The Gerber-Shiu expected discounted penalty-reward function under an affine jump-diffusion model.

We provide a unified analytical treatment of first passage problems under an affine state-dependent jump-diffusion model (with drift and volatility depending linearly on the state). Our proposed model, that generalizes several previously studied cases, may be used for example for obtaining probabilities of ruin in the presence of interest rates under the rational investement strategies proposed by Berk & Green (2004)First passage problems; Risk process; Stochastic rates of interest; Ruin with interest; Affine jump-diffusion models; Penalty/reward functions at ruin;

Finite time ruin probabilities with one Laplace inversion.

In this work we present an explicit formula for the Laplace transform in time of the finite time ruin probabilities of a classical Levy model with phase-type claims. Our result generalizes the ultimate ruin probability formula of Asmussen and Rolski [IME 10 (1991) 259]—see also the analog queuing formula for the stationary waiting time of the M/Ph/1 queue in Neuts [Matrix-geometric Solutions in Stochastic Models: An Algorithmic Approach. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, 1981]—and it considers the deficit at ruin as wellFinite-time ruin probability; Phase-type distribution; Deficit at ruin; Lundberg’s equation; Laplace transform;

On the valuation ofconstant barrier options under spectrally one-sided exponential L&evy models and Carr’s approximation for American puts.

This paper provides a general framework for pricing options with a constant barrier under spectrally one-sided exponential L&evy model, and uses it to implement ofCarr’s approximation for the value of the American put under this model. Simple analytic approximations for the exercise boundary and option value are obtained. c 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reservedAmerican options; Perpetual approximation; Spectrally negative exponential L&evy process;

Immigrant workers and language formation: Gulf Pidgin Arabic

Ever since the oil boom of the 1970s, Saudi Arabia and the countries on the western coast of the Arab Gulf, i.e. Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, and Qatar, have been witnessing both a significant increase in their non-national labour force and considerable urbanization. Most of the immigrant workers come from South and South-East Asia, with smaller number of expatriates from other regions. The overwhelming majority of these foreign workers live and work in the cities, which have thus become not only a meeting place of speakers of a variety of languages, but also a linguistic laboratory in which a new means of inter-ethnic communication, generally known as Gulf Pidgin Arabic, has emerged in approximately the last 40 years. The present paper describes the main features of the phonology, morphology, syntax, and vocabulary of this still under researched pidgin. Also discussed are the various sources of these features: the speakers’ first languages, the Foreigner Talk register of Arabic, grammaticalization, Gulf Arabic, and English.Trabajadores inmigrantes y formación de la lengua: el pidgin del Golfo Pérsico. Desde el boom del petróleo de los años setenta, Arabia Saudí y los países de la costa oeste del Golfo Pérsico, i.e. Kuwait, Emiratos Árabes Unidos, Omán, Baréin y Catar, han conocido un aumento significativo tanto de la mano de obra inmigrante como de la urbanización. La mayoría de los trabajadores inmigrantes viene del sur y del sudeste de Asia, existiendo un pequeño número de expatriados de otras regiones. La apabullante mayoría de estos trabajadores extranjeros vive y trabaja en las ciudades, que se han convertido no solamente en un lugar de encuentro para los hablantes de distintas lenguas, sino también en un laboratorio lingüístico donde un nuevo tipo de comunicación entre las diferentes etnias, generalmente conocido como pidgin del Golfo Pérsico, ha aparecido en, aproximadamente, los últimos cuarenta años. Este artículo describe las características principales de la fonología, morfología, sintaxis y léxico de este pidgin poco investigado. El trabajo también trata las diferentes fuentes de estas características: las lenguas maternas de los hablantes, los registros del árabe como lengua extranjera, la gramaticalización, el árabe del Golfo y el inglés

Diagnostic features of English-lexifier contact-languages: Grenada Creole English

This paper draws on both diachronic and synchronic data and presents the attestations in Grenada Creole English of the diagnostic features of English-lexifier pidgins and creoles proposed by Baker & Huber (2001). This is followed by a comparison of the distribution of these features in Grenada Creole English and in the seven Atlantic English-lexifier contact languages considered by Baker & Huber (2001), and the quantification of the affinities of Grenada Creole English with several Eastern Caribbean varieties: Antiguan, Bajan, Kittitian, the Creole of Trinidad and Tobago, and Vincentian. A number of selected diagnostic features recorded in Grenada Creole English are then discussed in terms of their provenance, their relevance to the Western – Eastern Caribbean creoles divide, and their classification

Immigrant workers and language formation: Gulf Pidgin Arabic

Ever since the oil boom of the 1970s, Saudi Arabia and the countries on the western coast of the Arab Gulf, i.e. Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, and Qatar, have been witnessing both a significant increase in their non-national labour force and considerable urbanization. Most of the immigrant workers come from South and South-East Asia, with smaller number of expatriates from other regions. The overwhelming majority of these foreign workers live and work in the cities, which have thus become not only a meeting place of speakers of a variety of languages, but also a linguistic laboratory in which a new means of inter-ethnic communication, generally known as Gulf Pidgin Arabic, has emerged in approximately the last 40 years. The present paper describes the main features of the phonology, morphology, syntax, and vocabulary of this still under researched pidgin. Also discussed are the various sources of these features: the speakers’ first languages, the Foreigner Talk register of Arabic, grammaticalization, Gulf Arabic, and English.Trabajadores inmigrantes y formación de la lengua: el pidgin del Golfo Pérsico. Desde el boom del petróleo de los años setenta, Arabia Saudí y los países de la costa oeste del Golfo Pérsico, i.e. Kuwait, Emiratos Árabes Unidos, Omán, Baréin y Catar, han conocido un aumento significativo tanto de la mano de obra inmigrante como de la urbanización. La mayoría de los trabajadores inmigrantes viene del sur y del sudeste de Asia, existiendo un pequeño número de expatriados de otras regiones. La apabullante mayoría de estos trabajadores extranjeros vive y trabaja en las ciudades, que se han convertido no solamente en un lugar de encuentro para los hablantes de distintas lenguas, sino también en un laboratorio lingüístico donde un nuevo tipo de comunicación entre las diferentes etnias, generalmente conocido como pidgin del Golfo Pérsico, ha aparecido en, aproximadamente, los últimos cuarenta años. Este artículo describe las características principales de la fonología, morfología, sintaxis y léxico de este pidgin poco investigado. El trabajo también trata las diferentes fuentes de estas características: las lenguas maternas de los hablantes, los registros del árabe como lengua extranjera, la gramaticalización, el árabe del Golfo y el inglés

Task Feedback Effects on Conflict Monitoring and Executive Control: Relationship to Subclinical Measures of Depression

Emerging evidence suggests that depression is associated with executive dysfunction, particularly after committing errors or receiving negative performance feedback. To test this hypothesis, 57 participants performed two executive tasks known to elicit errors (the Simon and Stroop Tasks) during positive or negative performance feedback. Participants with elevated depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory scores >= 13) were characterized by impaired posterror and postconflict performance adjustments, especially during emotionally negative task-related feedback. Additionally, for both tasks, depressive symptoms were inversely related to postconflict reaction time adjustments following negative, but not positive, feedback. These findings suggest that subclinical depression is associated with impairments in behavioral adjustments after internal (perceived failure) and external feedback about deficient task performance.Psycholog