workspace visualization and congestion identification methods are investigated to study the hazards caused by the interaction between activities. Computational algorithms are created to process and retrieve activity-based workspace parameters through location tracking data of workers collected by remote sensing technology. Lastly, by introducing workspace parameters into ontology and connecting the ontology with BIM, automated workspace analysis along with job hazard analysis are explored. Results indicate that potential safety hazards can be identified, recorded, analyzed, and prevented in BIM. This study integrates aspects of construction safety into current BIM workflow, which enables performing hazard identification and prevention early in the project planning phase.

The main ambition of this doctoral thesis is to contribute to the development of interdisciplinary application of the concept of moral hazard developedin economic and insurance theory to the context of the inter-state conflicts with potential international intervention. The basic theoretical framework used in the thesis is derived from the concept of moral hazard of humanitarian intervention by Alan Kuperman who claims that the newly established norm of humanitarian intervention may well have unintended negative consequences. Kuperman argues that if the mere existence of insurance creates sufficient incentive for the insured to modify their behavior to the extent that they engage in the riskier behavior due to the fact that they are insured against the consequences of their actions, the rebels may well optimize their behavior in the same way. Currently, the transfer of the moral hazard theory to the context of interventions is hindered by a number of existing obstacles stemming from the differences in these areas. This thesis concentrates on reduction of three main identified drawbacks and addresses them by formulating three main research questions and derived hypothesis. The aim of this approach is to examine the limits of application and create the space for development of the concept of moral hazard of humanitarian intervention in the future research. (1) What is the interpretation potential, value added and limits of application of economic theory of moral hazard to the context of humanitarian intervention from the theoretical perspective? Hypothesis 1:The concept of moral hazard represents an efficienttool for evaluation of humanitarian intervention. (2) What is the potential of causal mechanism established by the Kuperman´s hypothesis to explain the reasons why in certain cases the state decides to escalate the inter-state conflict despite the public threats of intervention at a general level of research? Hypothesis 2: The threat of intervention causes the escalation of the inter-state conflict. (3) To what extent does Kuperman´s hypothesis modified to the conflict in Kosovo correspond with the actual state of affairs and their development? Hypothesis 3: The threat of intervention NATO/USA caused the escalation of conflict in Kosovo.

Securitization has been one of the most important causes of recent financial crisis. Diploma thesis characterizes subprime mortgage securitization with the emphasis on entities in the process involved and their motivations for securitization use. The thesis describes the most used securitized assets with the emphasis on risks arising from their characteristics. The thesis also clarifies negatives associated with securitization especially moral hazard, asymmetric information on the market and decline in lending standards and that securitization lead to failure of rating agencies evaluation. Thesis connects cheap money policy with increase demand for mortgages that have been securitized afterword and with losses of investors into securitized assets.

MSc (Statistics) / Department of Statistics / The baseline parameter vector in a discrete-time survival model is determined by the number of time points. The larger the number of the time points, the higher the dimension of the baseline parameter vector which often leads to biased maximum likelihood estimates. One of the ways to overcome this problem is to use a simpler parametrization that contains fewer parameters. A simulation approach was used to compare the accuracy of three variants of penalised regression spline methods in smoothing the baseline hazard function. Root mean squared error (RMSE) analysis suggests that generally all the smoothing methods performed better than the model with a discrete baseline hazard function. No single smoothing method outperformed the other smoothing methods. These methods were also applied to data on age at rst alcohol intake in Thohoyandou. The results from real data application suggest that there were no signi cant di erences amongst the estimated models. Consumption of other drugs, having a parent who drinks, being a male and having been abused in life are associated with high chances of drinking alcohol very early in life. / NRF

Under senare år har antalet privata aktörer verksamma inom segmentet för samhällsfastigheter, en typ av fastighet där samhällsservice bedrivs, mångdubblats. Cirka 85 procent av dessa fastigheter bedöms finnas i kommunal, regional eller statlig ägo, men allt större andel förvärvas av privata aktörer. Med bakgrund av detta ämnade denna studie att identifiera de bakomliggande drivkrafterna för utvecklingen av marknadssegmentet för samhällsfastigheter och främst hur kommuner förhåller sig till det privata investeringsintresset. Studien baserades på såväl kvantitativa som kvalitativa datainsamlingar där representanter från offentlig och privat sektor intervjuades och data insamlades. Dessa analyserades och jämfördes mot varandra för att nå ett tillfredsställande resultat. Resultatet analyserades dels genom teorier som moral hazard och asymmetrisk information, men även genom tidigare forskning på området. Detta för att belysa de svårigheter som uppkommer mellan kontraktsparter i sådana transaktioner och vad som får kommuner att vara återhållsamma i sina beslut om avyttringar Resultatet visade att det primärt är demografiska utmaningar och investeringsbehov och sekundärt ekonomiska problem som får kommuner att avyttra samhällsfastigheter, och att politiken spelar en mindre roll. Fastighetsbolagen anser att kommuner är en säker hyresgäst och ser främst till demografin i sina investeringsstrategier. För att undvika moral hazard-problem fann studien att tydligare avtal krävs mellan parterna och ett ökat ansvarstagande av bolagen. Studien fann att ett ökat privat inflytande i segmentet för samhällsfastigheter är att vänta. / In recent years, the number of private companies active in the public property sector has increased manifold. Public properties are those in which some form of public service is practiced. Some 85 percent of these are estimated to be owned by municipalities, regional authorities and the central government, but the share owned by private real estate companies is increasing. Hence, the aim of this study was to identify driving forces behind the market development of the public property segment, and primarily how municipalities regard the private companies’ interest in buying their properties. The method chosen for this study was both quantitative as well as qualitative, where representatives from both public and private sectors was interviewed and historical data were collected. In analyzing our results, comparisons to previous research were made and theories such as moral hazard and asymmetric information applied. This method was used to accentuate problems that might arise in transactions between public and private interests and how these cause municipalities to be wary of selling real estate. The results showed that changes in demographics and the need for investments in public property are primary causes of selling real estate, whereas municipalities’ financial performances are secondary. Ideology appeared to be a less impacting factor than the aforementioned two. Private companies consider municipalities risk-free tenants and view demographics as the key factor in their investment strategy. To prevent moral hazard problems, the study found that transparent and flexible lease contracts are needed, as well as increased responsibility-taking by the companies. The study showed that an increase in private sector influence over the public property sector is to be expected.

Natural hazards are an important way for individuals to experience consequences of climate change. It has therefore been suggested that natural hazards could act as opportunities to increase individuals’ concerns about, and willingness to act on, climate change. The empirical evidence within the field is however mixed. Moreover, the research field is drawn back by methodological shortcomings, as studies rarely have been able to make valid pre-hazard assessments. A more accurate estimation of a possible causal effect is enabled in this study, as a survey mapping climate change opinions was conducted in Germany when the country was hit by a rare and severe hazard event, namely the European Floods. This provides an opportunity to examine the effect of hazard exposure on individuals’ levels of climate change concerns and willingness to adopt climate change-related actions. Three sets of hypotheses are tested using two-sample t-tests. The findings suggest that natural hazards have limited potential to act as teachable moments; climate change concerns may increase, but not willingness to take action. Political ideology is found to slightly moderate the effect between hazard exposure and climate change concerns, but only among right-leaning individuals. These findings make an important contribution to a mixed research field.