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We examine the pricing of both aggregate jump and volatility risk in the cross-section of stock returns by constructing investable option trading strategies that load on one factor but are orthogonal to the other. Both aggregate jump and volatility risk help explain variation in expected returns. Consistent with theory, stocks with high sensitivities to jump and volatility risk have low expected returns. Both can be measured separately and are important economically, with a two-standard-deviation increase in jump (volatility) factor loadings associated with a 3.5% to 5.1% (2.7% to 2.9%) drop in expected annual stock returns.

Deviations from put-call parity contain information about future stock returns. Using the difference in implied volatility between pairs of call and put options to measure these deviations, we find that stocks with relatively expensive calls outperform stocks with relatively expensive puts by 50 basis points per week. We find both positive abnormal performance in stocks with relatively expensive calls and negative abnormal performance in stocks with relatively expensive puts, which cannot be explained by short sale constraints. Rebate rates from the stock lending market directly confirm that our findings are not driven by stocks that are hard to borrow. The degree of predictability is larger when option liquidity is high and stock liquidity low, while there is little predictability when the opposite is true. Controlling for size, option prices are more likely to deviate from strict put-call parity when underlying stocks face more information risk. The degree of predictability decreases over the sample period. Our results are consistent with mispricing during the earlier years of the study, with a gradual reduction of the mispricing over time.

This paper introduces Deleuze’s philosophy of becoming in a system theoretic framework and proposes an alternative ontological foundation to the study of systems and complex systems in particular. A brief critique of systems theory and the difficulties apparent in it is proposed as an introduction to the discussion. Following is an overview aimed at providing access to the ‘big picture’ of Deleuze’s revolutionary philosophical system with emphasis on a system theoretic approach and terminology. The major concepts of Deleuze’s ontology—difference, virtuality, multiplicity, assemblages, quasi-causation, becoming (individuation), intensity and progressive determination are introduced and discussed. Deleuze’s work is a radical departure from the dogma of western philosophy that guides the foundations of science and systems theory. It replaces identity with difference and being with becoming; in other words, it provides systems theory with an ontological ground based on change, heterogeneity and the inexhaustible novelty-producing process that underlies all phenomena. The conceptual tools made available by this philosophy seem to capture the fundamental aspects of complexity and complex systems much better than the current conceptual system that is based on static transcendent ontological entities.

We propose a venture into an existential opportunity for establishing a world ‘good enough’ for humans to live in. Defining an existential opportunity as the converse of an existential risk—that is, a development that promises to dramatically improve the future of humanity—we argue that one such opportunity is available and should be explored now. The opportunity resides in the moment of transition of the Internet—from mediating information to mediating distributed direct governance in the sense of self-organization. The Internet of tomorrow will mediate the execution of contracts, transactions, public interventions and all other change-establishing events more reliably and more synergistically than any other technology or institution. It will become a distributed, synthetically intelligent agent in itself. This transition must not be just observed, or exploited instrumentally: it must be ventured into and seized on behalf of entire humanity. We envision a configuration of three kinds of cognitive system—the human mind, social systems and the emerging synthetic intelligence—serving to augment the autonomy of the first from the ‘programming’ imposed by the second. Our proposition is grounded in a detailed analysis of the manner in which the socio-econo-political system has evolved into a powerful control mechanism that subsumes human minds, steers their will and automates their thinking. We see the venture into the existential opportunity described here as aiming at the global dissolution of the core reason of that programming’s effectiveness—the critical dependence of the continuity of human lives on the coherence of the socially constructed personas they ‘wear.’ Thus, we oppose the popular prediction of the upcoming, ‘dreadful AI takeover’ with a call for action: instead of worrying that Artificial Intelligence will soon come to dominate and govern the human world, let us think of how it could help the human being to finally be able to do it.

We introduce a new approach to estimating long-term aggregate discount rates using the cross section of earnings and book values to explain current stock prices and extract expected market returns. The proposed discount rate measure is countercyclical. Shocks to it account for nearly half of historical market return variation; in contrast, shocks to other discount rate measures account for no more than 2%. It dominates other measures in explaining time-series variation in returns on duration-sorted portfolios and delivers out-of-sample predictability that exceeds that afforded by other expected return measures and predictive variables. It also performs well in international equity markets.

We describe an outbreak of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (vanA phenotype) bacteremia on the oncology ward of a tertiary care community hospital. In 10 of the 11 cases the patients had leukemia and were neutropenic (median duration of neutropenia, 21 days) at the time of bacteremia. On average, patients received six antibiotic agents for a total of 61 agent-days prior to development of vancomycin-resistant E. faecium bacteremia. The mortality rate was 73%. Molecular typing of 22 isolates revealed that the majority (83%) represented a common strain, indicating nosocomial spread. When the 11 cases were compared to 22 matched control patients, gastrointestinal colonization with vancomycin-resistant E. faecium (odds ratio [denominator, 0] ∞, P = .005) and the use of antimicrobial agents with significant activity against anaerobes (metronidazole, clindamycin, and imipenem; odds ratio ∞, P= .02) were found to be risk factors for the development of vancomycin-resistant E. faecium bacteremia. Since no proven therapy for such infection exists, there is an urgent need to identify effective measures to prevent and control the development of vancomycin-resistant E. faecium bacteremia.

Previous studies have shown that bacteremia due to vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus species (VRE) is associated with mortality of 17%–100%, but comorbid conditions may have confounded the estimates. We designed a historical cohort study to determine the mortality attributable to VRE bacteremia. Twenty-seven patients with VRE bacteremia were identified as cases. Within 7 days of the onset of bacteremia, severe sepsis developed in 12 patients (44%) and septic shock developed in 10 (37%). Case patients were closely matched to control patients without VRE bacteremia (1:1) by time of hospitalization, duration of exposure, underlying disease, age, gender, and surgical procedure. The mortality was 67% among cases and 30% among matched controls (P = .01). Thus, the mortality attributable to VRE bacteremia was 37% (95% confidence interval [CI], 10%–64%) and the risk ratio for death was 2.3 (CI, 1.2–4.1). We conclude that VRE bacteremia is associated with high rates of severe sepsis and septic shock. The attributable mortality approaches 40%, and patients who have VRE bacteremia are twice as likely to die than closely matched controls.

We use a unique database on ownership stakes of equity mutual fund directors to analyze whether the directors’ incentive structure is related to fund performance. Ownership of both independent and nonindependent directors plays an economically and statistically significant role. Funds in which directors have low ownership, or “skin in the game,” significantly underperform. We posit two economic mechanisms to explain this relation. First, lack of ownership could indicate a director’s lack of alignment with fund shareholder interests. Second, directors may have superior private information on future performance. We find evidence in support of the first and against the second mechanism.

A 62-yr-old woman with a history of mental retardation, paranoid psychosis and agitated depression presented with deterioration in her baseline mental status and fever. No obvious source of fever was found on clinical exam or on initial laboratory studies. An 111In-white blood cell (111In-WBC) study was performed 1 wk after hospital admission, which revealed increased uptake in the anterior neck and oral cavity. Subsequent laryngoscopy revealed a red, swollen epiglottis compatible with epiglottitis. While not advocating 111In-WBC scintigraphy as part of the workup of epiglottitis, this case is presented to emphasize the possible milder presentation of epiglottitis in adults compared to children.

Recent experiments have perfectly verified the fact that quantum correlations between two entangled particles are stronger than any classical, local pre-quantum worldview allows. This is famously called the EPR paradox first conceived as a thought experiment and decades later realized in the lab. We discuss in depth the nature of the paradox and show that the problematics it presents is first and foremost epistemological. After briefly exploring resolutions to the paradox that after many decades of discourse still remain controversial, we argue that the paradox is rooted in the failure of our current metaphysical scheme, being the foundation of our knowledge, to accommodate and cohere our knowledge of the phenomena of entanglement. We then develop and make the case for a novel and more fundamental resolution of the paradox by changing the underlying metaphysical foundation from one based on individuals to a one based on individuation. We discuss in detail how in the light of this new scheme concepts central to the paradox such as realism, causality and locality are adjusted to the effect that the paradox is resolved without giving up these concepts so fundamental to our thinking. We conclude with a brief note about the important role of metaphysics to the progress of knowledge and our understanding of reality.