Inhomogeneous matter of porphyric structure may be modelled by composite systems of many spherical particles embedded in a homogeneous matrix. These systems are simple enough to enable the microscopic interpretation of macroscopic physical properties. In the present paper a review is given of...

The most natural way of ordering portfolios is by comparing their payoffs. If a portfolio has a payoff higher than the payoff of another portfolio, then it is greater than the other portfolio. This order is called the portfolio dominance order. An important property that a portfolio dominance...

Minimum-cost portfolio insurance is an investment strategy that enables an investor to avoid losses while still capturing gains of a payoff of a portfolio at minimum cost. If derivative markets are complete, then holding a put option in conjunction with the reference portfolio provides...

We present necessary and sufficient conditions on the asset span of incomplete derivative markets for insuring marketed portfolios. If the asset span is finite dimensional there exists a polynomial-time algorithm for deciding if every marketed portfolio is insurable, moreover this algorithm...