A convertible bond is defined to be (e.g., Jorion [10]) a bond issued by a corporation that can be converted into the equity of that corporation at certain times using a predetermined exchange ratio. This entails the creation of new shares issued by the corporation if and when conversion occurs, and the existing shares are diluted by the creation of the new shares. The option to convert is sole...

Can part of Africa’s current underdevelopment be explained by its slave trades? To explore this question empirically, I combined data from ship records with data from various historical documents reporting slave ethnicities, and construct estimates of the number of slaves exported from each country during Africa’s slave trades between 1400 and 1900. I find a strong robust negative correlation b...

With the increasing number of documents that are available in digital form, also the number of digital historical documents is increasing (Berkvens, 2001). It cannot be assumed that standard IR systems perform well on historical documents: historical texts differ from modern texts in three ways (Hüning, 1996; Van Der Horst and Marschall, 1989): (a) vocabularies have changed, (b) spelling has ch...

LSD and similar hallucinogenic drugs have at present acquired a cultural connotation as dangerous drugs that can lead to mental disorders and anti-social behaviour.' At one time, however, these drugs showed promise for medical use in psychotherapy and neuropharmacology, and in research into psychosis. Use of LSD was enthusiastically advocated by numerous psychiatrists from diverse cultural back...

Using Western theories and perspectives as models, this chapter discusses the cultural interpretation of dying and death in a non-Western society. Also discussed, based on the historical, political, and cultural history of Nigeria, are the implications of dying and death for death preparation, the problem of deathcausation diseases without external symptoms, and the special plight of widows. Su...

the official iranian calendar is a solar one that in both the length and the first day of its year is based not on convention, but on two natural (i.e. astronomical) factors: a) the moment of coincidence of the centre of the sun and the vernal equinox during the sun’s apparent revolution around the earth; and b) the time length between two successive apparent passages of the sun’s center across...

islamic feminism has been articulated through recent decades as an alternative to traditional islamic thinking on women’s issues. scholars who are identified as islamic feminists use different methodological approaches like hermeneutics, historical criticism, and woman perspective in their works on various subjects of study. these scholars who have different cultural and philosophical backgroun...