The British Asian Option

Following the economic rationale of [7] and [8] we present a new class of Asian options where the holder enjoys the early exercise feature of American options whereupon his payoff (deliverable immediately) is the ‘best prediction’ of the European payoff under the hypothesis that the true drift of the stock price equals a contract drift. Inherent in this is a protection feature which is key to the British Asian option. Should the option holder believe the true drift of the stock price to be unfavourable (based upon the observed price movements) he can substitute the true drift with the contract drift and minimise his losses. The practical implications of this protection feature are most remarkable as not only is the option holder afforded a unique protection against unfavourable stock price movements (covering the ability to sell in a liquid market completely endogenously) but also when the stock price movements are favourable he will generally receive high returns. We derive a closed form expression for the arbitrage-free price in terms of the rational exercise boundary and show that the rational exercise boundary itself can be characterised as the unique solution to a nonlinear integral equation. Using these results we perform a financial analysis of the British Asian option that leads to the conclusions above and shows that with the contract drift properly selected the British Asian option becomes a very attractive alternative to the classic (European) Asian option.British Asian option; American Asian option; European Asian option; fixed/floating strike; arithmetic/geometric average; flexible Asian options; arbitrage-free price; rational exercise boundary; liquid/illiquid market; geometric Brownian motion; the Shiryaev process; optimal stopping, parabolic free-boundary problem; nonlinear integral equation; local time-space calculus

Correspondence between the Syrian Patriarch of Antioch and the Holy See in the last decade of the seventeenth century

The research aims at elaborating the establishment of the Syrian catholic church and its status in the Levant in the last decade of seventeenth century depending on various manuscripts sent by the Catholic Patriarch of Antioch to the Holy See of Rome and its representative in Constantinople. The manuscripts written in Arabic depict the status of the church in the Ottoman Empire, and its relationship to the European authority including France and Spain. On the other hand, the manuscripts describe set of events related to the relation between the Syrian catholic church and its sister, the orthodox Syrian church and the attitude of the Ottoma Empire toward them

The British Russian Option

Following the economic rationale of [10] and [11] we present a new class of lookback options (by first studying the canonical 'Russian' variant) where the holder enjoys the early exercise feature of American options where upon his payoff (deliverable immediately) is the 'best prediction' of the European payoff under the hypothesis that the true drift of the stock price equals a contract drift. Inherent in this is a protection feature which is key to the British Russian option. Should the option holder believe the true drift of the stock price to be unfavourable (based upon the observed price movements) he can substitute the true drift with the contract drift and minimise his losses. The practical implications of this protection feature are most remarkable as not only is the option holder afforded a unique protection against unfavourable stock price movements (covering thea bility to sell in a liquid market completely endogenously) but also when the stock price movements are favourable he will generally receive high returns. We derive a closed form expression for the arbitrage-free price in terms of the rational exercise boundary and show that the rational exercise boundary itself can be characterised as the unique solution to a nonlinear integral equation. Using these results we perform a financial analysis of the British Russian option that leads to the conclusions above and shows that with the contract drift properly selected the British Russian option becomes a very attractive alternative to the classic European/American Russian option.

Correspondence between the Syrian Patriarch of Antioch and the Holy See in the last decade of the seventeenth century

The research aims at elaborating the establishment of the Syrian catholic church and its status in the Levant in the last decade of seventeenth century depending on various manuscripts sent by the Catholic Patriarch of Antioch to the Holy See of Rome and its representative in Constantinople. The manuscripts written in Arabic depict the status of the church in the Ottoman Empire, and its relationship to the European authority including France and Spain. On the other hand, the manuscripts describe set of events related to the relation between the Syrian catholic church and its sister, the orthodox Syrian church and the attitude of the Ottoma Empire toward them

The Moderating Role of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness on the Relationships Between Burnout and Withdrawal Behaviors

It has been shown that employees who experience burnout are more likely to engage in withdrawal behaviors, which are behaviors that harm the morale of employees and the bottom line of an organization. There has been some research on the moderating effect of situational variables (e.g., leadership style) on the relationship between burnout and withdrawal behaviors, but there is a lack of research on how personal characteristics may play a role in such relationships. The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating role of agreeableness and conscientiousness on the relationship between burnout and three withdrawal behaviors: lateness, absenteeism, and turnover intentions. A total of 159 individuals participated in an online survey. Results showed that the two personality traits did not play a moderating role in these relationships. However, conscientiousness was negatively related to burnout, lateness, and absenteeism, and burnout was positively related to lateness and turnover intentions. Based on these results, it is suggested that organizations should hire conscientious individuals and/or develop conscientiousness in employees because they may be more resistant to burnout, lateness, and absenteeism. Additionally, organizations may find it beneficial to invest in multi-pronged wellness initiatives that address underlying cultural issues paired with education and incentives to help employees cope with burnout and thus help reduce the rates of withdrawal behaviors due to burnout

Investigation of VO2 thin films and devices for opto-electromechanical applications

Specialized and optimized low pressure direct oxidation technique have been implemented to synthesize high quality VO2 thin films on various substrates (sapphire, SiO2/Si, AT-cut quartz, GaN/AlGaN/GaN/Si and muscovite). Structural and surface characterization methods such as X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy have been administered on the grown VO2 films which indicate their material quality. Transition of characteristics of the VO2 films are caused by semiconductor metal transition (SMT). This phenomenon is attributed as the change maker in transition of resistivity and transmitted optical power through the VO2 films. Apart the substrates mentioned, metal doped VO2 films have been synthesized and characterized on quartz and muscovite, which are found to have transition temperature near the room temperature level, indicating to the possibility of high sensitive VO2 based sensors to be manufactured. Also, the VO2 films on flexible muscovite displays the direct effect of mechanical strain on the electrical and optical characteristics of the films. After metal finger patterning and releasing the VO2 membranes from the synthesized thin films, combination of all these characteristics of VO2 thin film is the reason of transmitted infrared beam through the VO2 membrane being modulated periodically due to implementation of external electric field at different frequencies

The correspondence between the Vatican and the Eastern Church of Levant in the last decade of the seventeenth century

The article aims at elaborating facts in the last decades of the seventeenth century depending on three correspondences between the Pope of the Vatican with two heads of the Christian Community in the East. The first manuscript is written in Syriac by the Patriarch of the Chaldean Church, announcing his doctrine to the Pope. The other two are written in Arabic by the Metropolitan of the East or the Syriac Catholic Metropolitan, a branch from the Syrian Orthodox church emphasizing on his credibility and loyalty, asking the Pope for his blessings and educational materials. On the other side, the manuscripts illustrate the success of the missionary expedition in its mission in the Levant during this time

The correspondence between the Vatican and the Eastern Church of Levant in the last decade of the seventeenth century

The article aims at elaborating facts in the last decades of the seventeenth century depending on three correspondences between the Pope of the Vatican with two heads of the Christian Community in the East. The first manuscript is written in Syriac by the Patriarch of the Chaldean Church, announcing his doctrine to the Pope. The other two are written in Arabic by the Metropolitan of the East or the Syriac Catholic Metropolitan, a branch from the Syrian Orthodox church emphasizing on his credibility and loyalty, asking the Pope for his blessings and educational materials. On the other side, the manuscripts illustrate the success of the missionary expedition in its mission in the Levant during this time

Synthesis and Characterization of VO2 Thin Films on Piezoelectric Substrates

Polycrystalline VO2 thin films synthesized on two piezoelectric substrates (AT-cut quartz and GaN/AlGaN/GaN/Si) using low pressure direct oxidation technique have been characterized and compared to VO2 grown on traditional non-piezoelectric substrates sapphire and SiO2/Si. X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy characterization performed on the as grown films confirmed high quality of the VO2 films grown on both the piezoelectric and non-piezoelectric substrates. Changes in material properties associated with the semiconductor metal transition (SMT) of the VO2 films were investigated through resistivity and transmitted optical power changes measured across the SMT. It was observed that the VO2 films grown on the piezoelectric substrates are of high quality, and their electrical and optical properties changes are quite comparable to the best reported values on films synthesized on various substrates using different synthesis processes