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Large Loss (large + loss)
Selected Abstracts,We All Knew that a Cyclone Was Coming': Disaster Preparedness and the Cyclone of 1999 in Orissa, IndiaDISASTERS, Issue 4 2004Frank Thomalla Imagine that a cyclone is coming, but that those living in the affected areas do nothing or too little to protect themselves. This is precisely what happened in the coastal state of Orissa, India. Individuals and communities living in regions where natural hazards are a part of daily life develop strategies to cope with and adapt to the impacts of extreme events. In October 1999, a cyclone killed 10,000 people according to government statistics, however, the unofficial death toll is much higher. This article examines why such a large loss of life occurred and looks at measures taken since then to initiate comprehensive disaster-preparedness programmes and to construct more cyclone shelters. The role of both governmental organisations and NGOs in this is critically analysed. The good news is that, based on an assessment of disaster preparedness during a small cyclone in November 2002, it can be seen that at community-level awareness was high and that many of the lessons learnt in 1999 were put into practice. Less positive, however, is the finding that at the state level collaboration continues to be problematic. [source] Do Underwriters Certify Value?JOURNAL OF BUSINESS FINANCE & ACCOUNTING, Issue 9-10 2002Evidence from UK Rights Issues, Open Offers Eckbo and Masulis (1992) and Slovin, Sushka and Lai (2000) have proposed that underwriters of seasoned equity offers certify issuer value. The study tests predictions resulting from these papers and finds little evidence from UK rights issues and open offers that underwriting banks certify. The main purpose of underwriting appears to be simply to guarantee the proceeds. There is a positive reaction to open offers (a type of private placing) but this is unlikely to be due to underwriter certification. There is a large loss of value for companies announcing deeply discounted offers, which is attributed to release of bad news on announcement [source] Prudential Regulation and the "Credit Crunch": Evidence from JapanJOURNAL OF MONEY, CREDIT AND BANKING, Issue 2-3 2007WAKO WATANABE credit crunch; capital crunch; prudential regulation; instrumental variable The underlying causes of sharp declines in bank lending during recessions in large developed economies, as exemplified by the U.S. in the early 1990s and Japan in the late 1990s, are still being debated due to the lack of any convincing identification strategy of the supply side capital,lending relationship from lending demand. Using within bank share of real estate lending in the late 1980s as an instrumental variable for bank capital, we find that Japanese banks cut back on their lending in response to a large loss of bank capital in fiscal year 1997. [source] Reanalysis and reforecast of three major European storms of the twentieth century using the ECMWF forecasting system.METEOROLOGICAL APPLICATIONS, Issue 2 2005Part II: Ensemble forecasts In Part II of this study the ECMWF Ensemble Prediction System (EPS) is used to study the probabilistic predictability of three major European storms of the twentieth century. The storms considered are the Dutch storm of 1 February 1953, the Hamburg storm of 17 February 1962, and the British/French storm of October 1987 (Great October storm). Common to all these storms is their severity that caused large loss of life and widespread damage. In Part I of this study it has been found that deterministic predictability of the Dutch and Hamburg storms amount to 48 and 84 hours, respectively. Here, it is shown that the ensemble forecasts supplement the deterministic forecasts. The large number of members in the 48 and 84 hour ensemble forecasts of the Dutch and Hamburg storms, respectively, suggest that at this forecast range and for these storms the sensitivity of the forecasts to analysis and model uncertainties is rather small. From these results, therefore, it is argued that reliable warnings (i.e. low probability for the occurrence of a forecast failure) for the Dutch and Hamburg storms could have been issued 48 and 84 hours, respectively, in advance, had the current ECMWF EPS been available. For the Great October storm it has been found in Part I of this study that short-range and medium-range forecasts of the intensity and track of the storm were very skilful with a high-resolution model of the ECWMF model. The actual timing of the storm, however, was difficult to predict. Here, it is shown that the EPS is capable of predicting large forecast uncertainties associated with the timing of the Great October storm up to 4 days in advance. It is argued that reliable warnings could have been issued at least 96 hours in advance had the ECMWF EPS been available. From the results presented in this study it is concluded that an Ensemble Prediction System is an important component of every early warning system for it allows an a priori quantification of the probability of the occurrence of severe wind storms. Copyright © 2005 Royal Meteorological Society [source] An improved formalism for the Crank-Nicolson finite-difference time-domain by conformal mapping methodMICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 10 2009Yang Yang Abstract In this article, a three-dimensional (3-D) Crank-Nicolson finite-difference time-domain (CN-FDTD) method combined with conformal mapping method is used to analyze the cavities with curved surface. The improved formalism in the CN-FDTD is described and both time-domain waveforms and resonant frequencies are presented. The numerical simulations of the typical examples show that the time step with this CN-FDTD method is 10 times larger than the Courant-Friedrich-Levy condition without the large loss of accuracy. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 51: 2378,2382, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.24613 [source] Spectroscopic study on structure of horseradish peroxidase in water and dimethyl sulfoxide mixtureBIOPOLYMERS, Issue 2 2002Yasushi Maeda Abstract The structure of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) in phosphate buffered saline (PBS)/dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) mixed solvents at different compositions is investigated by IR, electronic absorption, and fluorescence spectroscopies. The fluorescence spectra and the amide I spectra of ferric HRP [HRP(Fe3+)] show that overall structural changes are relatively small up to 60% DMSO. Although the amide I band of HRP(Fe3+) shows a gradual change in the secondary structure and a decrease in the contents of , helices, its fluorescence spectra indicate that the distance between the heme and Trp173 is almost constant. In contrast, the changes in the positions of the Soret bands for resting HRP(Fe3+) and catalytic intermediates (compounds I and II) and the IR spectra at the CO stretching vibration mode of carbonyl ferrous HRP [HRP(Fe2+)-CO] show that the microenvironment in the distal heme pocket is altered, even with low DMSO contents. The large reduction of the catalytic activity of HRP even at low DMSO contents can be attributed to the structural transition in the distal heme pocket. In PBS/DMSO mixtures containing more than 70 vol % DMSO, HRP undergoes large structural changes, including a large loss of the secondary structure and a dissociation of the heme from the apoprotein. The presence of the components of the amide I band that can be assigned to strongly hydrogen bonding amide CO groups at 1616 and 1684 cm,1 suggests that the denatured HRP may aggregate through strong hydrogen bonds. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biopolymers (Biospectroscopy) 67: 107,112, 2002 [source] Posturographic description of the regaining of postural stability following strokeCLINICAL PHYSIOLOGY AND FUNCTIONAL IMAGING, Issue 1 2005Henrik Rogind Summary Background:, Failing balance and increased liability to falling are common complaints among hemiplegic subjects. During rehabilitation much effort is put into regaining postural stability. Purpose:, To describe the regaining of postural stability during rehabilitation for the first year following stroke in hemiplegic patients Materials and methods:, Twenty-six patients were included within 5 days of suffering a stroke resulting from a CT-verified clearly defined thromboembolic lesion, localized in the vascular bed of middle cerebral artery on either side. Posturographic evaluation of sway was performed on a commercially available force plate system (Balance Master Pro®). Measured parameters included per cent maximum stability (PMS), per cent ankle strategy (AST), and average angular velocity (AVE). An additional parameter was derived by calculating the slope (SLP) of the linear relationship between stability and ankle strategy. SLP reflects the predisposition of the stroke patient to keep using ankle strategy when faced with increasingly difficult balance tasks. The presence of familiarization to the measurement method was examined by including a preliminary measurement not otherwise included in the analysis of changes during the first year of follow-up. The temporal evolvement of sway was described by measuring sway parameters 1, 2, 4, 8 and 52 weeks following stroke. The proportions of the variation in sway caused by measurement error and between patients were compared. Results:, All parameters improved over time, as demonstrated by significant improvements from each of week 1, 2, 4 and 8 to week 52. There was evidence of familiarisation for PMS, AST and AVE, but not for SLP. Estimation of variance components showed that between patient variation accounts for between two-thirds and four-fifths of the total variation. A considerable part of this variation was caused by individual differences in the temporal improvement of sway over time. Patients considered the evaluation of postural sway demanding and time consuming resulting in a relatively large loss to follow-up: 15 patients completed the 8-week visit while seven completed the 1 year visit. Conclusion:, Postural stability increases for the first year following stroke. There is evidence of familiarization towards the measurements process for the traditional posturographic parameters PMS, AST and AVE, but not for the derived parameter SLP, which might make the latter a candidate for a sway parameter reflecting basic mechanisms of upholding upright stance in hemiplegic patients. The estimated variance components stress the considerable between-patient variation and question the ability of the force plate method to monitor individual sway performance of such patients during the rehabilitation process. [source] The conservation management of upland hay meadows in Britain: a reviewGRASS & FORAGE SCIENCE, Issue 4 2005R. G. Jefferson Abstract Upland hay meadows conforming to MG3 in the National Vegetation Classification of the UK are a rare habitat in Britain and are largely confined to upland valleys in northern England. Agricultural intensification, particularly ploughing and reseeding and a shift from hay-making to silage production over the last 50 years, has resulted in large losses of species-rich upland hay meadows. Remaining species-rich meadows have been the focus of much nature conservation effort resulting in many of the species-rich sites being protected by statutory designations or through voluntary agri-environment scheme agreements. Research and monitoring has tended to confirm that species richness is maximized by management involving spring and autumn grazing, a mid-July hay cut, no inorganic fertilizer and possibly low levels of farmyard manure. Deviations from this regime result in a loss of species richness. Restoration of semi-improved grassland to swards resembling species-rich MG3 also requires a similar regime but is also dependent on the introduction of seed of appropriate species. The role of Rhinanthus minor as a tool for manipulating meadow biodiversity during restoration management is discussed. Suggestions for future research are outlined. [source] The Role of International Financial Reporting Standards in Accounting Quality: Evidence from the European UnionJOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTING, Issue 3 2010Huifa Chen Previous studies on the effect of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on accounting quality often have difficulties to control for confounding factors on accounting quality. As a result, the observed changes in accounting quality could not be attributed mainly to IFRS. We use a unique research setting to address this issue by comparing the accounting quality of publicly listed companies in 15 member states of the European Union (EU) before and after the full adoption of IFRS in 2005. We use five indicators as proxies for accounting quality. We find that the majority of accounting quality indicators improved after IFRS adoption in the EU. That is, there is less of managing earnings toward a target, a lower magnitude of absolute discretionary accruals, and higher accruals quality. But our results also show that firms engage in more earnings smoothing and recognize large losses in a less timely manner in post-IFRS periods. In addition, we examine the effects of institutional variables on financial reporting quality. Our contribution to the literature is that we show the improved accounting quality is attributable to IFRS, rather than changes in managerial incentives, institutional features of capital markets, and general business environment, etc. [source] Portfolio Value-at-Risk with Heavy-Tailed Risk FactorsMATHEMATICAL FINANCE, Issue 3 2002Paul Glasserman This paper develops efficient methods for computing portfolio value-at-risk (VAR) when the underlying risk factors have a heavy-tailed distribution. In modeling heavy tails, we focus on multivariate t distributions and some extensions thereof. We develop two methods for VAR calculation that exploit a quadratic approximation to the portfolio loss, such as the delta-gamma approximation. In the first method, we derive the characteristic function of the quadratic approximation and then use numerical transform inversion to approximate the portfolio loss distribution. Because the quadratic approximation may not always yield accurate VAR estimates, we also develop a low variance Monte Carlo method. This method uses the quadratic approximation to guide the selection of an effective importance sampling distribution that samples risk factors so that large losses occur more often. Variance is further reduced by combining the importance sampling with stratified sampling. Numerical results on a variety of test portfolios indicate that large variance reductions are typically obtained. Both methods developed in this paper overcome difficulties associated with VAR calculation with heavy-tailed risk factors. The Monte Carlo method also extends to the problem of estimating the conditional excess, sometimes known as the conditional VAR. [source] | |||||||||||||