Abstract
We consider the. re-scaled PSI20 daily index positive returns r(t)(alpha) and negative returns (-r(t))(alpha) called, after normalization, the. positive and negative fluctuations, respectively. We use the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistical test as a method to find the values of alpha that optimize the data collapse of the histogram of the. fluctuations with the truncated Bramwell-Holdsworth-Pinton (BHP) probability density function (pdf) fBHP and the truncated generalized log-normal pdf fLN that best approximates the truncated BHP pdf. The optimal parameters we found are alpha(+)(BHP) = 0.48, alpha(-)(BHP) = 0.46, alpha(+)(LN) = 0.50 and alpha(-)(LN) = 0.49. Using the optimal alpha's we compute the analytical approximations of the pdf of the normalized positive and negative PSI20 index daily returns r(t). Since the BHP probability density function appears in several other dissimilar phenomena, our result reveals a universal feature of the stock exchange markets.

Abstract
In this paper we extend M. Lyubich's recent results on the global hyperbolicity of renormalization of quadratic-like germs to the space of C-r unimodal maps with quadratic critical point. We show that in this space the bounded-type limit sets of the renormalization operator have an invariant hyperbolic structure provided r >= 2 + alpha with alpha close to one. As an intermediate step between Lyubich's results and ours, we prove that the renormalization operator is hyperbolic in a Banach space of real analytic maps. We construct the local stable manifolds and prove that they form a continuous lamination whose leaves are C-1 codimension one, Banach submanifolds of the ambient space, and whose holonom is C1+beta for some beta > 0. We also prove that the global stable sets are C-1 immersed (codimension one) submanifolds as well, provided r >= 3 + alpha with alpha close to one. As a corollary, we deduce that in generic, one-parameter families of C-r unimodal maps, the set of parameters corresponding to infinitely renormalizable maps of bounded combinatorial type is a Cantor set with Hausdorff dimension less than one(1).

Abstract
Sullivan's scaling function provides a complete description of the smooth conjugacy classes of cookie-cutters. However, for smooth conjugacy classes of Markov maps on a train track, such as expanding circle maps and train track mappings induced by pseudo-Anosov systems, the generalisation of the scaling function suffers from a deficiency. It is difficult to characterise the structure of the set of those scaling functions which correspond to smooth mappings. We introduce a new invariant for Markov maps called the solenoid function. We prove that for any prescribed topological structure, there is a one-to-one correspondence between smooth conjugacy classes of smooth Markov maps and pseudo-Hölder solenoid functions. This gives a characterisation of the moduli space for smooth conjugacy classes of smooth Markov maps. For smooth expanding maps of the circle with degree d this moduli space is the space of Hölder continuous functions on the space {0,…, d - 1} satisfying the matching condition.

Abstract
There is a one-to-one correspondence between C 1+H Cantor exchange systems that are C 1+H fixed points of renormalization and C 1+H diffeomorphisms f on surfaces with a codimension 1 hyperbolic attractor ? that admit an invariant measure absolutely continuous with respect to the Hausdorff measure on ?. However, there is no such C 1+a Cantor exchange system with bounded geometry that is a C 1+a fixed point of renormalization with regularity a greater than the Hausdorff dimension of its invariant Cantor set. The proof of the last result uses that the stable holonomies of a codimension 1 hyperbolic attractor ? are not C 1+? for ? greater than the Hausdorff dimension of the stable leaves of f intersected with ?. © 2007, Birkhäuser Verlag Basel/Switzerland.

Abstract
For the spatial stochastic epidemic reinfection model SIRI, where susceptibles S can become infected I, then recover and remain only partial immune against reinfection R, we determine the phase transition lines using pair approximation for the moments derived from the master equation. We introduce a scaling argument that allows us to determine analytically an explicit formula for these phase transition lines and prove rigorously the heuristic results obtained previously.

Abstract
We provide an extension to Merton's famous continuous time model of optimal consumption and investment, in the spirit of previous works by Pliska and Ye, to allow for a wage earner to have a random lifetime and to use a portion of the income to purchase life insurance in order to provide for his estate, while investing his savings in a financial market consisting of one risk-free security and an arbitrary number of risky securities whose diffusive terms are driven by a multi-dimensional Brownian motion. The wage earner's problem is to find the optimal consumption, investment, and insurance purchase decisions in order to maximize expected utility of consumption and of the size of the estate in the event of premature death, and of the size of the estate at the time of retirement. Dynamic programming methods are used to obtain explicit solutions for the case of constant relative risk aversion utility functions, and new results are presented together with the corresponding economic interpretations.