CAPM and Option Pricing with Elliptical Disbributions

In this paper, we offer an alternative proof of the Capital Asset Pricing Model when the returns follow a multivariate elliptical distribution. Empirical studies continue to demonstrate the inappropriateness of the normality assumption in modelling asset returns. The class of elliptical distributions,which includes the more familiar Normal distribution, provides flexibility in modelling the thickness of tails associated with the possibility that asset returns take extreme values with non-negligible probabilities. Within this framework, we prove a new version of Stein's lemma for elliptical distribution and use this result to derive the CAPM when returns are elliptical. We also derive a closed form solution of call option prices when the underlying is elliptically distributed. We use the probability distortion function approach based on the dual utility theory of choice under uncertainty.

Side forces on a tangent ogive forebody with a fineness ratio of 2.5 at high angles of attack and low speed

A wind tunnel study to determine the subsonic aerodynamic characteristics, at high angles of attack, of a tangent ogive forebody with a fineness ratio of 2.5, is reported. Static longitudinal and lateral-directional stability data were obtained at Reynolds numbers ranging from 0.4 x 1 million to 3.7 x 1 million (based on base diameter) at a Mach number of 0.25. Angle of attack was varied from 36 deg to 88 deg at zero sideslip. It was found that at low Reynolds numbers the forebody does not have a side force att high angles of attack; however, at Reynolds numbers above about 2 x 1 million, a side force occurs in the angle of attack range from 45 deg to 80 deg. The maximum side force is as large as the maximum normal force. The maximum normal force coefficient varies between 1.0 and 2.0 over the Reynolds number range tested and occurs at angles of attack near 65 deg

Healing and Resistance through Humor: A Literary and Cultural Analysis of Chicana and Latina Cultural Production

This thesis analyzes elements of humor used by Chicana cultural producers (poets, performance artists, stand up comediennes) to subvert negative stereotypes of Chicanas. Chicana humorists have challenged harmful images of Mexican American women through poetry, prose, performances, and stand-up comedy. While Américo Paredes created a scholarly foundation for the study of Chicano humor, it is evident that Chicanos and members of dominant society mock Chicanas with their brand of humor. I argue writers like Michele Serros and Lorna Dee Cervantes resist dichotomous Chicana imagery and instead create and add to Chicana representation with humor. This thesis examines performance artist Maria Elena Gaitán for her use of humor to bring awareness to Chicana injustice in California in the late twentieth century. I examine her alongside Monica Palacios and America Ferrera. Although Chicana humorists in recent history have created new imagery and representation for the larger Chicana perspective, I conclude my study with a chapter on Internet memes from the lower Rio Grande Valley, which have been created to further mock and satirize Chicanas. I juxtapose this negative representation with the internet presence of standup comedienne turned social advocate Cristela Alonzo

Unknown

As somebody who spent a considerable amount of time coming to terms with my own identity, I would often look to other people to try and see what makes them who they are. This is obviously impossible to ascertain from a quick glance or brief observation I make in a public space. I know almost nothing about the subjects of my paintings — and the viewer of my paintings is provided the limited information that I take away from this interaction. These brief encounters are documented as photographs taken with my phone. This body of work is a progression. As I understand my own identity more and become more comfortable with it, I find that the interactions I have with others leave much less of an impression on me. Working from these cellphone images I make what amounts to exaggerated studies of the people I have chosen as subjects. The individuals and imagery I choose to paint are selected quickly. The snapshots that become the basis of my paintings are part of a large collection of images taken arbitrarily over several sessions. Selecting an image to work from is an intuitive decision based on formal aspects of the photographic reference. I pay particular attention to the composition of the image and the form the subject provides. I have no interest in painting individuals I know, as I do not want to feel obligated to represent additional characteristics about them. My paintings lack very specific details of the figures and the environment they are depicted in. The paintings are all relatively small, as I find I lose a sense of immediacy when working on a larger surface. With less space to work with, the process of painting becomes less of an obstacle in making the marks and imagery I want to present. The purely visual objective in my paintings is to create an image that describes the speed, light, and distance of my documented encounters. These technical decisions about my work have been made to reflect my own views about the subject matter. I am intentionally removing detail from my work in a form of destruction by omission. At this point, I am not presenting a subject\u27s characteristics to the viewer, I\u27m instead showing a lack of identification and the traits that make who they are. In understanding myself better over the past couple of years, there is no longer a need to keep looking to others as a potential example. I no longer feel that compulsive need to study those around me. These interactions are now routine and I have the freedom to walk away from them with no lingering questions or doubts about who I am. This is what I am showing in my current work. It is the freedom to take as much or as little as I want from my observations and not feel burdened by a constant need to examine everything about them. Adviser:Matthew Sontheime

Predicting the extinction of Ebola spreading in Liberia due to mitigation strategies

The Ebola virus is spreading throughout West Africa and is causing thousands of deaths. In order to quantify the effectiveness of different strategies for controlling the spread, we develop a mathematical model in which the propagation of the Ebola virus through Liberia is caused by travel between counties. For the initial months in which the Ebola virus spreads, we find that the arrival times of the disease into the counties predicted by our model are compatible with World Health Organization data, but we also find that reducing mobility is insufficient to contain the epidemic because it delays the arrival of Ebola virus in each county by only a few weeks. We study the effect of a strategy in which safe burials are increased and effective hospitalisation instituted under two scenarios: (i) one implemented in mid-July 2014 and (ii) one in mid-August---which was the actual time that strong interventions began in Liberia. We find that if scenario (i) had been pursued the lifetime of the epidemic would have been three months shorter and the total number of infected individuals 80\% less than in scenario (ii). Our projection under scenario (ii) is that the spreading will stop by mid-spring 2015

El razonamiento probabilístico informal de estudiantes de bachillerato

El objetivo del trabajo es explorar cómo los estudiantes articulan sus conocimientos sobre los enfoques de probabilidad (clásico y frecuencial) para dar respuesta a preguntas de probabilidad. Se describen y analizan los razonamientos informales de 10 estudiantes de bachillerato (12º grado) que habían estudiado un semestre de probabilidad y estadística. Los datos se recogieron mediante un cuestionario con tres situaciones de urnas en las que se pide estimar probabilidades y hacer predicciones. El análisis revela que dicha articulación y los diferentes niveles en la calidad de las respuestas dependen de ideas informales de aleatoriedad, independencia y variabilidad, y de la manera en que se combinan para hacer predicciones con incertidumbre. Se concluye con una propuesta de las proposiciones informales correspondientes a estas ideas cuyo manejo potenciaría el razonamiento probabilístico informal de los estudiantes

Many-body Quantum Chaos and Entanglement in a Quantum Ratchet

We uncover signatures of quantum chaos in the many-body dynamics of a Bose-Einstein condensate-based quantum ratchet in a toroidal trap. We propose measures including entanglement, condensate depletion, and spreading over a fixed basis in many-body Hilbert space which quantitatively identify the region in which quantum chaotic many-body dynamics occurs, where random matrix theory is limited or inaccessible. With these tools we show that many-body quantum chaos is neither highly entangled nor delocalized in the Hilbert space, contrary to conventionally expected signatures of quantum chaos.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. 1 tabl