Women “manufacture” economic spaces in Bethlehem

Education is an important factor in women's economic development. For Palestinian women, who may be denied access to wage labor because of societal conceptions of gender roles, education has added importance, since it increases women's ability to challenge these roles. This paper looks at differences in education and employment patterns between two groups of Palestinian women, refugees and nonrefugees, in the Bethlehem area, with the conclusion that while refugee women have made considerable gains in their education and employment options, nonrefugee women have lagged behind, and as a result have become relatively less economically powerful. A combination of social, economic and institutional factors have led to current education and employment patterns.     

Toward the Automated Detection of Individuals’ Rationales in Large-Scale Online Open Participative Activities: A Conceptual Framework

In large-scale online open participative (LSOOP) activities, participants can join and leave at any time, and they often do not have a history of working together. Although the communication history is usually accessible to the participants in the environment, it is time consuming for them to process the communication data because of the large volume of messages. These characteristics make it difficult for one to keep track of, identify, and interpret the others’ ideas, opinions, and their rationales in LSOOP activities. We argue for a computational approach that automatically identifies and extracts the rationales from LSOOP communication data and presents them to the participants through rationale-based awareness tools. In this paper we bring together different and hitherto independent lines of research, and propose to use them in a conceptual framework integrating three analytical aspects related to the detection of rationales: linguistic, informational, and argumentative and communicative. We also review the design effort on offering rationale-based awareness in the LSOOP activities.     

Pricing and hedging guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefits under a general Lévy framework using the COS method

This paper extends the Fourier-cosine (COS) method to the pricing and hedging of variable annuities embedded with guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefit (GMWB) riders. The COS method facilitates efficient computation of prices and hedge ratios of the GMWB riders when the underlying fund dynamics evolve under the influence of the general class of Lévy processes. Formulae are derived to value the contract at each withdrawal date using a backward recursive dynamic programming algorithm. Numerical comparisons are performed with results presented in Bacinello et al. [Scand. Actuar. J., 2014, 1–20], and Luo and Shevchenko [Int. J. Financ. Eng., 2014, 2, 1–24], to confirm the accuracy of the method. The efficiency of the proposed method is assessed by making comparisons with the approach presented in Bacinello et al. [op. cit.]. We find that the COS method presents highly accurate results with notably fast computational times. The valuation framework forms the basis for GMWB hedging. A local risk minimisation approach to hedging intra-withdrawal date risks is developed. A variety of risk measures are considered for minimisation in the general Lévy framework. While the second moment and variance have been considered in existing literature, we show that the Value-at-Risk (VaR) may also be of interest as a risk measure to minimise risk in variable annuities portfolios.     

Foods and natural health products: Gaps and ambiguities in the Canadian regulatory regime

Canadian regulations have different rules for foods and natural health products (NHPs) regarding allowable health claims, requirements for use in clinical trials and good manufacturing standards and labeling requirements. How these rules apply to products at the food–NHP interface is often unclear. This paper describes the regulatory environment and explores two product examples – probiotic yogurt and green tea – to illustrate the issue. In addition, results from a qualitative study of NHP/food researchers highlights the confusion and frustration of those working in the field. Interim agreements between the NHP and Foods Directorate of Health Canada regarding products reviews provide a temporary response but regulatory amendments, accompanied by clear guidance to stakeholders, are needed.