Search results for " Allocation"
showing 10 items of 502 documents
Designing Guarantee Options in Defined Contribution Pension Plans
2015
The shift from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) is pervasive among pension funds, due to demographic changes and macroeconomic pressures. In DB all risks are borne by the provider, while in plain vanilla DC all risks are borne by the beneficiary. For DC to provide income security some kind of guarantee is required. A minimum guarantee clause can be modeled as a put option written on some underlying reference portfolio of assets and we develop a discrete model that optimally selects the reference portfolio to minimise the cost of a guarantee. While the relation DB-DC is typically viewed as a binary one, the model can be used to price a wide range of guarantees creating a con…
Predation risk allocation or direct vigilance response in the predator interaction between perch (Perca fluviatilis L.) and pike (Esox lucius L.)?
2005
Predation risk allocation hypothesis predicts that a prey's response to predator depends on prey's previous experience on predator. Here we tested whether the group of three perch respond differentially to pike, predator of perch, depending on the timing of high constant (HC) and high unpredictable (HU) risk periods within low constant risk periods in short-term (10 h) experiments, and whether the response is stronger during a HU risk period than during a HC risk period. Perch clearly erected the dorsal fin in response to predation risk treatments (pike odour only, odour and visible pike). Decrease in activity and increase in shoaling behaviour were observed mainly during high risk periods.…
Correlation of pharmacological properties of a group of beta-blocker agents by molecular topology.
1995
Abstract The molecular connectivity method has been applied to the study of pharmacological properties, among which are found the angor treatment dose, α-distribution half-life and intravenous LD50 in mouse, of a group of β-blocker agents, verifying its application in the prediction of theoretic values for said pharmacological properties. To do this, the obtained multiple regression functions of the corresponding connectivity indices were used in relation with the experimental values of the properties, which are accompanied by the statistical parameters used in their selection criteria, as well as the corresponding random and cross-validation studies of said functions, which corroborate the…
Left but not right temporal involvement in opaque idiom comprehension: a repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation study
2004
Abstract It has been suggested that figurative language, which includes idioms, is controlled by the right hemisphere. We tested the right hemisphere hypothesis by using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to transiently disrupt the function of the frontal and temporal areas of the right versus left hemisphere in a group of normal participants involved in a task of opaque idiom versus literal sentence comprehension. Forty opaque, nonambiguous idioms were selected. Fifteen young healthy participants underwent rTMS in two sessions. The experiment was run in five blocks, corresponding to the four stimulated scalp positions (left frontal and temporal and right frontal and tempor…
Physiological,anatomical and biomass partitioning responses to ozone in the Mediterranean endemic plant Lamottea dianae
2011
Ozone effects on the perennial forb Lamottea dianae were studied in an open-top chamber experiment. Ozone was found to induce reductions in CO 2 assimilation and water use efficiency in the leaves of this species. These reductions were mainly related to a decline in the in vivo CO 2 fixation capacity of Rubisco (V c,max), rather than to stomatal limitations or photoinhibitory damage (F v:F m). In addition to chloroplast degeneration, other observed effects were callose accumulation, formation of pectinaceous wart-like cell wall exudates and phloem alterations. Moreover, ozone exposure significantly reduced root dry biomass. The possible relevance of these adverse effects for Mediterranean f…
Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity of polyphenolic extracts from Lactuca sativa (var. Maravilla de Verano) under different farming methods
2015
BACKGROUND: Besides their nutritional value, vegetables are a source of health-promoting compounds, such as polyphenols, and their content can be influenced by the particular farming method. In this study polyphenolic extracts from Lactuca sativa (var. Maravilla de verano) plants cultivated with different farming methods were chemically characterised and tested in vitro and ex vivo inflammation models.RESULTS: The tested extacts (250-2.5 µg mL(-1) ) were able to reduce both the inflammatory and oxidative stress in LPS-stimulated J774A.1 murine monocyte macrophage cells, by lowering the release of nitric oxide (NO) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) and promoting nuclear translocation of nucl…
A Perturbation Approach to Continuous-Time Portfolio Selection Under Stochastic Investment Opportunities
2013
This paper studies portfolio selection in continuous-time models with stochastic investment opportunities. We consider asset allocation problems where preferences are specified as power utility derived from terminal wealth as well as consumption-savings problems with recursive utility Epstein-Zin preferences. The paper approximates the associated dynamic programming problem by perturbing the coefficients of the stochastic dynamics. We represent the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation as a series of partial differential equations that can be solved iteratively in closed-form through computer algebra software, at any desired accuracy.
The Right to Health and Resource Allocation. Who Gets What and Why in the COVID-19 Pandemic
2020
Abstract The COVID-19 outbreak has led to a worldwide, substantial increase in the demand for pharmaceuticals, hospital beds, ventilators, and medical supplies. When needs suddenly exceed demand worldwide, resources may quickly become scarce in relation to potential demand, so that strict rationing is the only viable response. Against this backdrop, this paper scrutinizes the rationales for prioritization of scarce resources, and it questions the actual role and reach of the market with regard to resources that are essential to deliver health care, especially in times of severe shortage, such as during a global pandemic.
Lovastatin attenuates ionizing radiation-induced normal tissue damage in vivo.
2009
Abstract Background and purpose HMG-CoA-reductase inhibitors (statins) are widely used lipid-lowering drugs. Moreover, they have pleiotropic effects on cellular stress responses, proliferation and apoptosis in vitro . Here, we investigated whether lovastatin attenuates acute and subchronic ionizing radiation-induced normal tissue toxicity in vivo . Materials and methods Four hours to 24h after total body irradiation (6Gy) of Balb/c mice, acute pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic responses were analyzed. To comprise subchronic radiation toxicity, mice were irradiated twice with 2.5Gy and analyses were performed 3weeks after the first radiation treatment. Molecular markers of inflammation and f…
Asset Return Dynamics under Alternative Learning Schemes
2009
In this paper we design an artificial financial market where endogenous volatility is created assigning to the agents diverse prior beliefs about the joint distribution of returns, and, over time, making agents rationally update their beliefs using common public information. We analyze the asset price dynamics generated under two learning environments: one where agents assume that the joint distribution of returns is IID, and another where agents believe in the existence of regimes in the joint distribution of asset returns. We show that the regime switching learning structure can generate all the most common stylized facts of financial markets: fat tails and long-range dependence in volati…