Dynamic models of exchange rate dependence using option prices and historical returns

Models for the conditional joint distribution of the U.S. Dollar/Japanese Yen and Euro/Japanese Yen exchange rates, from November 2001 until June 2007, are evaluated and compared. The conditional dependency is allowed to vary across time, as a function of either historical returns or a combination of past return data and option-implied dependence estimates. Using prices of currency options that are available in the public domain, risk-neutral dependency expectations are extracted through a copula repre- sentation of the bivariate risk-neutral density. For this purpose, we employ either the one-parameter \Normal" or a two-parameter \Gumbel Mixture" specification. The latter provides forward-looking information regarding the overall degree of covariation, as well as, the level and direction of asymmetric dependence. Specifications that include option-based measures in their information set are found to outperform, in-sample and out-of-sample, models that rely solely on historical returns.

Synthesis of pyridine-stretched 2′-deoxynucleosides

Synthesis of novel pyridine-stretched nucleoside (PSN) analogues of adenine (strA) (1), 2,6-diaminopurine (strD) (15) and hypoxanthine (strH) (17) from 4(5)-nitroimidazole has been achieved. Glycosylation of 4(5)-nitroimidazole was optimized to give consistently good yields (>70%) of the desired analytically pure 5-nitro-1′-β isomer 8 which on hydrogenation, C-addition of ethoxymethylene malononitrile (EMMN) and cyclisation provides the key intermediate 14 for PSN synthesis.

Citizen, customer, partner:engaging the public in public management

Book review: CITIZEN, CUSTOMER, PARTNER: ENGAGING THE PUBLIC IN PUBLIC MANAGEMENT John Clayton Thomas M.E. Sharpe, 2012, 242 pp., £24.99 (hb), ISBN: 978–0765627209.