Further studies on square-root boundaries for Bessel processes

We look at decompositions of perpetuities and apply that to the study of the distributions of hitting times of Bessel processes of two types of square root boundaries. These distributions are linked giving a new proof of some Mellin transforms results obtained by David M. DeLong and M. Yor. Several random factorizations and characterizations of the studied distributions are established

Some remarks on first passage of Levy processes, the American put and pasting principles

The purpose of this article is to provide, with the help of a fluctuation identity, a generic link between a number of known identities for the first passage time and overshoot above/below a fixed level of a Levy process and the solution of Gerber and Shiu [Astin Bull. 24 (1994) 195-220], Boyarchenko and Levendorskii [Working paper series EERS 98/02 (1998), Unpublished manuscript (1999), SIAM J. Control Optim. 40 (2002) 1663-1696], Chan [Original unpublished manuscript (2000)], Avram, Chan and Usabel [Stochastic Process. Appl. 100 (2002) 75-107], Mordecki [Finance Stoch. 6 (2002) 473-493], Asmussen, Avram and Pistorius [Stochastic Process. Appl. 109 (2004) 79-111] and Chesney and Jeanblanc [Appl. Math. Fin. 11 (2004) 207-225] to the American perpetual put optimal stopping problem. Furthermore, we make folklore precise and give necessary and sufficient conditions for smooth pasting to occur in the considered problem.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/105051605000000377 in the Annals of Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

On exponential functionals, harmonic potential measures and undershoots of subordinators

We establish a link between the distribution of an exponential functional I and the undershoots of a subordinator, which is given in terms of the associated harmonic potential measure. This allows us to give a necessary and sufficient condition in terms of the L\'evy measure for the exponential functional to be multiplicative infinitely divisible. We then provide a formula for the moment generating function of an exponential functional $I$ and the so called remainder random variable $R$ associated to it. We provide a realization of the remainder random variable $R$ as an infinite product involving independent last position random variables of the subordinator. Some properties of harmonic measures are obtained and some examples are provided.Comment: 24 page

The Crime of Rape and Sexual Violence against Women in Nigeria: A Comparison with Other Common Law Countries

This discourse is a comprehensive look at the offence of “rape” as a legal concept, taking into consideration, the premodial, mythical and legal beliefs and meanings associated therewith. It analysed recent statutory changes and developments in this area of the law, particularly under the English common law in contradistinction from the almost static provisions of some African penal statutes relating to the offence of rape. The propelling aim was to appreciate the difficulties associated with efforts to convict persons accused of committing the offence of rape and the legality of calling in aid corroboration in amelioration of these difficulties. It was observed that, the statutory ingredients of the offence do not accommodate such a practice. It became significant that the myths and traditional beliefs surrounding the claim of an alleged victim of rape imported the burden of a rebuttal on the accused. It was observed that sympathy on the part of the courts for alleged rape victims sway their decisions in favour of such victims. This emotional consideration by the courts may have informed he demand for corroborative evidence to seal all escape routes for the accused even when not statutorily provided for. Absence of corroborative evidence may on the reverse, favour the accused though the prosecutrix may concoct one to secure conviction. It was concluded that rape cases should be determined on the basis of the dry provisions of the relevant penal statutes devoid of extraneous considerations, such as corroboration

Inversion, duality and Doob hh-transforms for self-similar Markov processes

We show that any $\mathbb{R}^d\setminus\{0\}$-valued self-similar Markov process $X$, with index $\alpha>0$ can be represented as a path transformation of some Markov additive process (MAP) $(\theta,\xi)$ in $S_{d-1}\times\mathbb{R}$. This result extends the well known Lamperti transformation. Let us denote by $\widehat{X}$ the self-similar Markov process which is obtained from the MAP $(\theta,-\xi)$ through this extended Lamperti transformation. Then we prove that $\widehat{X}$ is in weak duality with $X$, with respect to the measure $\pi(x/\|x\|)\|x\|^{\alpha-d}dx$, if and only if $(\theta,\xi)$ is reversible with respect to the measure $\pi(ds)dx$, where $\pi(ds)$ is some $\sigma$-finite measure on $S_{d-1}$ and $dx$ is the Lebesgue measure on $\mathbb{R}$. Besides, the dual process $\widehat{X}$ has the same law as the inversion $(X_{\gamma_t}/\|X_{\gamma_t}\|^2,t\ge0)$ of $X$, where $\gamma_t$ is the inverse of $t\mapsto\int_0^t\|X\|_s^{-2\alpha}\,ds$. These results allow us to obtain excessive functions for some classes of self-similar Markov processes such as stable L\'evy processes

Risk assessment in the implementation of construction projects in developing countries

The construction industry plays an important role in the economic growth and the socio-economic development, which are particularly important for the developing countries. The current general situation in the construction of buildings in a country like ours is that the product of a construction company is mainly characterized by the poor quality of work, exceeding the costs and the time for realization. These characteristics exist as many risks are taken into account very little in the project planning and realization or not taken into account at all. Therefore, it is necessary that the managing of the risks for improvement of the weak performances of the current project to be in the focus. This paper aims to identify the main risk factors, that have a significant impact on the project realization, a framework model to be developed for risk management which includes identification, assessment, analysis, mitigation and risk control in order to achieve better performance and successful project implementation in a given time frame, and to minimize the exceeding of costs and to optimize the quality of the project. The results obtained will affect the successful implementation of the project within the time frame, minimizing the excess of costs and optimization of the quality of the project

Simulation Analysis of the Effects of Increased Foreign Ownership on Wage Inequality

Transition countries have, in general, experienced an increase in labour market inequality during and after the initial transition period. Theory and empirical studies analysing the causes and mechanisms of increasing inequality in transition economies identify globalisation, skilled-biased technological change, differences in access to schooling, the pattern and level of unemployment and institutions as important factors. Foreign direct investment (FDI) has increased significantly in transition economies during the transition period and has been considered to be an important channel for the diffusion of new technology, managerial skills and new knowledge. As a result of technological and management expertise FDI may raise the level of wages in the host economies, improve working conditions and increase employment, though little previous research has focused on these effects in transition economies. Using the GINI coefficient as the measure of wage inequality a simulation analysis indicates that the net effects of FDI on wage inequality will depend in part on country specific factors, namely how large are the differences in skilled and unskilled wages, the skill-intensity of employment in foreign-owned firms compared to domestic ones and the relative size of the foreign-owned sector

Analysis of the Financial Deepening Of Macedonian Banking System during the Global Financial Crisis

Most of the contemporary literature had confirmed the importance of financial institutions and market, also the vital role they are playing in the process of economic growth and development of a country by facilitating savings and channeling funds from savers to investors. Financial intermediation of growth leads to financial deepening, which refers to the greater financial resource mobilization in the formal financial sector and the ease in liquidity constraints of banks and enlargement of funds available to finance. Without any doubt, the financial sector is very important factor of economic growth and household welfare. Without a developed financial sector, for example, domestic savers and foreign investors would be more hesitant to part with their money to otherwise sound investments, resulting in lower economic outputas measured by GDPand household welfare. A well-developed financial system enables firms to expand production and provides households with the ability to obtain essential assets like a house, insure against income shocks, start a company, receive cheaper remittances, and enjoy a pension when they retire.Keywords: baking system, financial deepening, credit growth, credit, deposits

THE EVOLUTION OF OWNERSHIP, INNOVATION AND FIRM PERFORMANCE: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM MACEDONİA

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between ownership evolution, innovation activities and firms performance using firm-level data on 60 privatised enterprises in Macedonia for the period 2001-2010. To examine the nature of this relationship we will develop a model relating the determinants of ownership and performance and apply it to the original dataset collected by the author. Specifically, the investigation will respond to several questions such as the impact of ownership structure and innovation activities undertaken by firms, competition from other firms, sector, location, age, size and other firm characteristics on the firm performance. The main contribution of this empirical work is reflected in the application of new and advanced econometric techniques such as two-step GMM kernel and enhanced CUE (GMM) estimations to the analysis of changes in performance resulting from the change in ownership in Macedonia. By investigating this relationship we provide sufficient evidence to support the view of significant Ownershipperformance relationship of privatised firms in Macedonia

A HYBRID AIR CONDITIONER DRIVEN BY A HYBRID SOLAR COLLECTOR

The objective of this thesis is to search for an efficient way of utilizing solar energy in air conditioning applications. The current solar Air Conditioners (A/C)s suffer from low Coefficient of Performance (COP) and performance degradation in hot and humid climates. By investigating the possible ways of utilizing solar energy in air conditioning applications, the bottlenecks in these approaches were identified. That resulted in proposing a novel system whose subsystem synergy led to a COP higher than unity. The proposed system was found to maintain indoor comfort at a higher COP compared to the most common solar A/Cs, especially under very hot and humid climate conditions. The novelty of the proposed A/C is to use a concentrating photovoltaic/thermal collector, which outputs thermal and electrical energy simultaneously, to drive a hybrid A/C. The performance of the hybrid A/C, which consists of a desiccant wheel, an enthalpy wheel, and a vapor compression cycle (VCC), was investigated experimentally. This work also explored the use of a new type of desiccant material, which can be regenerated with a low temperature heat source. The experimental results showed that the hybrid A/C is more effective than the standalone VCC in maintaining the indoor conditions within the comfort zone. Using the experimental data, the COP of the hybrid A/C driven by a hybrid solar collector was found to be at least double that of the current solar A/Cs. The innovative integration of its subsystems allows each subsystem to do what it can do best. That leads to lower energy consumption which helps reduce the peak electrical loads on electric utilities and reduces the consumer operating cost since less energy is purchased during the on peak periods and less solar collector area is needed. In order for the proposed A/C to become a real alternative to conventional systems, its performance and total cost were optimized using the experimentally validated model. The results showed that for an electricity price of 0.12 $/kW-hr, the hybrid solar A/C's cumulative total cost will be less than that of a standard VCC after 17.5 years of operation