1,204 research outputs found

    Prices and volumes of options: A simple theory of risk sharing when markets are incomplete

    Get PDF
    We present a simple theory of business-cycle movements of option prices and volumes. This theory relies on time-varying heterogeneity between agents in their demand for insurance against aggregate risk. Formally, we build an infinite-horizon model where agents face an aggregate risk, but also different levels of idiosyncratic risk. We manage to characterize analytically a general equilibrium in which positive quantities of derivatives are traded. This allows us to explain the informational content of derivative volumes over the business cycle. We also carry out welfare analysis with respect to the introduction of options, which appears not to be Pareto-improving.Option Pricing, Open Interest, Incomplete Markets.

    Incomplete markets, liquidation risk, and the term structure of interest rates

    Get PDF
    We analyze the term structure of real interest rates in a general equilibrium model with incomplete markets and borrowing constraints. Agents are subject to both aggregate and idiosyncratic income shocks, which latter may force them into early portfolio liquidation in a bad aggregate state. We derive a closed-form equilibrium with limited agent heterogeneity (despite market incompleteness), which allows us to produce analytical expressions for bond prices and returns at any maturity. The attractiveness of bonds as liquidity makes aggregate bond demand downward-sloping, so that greater bond supply raises both the level and the slope of the yield curve. Moreover, time-variations in liquidation risk are shown to help explain the rejection of the Expectations Hypothesis.Incomplete markets; yield curve; borrowing constraints.

    Graphene oxide functional nanohybrids with magnetic nanoparticles for improved vectorization of doxorubicin to neuroblastoma cells

    Get PDF
    With the aim to obtain a site-specific doxorubicin (DOX) delivery in neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells, we designed an hybrid nanocarrier combining graphene oxide (GO) and magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (MNPs), acting as core elements, and a curcumin–human serum albumin conjugate as functional coating. The nanohybrid, synthesized by redox reaction between the MNPs@GO system and albumin bioconjugate, consisted of MNPs@GO nanosheets homogeneously coated by the bioconjugate as verified by SEM investigations. Drug release experiments showed a pH-responsive behavior with higher release amounts in acidic (45% at pH 5.0) vs. neutral (28% at pH 7.4) environments. Cell internalization studies proved the presence of nanohybrid inside SH-SY5Y cytoplasm. The improved efficacy obtained in viability assays is given by the synergy of functional coating and MNPs constituting the nanohybrids: while curcumin moieties were able to keep low DOX cytotoxicity levels (at concentrations of 0.44–0.88 µM), the presence of MNPs allowed remote actuation on the nanohybrid by a magnetic field, increasing the dose delivered at the target site

    Water jet rebounds on hydrophobic surfaces : a first step to jet micro-fluidics

    Get PDF
    When a water jet impinges upon a solid surface it produces a so called hydraulic jump that everyone can observe in the sink of its kitchen. It is characterized by a thin liquid sheet bounded by a circular rise of the surface due to capillary and gravitational forces. In this phenomenon, the impact induces a geometrical transition, from the cylindrical one of the jet to the bi-dimensional one of the film. A true jet rebound on a solid surface, for which the cylindrical geometry is preserved, has never been yet observed. Here we experimentally demonstrate that a water jet can impact a solid surface without being destabilized. Depending on the incident angle of the impinging jet, its velocity and the degree of hydrophobicity of the substrate, the jet can i) bounce on the surface with a fixed reflected angle, ii) land on it and give rise to a supported jet or iii) be destabilized, emitting drops. Capillary forces are predominant at the sub-millimetric jet scale considered in this work, along with the hydrophobic nature of the substrate. The results presented in this letter raise the fundamental problem of knowing why such capillary hydraulic jump gives rise to this unexpected jet rebound phenomenon. This study furthermore offers new and promising possibilities to handle little quantity of water through "jet micro-fluidics
    corecore