An Economic Theory of Self-Control

Although many economists, most notably Strotz, have discussed dynamic inconsistency and precommitment, none have dealt directly with the essence of the problem: self-control. This paper attempts to fill that gap by modeling man as an organization. The Strotz model is recast to include the control features missing in his formulation. The organizational analogy permits us to draw on the theory of agency. We thus relate the individual's control problems with those that exist in agency relationships.

The Multinomial Option Pricing Model and Its Brownian and Poisson Limits

The Cox, Ross, and Rubinstein binomial model is generalized to the multinomial case. Limits are investigated and shown to yield the Black-Scholes formula in the case of continuous sample paths for a wide variety of complete market structures. In the discontinuous case a Merton-type formula is shown to result, provided jump probabilities are replaced by their corresponding Arrow-Debreu prices.Multinomial, option, pricing, Brownian, Poisson

Re-Mediating the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Use of Films to Facilitate Dialogue

With the objective of outlining a decision-making process for the selection, evaluation, and application of films for invigorating Palestinian-Israeli dialogue encounters, this project researches, collates, and weaves together the historico-political narratives of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the artistic worldviews of the Israeli and Palestinian national cinemas, and the procedural designs of successful Track II dialogue interventions. Using a tailored version of Lucien Goldmann’s method of homologic textual analysis, three Palestinian and three Israeli popular film texts are analyzed along the dimensions of Historico-Political Contextuality, Socio-Cultural Intertextuality, and Ethno-National Textuality. Then, applying the six “best practices” criteria gleaned from thriving dialogue programs, coupled with the six “cautionary tales” criteria gleaned from flawed dialogue models, three bi-national peacebuilding film texts are homologically analyzed and contrasted with the six popular film texts. This exercise is designed to implement a method for identifying “which, why, how, and when” filmic communication is best paired with dialogic communication to buttress the effects of Israeli-Palestinian Track II peacebuilding mediations. It is proposed that a synergized approach of film plus dialogue will contribute to the re-mediation of ethnonational imaginaries and the re-imagining of the violent parameters of the conflict

Bad Corporate Marriages: Waking Up in Bed the Morning After

This paper examines corporate risk taking behavior in the wake of unsuccessful merger activities. We find that relative to other firms, firms that made bad acquisitions take both more systematic risk and more idiosyncratic risk. Moreover, higher risk is associated with greater value destruction and stronger corporate governance. The increased risk can be traced to increased cash flow volatility, increased leverage, decreased asset liquidity, more investment in R&D, and more equity-based executive compensation. These findings are in line with the behavioral approach suggesting that in the domain of losses, decision makers generally become more tolerant of risk

Realism of procedural task trainers in a pediatric emergency medicine procedures course

Background: Pediatric emergency medicine (PEM) physicians have minimal experience in life saving procedures and have turned to task trainers to learn these skills. Realism of these models is an important consideration that has received little study.Method: PEM physicians and trainees participated in a day long procedural training course that utilized commercially available and homemade task trainers to teach pericardiocentesis, chest tube insertion, cricothyroidotomy and central line insertion. Participants rated the realism of the task trainers as part of a post-course survey.Results: The homemade task trainers received variable realism ratings, with 91% of participants rating the pork rib chest tube model as realistic, 82% rating the gelatin pericardiocentesis mold as realistic and 36% rating the ventilator tubing cricothyroidotomy model as realistic. Commercial trainers also received variable ratings, with 45% rating the chest drain and pericardiocentesis simulator as realistic, 74% rating the crichotracheotomy trainer as realistic and 80% rating the central line insertion trainer as realistic.Conclusions: Task training models utilized in our course received variable realism ratings. When deciding what type of task trainer to use future courses should carefully consider the desired aspect of realism, and how it aligns with the procedural skill, balanced with cost considerations

ANTI-EPILEPTIC DRUG LOADED NIOSOMAL TRANSDERMAL PATCH FOR ENHANCED SKIN PERMEATION

Objective: To formulate and characterize midazolam loaded niosomal transdermal patches for overcoming the frequent dosing and lower bioavailability complications associated with conventional therapy. Methods: The loaded niosomal transdermal patches were prepared by thin film hydration method. The preliminary evaluation and characterization studies was conducted to find the optimised formulation. The in vitro release and ex-vivo permeation studies were investigated. The histopathological studies and stability studies were also assessed. Results: The midazolam loaded niosomal transdermal patches of vesicle size and zeta potential 116.1±84.46 d. nm and 8.56±1.2 mV respectively was formulated. The characterizations of both niosome and niosomal transdermal patches were found to be within the acceptable limits. The in vitro drug release showed an initial burst release followed by sustained release for both optimised niosomal formulation N5 and optimised niosomal transdermal patch formulation NT5with a maximum activity at 97.3±0.35% and 98.9±0.20% respectively. The ex vivo permeation studies of niosomal transdermal patch NT5 was performed which showed a higher permeability than control solution with a flux value of 0.151. The histopathological studies of the optimised formulation showed no detectable lesions upon skin surface and irritations. The stability studies showed that patches were stable over 90 d in different atmospheric conditions. Conclusion: The midazolam loaded niosomal transdermal patch was found to be a promising nano drug delivery alternative which showed better entrapment, release with permeation profile for the daily management of epilepsy with decreased dosing frequency

ENZYMOSOMES: A RISING EFFECTUAL TOOL FOR TARGETED DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM

The study aims to develop enzymosomes as an emerging novel drug delivery system for site-specific action. Enzymosomes utilises the specific nature of an enzyme, which is binding to a specific substrate at a controlled rate and catalysing product production step. An enzyme is encapsulated by coupling covalently to the surface of liposomes/lipid vesicles to form enzymosomes. Enzymes links through acylation, direct conjugation, physical adsorption, encapsulation methods to prepare enzymosomes with targeted action. Such novel drug delivery systems prove effective drug release and concomitantly reduces undesirable side effects of conventional treatment methods and hence showcase improvement in the long-term therapy of the disease. They are a promising substitute to conventional treatment therapies of gout, antiplatelet activities etc. Enzymosomes are newly designed supramolecular vesicular delivery systems to be useful as a tool in pharmaceutics for the raising of drug targeting and physicochemical properties and hence bioavailability. It shows beneficial effects of drugs with a narrow precision because targeting of these drugs to their site of action improves the drugs overall pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetic profile. It also minimizes alterations in the normal enzymatic activity, thus enhancing half-life and achieve enzyme activity on targeted sites such as cancerous cells