Assembly and preparation for the derivative market: a convenience comparison between financial options and futures with view to the eurex and liffe

This dissertation conveys a swot-analysis of options and futures, partially based on their fundamentals as described in the appendices, with regards to their convenience for an entry. Further, this convenience comparison is reinforced with a view to two of the world’s biggest derivative exchanges, Eurex and Liffe, and examines them in terms of their product lines, trading volume and transaction fees. All-encompassing, the analysis concludes that futures are the most convenient derivative for an entry on the derivative markets, which the analysis of two derivative exchanges substantiates. Additionally, Eurex slightly favours an entry with futures above Liffe, mainly due to higher trading volume and intercessional transaction fees. Apart from that neutral analysis, the studies of general information such as the comprehension of the market as well as price movements are basic prerequisites for an entry. This leads to the recommendable aspect that the convenience of futures need to be seen from a different angle under certain circumstances or scenarios such as personal preference, the level of risk-tolerance and personal wealth.Esta dissertação parte de uma análise SWOT de opções e futuros, parcialmente baseados nos seus fundamentos como estão descritos nos apêndices, tendo em conta a conveniência da sua entrada. Mais à frente, esta comparação de conveniência é reforçada com uma visão de duas das maiores bolsas de produtos derivados do mundo, Eurex e Liffe, e examina-as em termos das suas linhas de produto, volume de negócios e custos de transacção. Abrangendo tudo isto, a análise conclui que os futuros são os produtos derivados mais convenientes para uma entrada nos mercados de derivados. A Eurex favorece ligeiramente uma entrada com futuros, mais do que a Liffe, principalmente devido a um volume de negócios superior e a custos de transacção intermédios. Fora dessa análise neutra, os estudos de informação, a compreensão do mercado, bem como as flutuações dos preços são pré-requisitos básico para uma entrada. Isto leva-nos a um aspecto recomendável de que a conveniência de futuros devem ser vistos de um outro ponto de vista, noutras circunstancias, ou cenários tais como, preferências pessoais , o nível de tolerância ao risco e riqueza pessoal

Similarity based cooperation and spatial segregation

We analyze a cooperative game, where the cooperative act is not based on the previous behaviour of the co-player, but on the similarity between the players. This system has been studied in a mean-field description recently [A. Traulsen and H. G. Schuster, Phys. Rev. E 68, 046129 (2003)]. Here, the spatial extension to a two-dimensional lattice is studied, where each player interacts with eight players in a Moore neighborhood. The system shows a strong segregation independent on parameters. The introduction of a local conversion mechanism towards tolerance allows for four-state cycles and the emergence of spiral waves in the spatial game. In the case of asymmetric costs of cooperation a rich variety of complex behavior is observed depending on both cooperation costs. Finally, we study the stabilization of a cooperative fixed point of a forecast rule in the symmetric game, which corresponds to cooperation across segregation borders. This fixed point becomes unstable for high cooperation costs, but can be stabilized by a linear feedback mechanism.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figure

PAULA XML Documentation

PAULA XML or PAULA for short (Potsdamer AUstauschformat Linguistischer Annotationen, 'Potsdam Exchange Format for Linguistic Annotations') is a standoff XML format designed to represent a wide range of linguistically annotated textual and multi-modal corpora. The format was created at Potsdam University and developed within SFB 632, the collaborative research centre "Information Structure", subproject D1, "Linguistic Database" at Potsdam University and Humboldt- Universität zu Berlin. The description below represents the normative documentation for PAULA version 1.1, with some notes on previous versions of PAULA. For the latest documentation always check the PAULA Website which also contains an online HTML version of this documentation

Phonon-assisted transitions from quantum dot excitons to cavity photons

For a single semiconductor quantum dot embedded in a microcavity, we theoretically and experimentally investigate phonon-assisted transitions between excitons and the cavity mode. Within the framework of the independent boson model we find that such transitions can be very efficient, even for relatively large exciton-cavity detunings of several millielectron volts. Furthermore, we predict a strong detuning asymmetry for the exciton lifetime that vanishes for elevated lattice temperature. Our findings are corroborated by experiment, which turns out to be in good quantitative and qualitative agreement with theory

Salmonella enterica Modulates Its Infectivity in Response to Intestinal Stimuli

ABSTRACT En route to its intestinal target cells Salmonella enterica passes different host niches and encounters various environmental cues. These are expected to promote Salmonella in the decision of changing its extracellular life style to intracellular. We find that prior incubation of bacteria in the presence of signals which are characteristic for the small intestine affects invasion in a model system: Salmonella grown at high osmotic pressure in the presence of bile or in amino acid rich medium, infect host cells most efficiently. Hence, Salmonella enterica modulates its infectivity in response to these stimuli which consequently determines the success of infection. Our results close the current gap between signal and actual behavior and may serve as a basis for further investigations for example if Salmonella has an adaptive prediction of environmental changes

Stochastic gain in population dynamics

We introduce an extension of the usual replicator dynamics to adaptive learning rates. We show that a population with a dynamic learning rate can gain an increased average payoff in transient phases and can also exploit external noise, leading the system away from the Nash equilibrium, in a reasonance-like fashion. The payoff versus noise curve resembles the signal to noise ratio curve in stochastic resonance. Seen in this broad context, we introduce another mechanism that exploits fluctuations in order to improve properties of the system. Such a mechanism could be of particular interest in economic systems.Comment: accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Intact Organization of Tactile Space Perception in Isolated Focal Dystonia

Background: Systematic perceptual distortions of tactile space have been documented in healthy adults. In isolated focal dystonia impaired spatial somatosensory processing is suggested to be a central pathophysiological finding, but the structure of tactile space for different body parts has not been previously explored. Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess tactile space organization with a novel behavioral paradigm of tactile distance perception in patients with isolated focal dystonia and controls. Methods: Three groups of isolated focal dystonia patients (cervical dystonia, blepharospasm/Meige syndrome, focal hand dystonia) and controls estimated perceived distances between 2 touches across 8 orientations on the back of both hands and the forehead. Results: Stimulus size judgments differed significantly across orientations in all groups replicating distortions of tactile space known for healthy individuals. There were no differences between groups in the behavioral parameters we assessed on the hands and forehead. Conclusions: Tactile space organization is comparable between patients with isolated focal dystonia and healthy controls in dystonic and unaffected body parts

A Multi-Level Control Architecture for the Bionic Handling Assistant

Rolf M, Neumann K, Queißer J, Reinhart F, Nordmann A, Steil JJ. A Multi-Level Control Architecture for the Bionic Handling Assistant. Advanced Robotics. 2015;29(13: SI):847-859.The Bionic Handling Assistant is one of the largest soft continuum robots and very special in be- ing a pneumatically operated platform that is able to bend, stretch, and grasp in all directions. It nevertheless shares many challenges with smaller continuum and other softs robots such as parallel actuation, complex movement dynamics, slow pneumatic actuation, non-stationary behavior, and a lack of analytic models. To master the control of this challenging robot, we argue for a tight inte- gration of standard analytic tools, simulation, control, and state of the art machine learning into an overall architecture that can serve as blueprint for control design also beyond the BHA. To this aim, we show how to integrate specific modes of operation and different levels of control in a synergistic manner, which is enabled by using modern paradigms of software architecture and middleware. We thereby achieve an architecture with unique overall control abilities for a soft continuum robot that allow for exible experimentation towards compliant user-interaction, grasping, and online learning of internal models

Random field sampling for a simplified model of melt-blowing considering turbulent velocity fluctuations

In melt-blowing very thin liquid fiber jets are spun due to high-velocity air streams. In literature there is a clear, unsolved discrepancy between the measured and computed jet attenuation. In this paper we will verify numerically that the turbulent velocity fluctuations causing a random aerodynamic drag on the fiber jets -- that has been neglected so far -- are the crucial effect to close this gap. For this purpose, we model the velocity fluctuations as vector Gaussian random fields on top of a k-epsilon turbulence description and develop an efficient sampling procedure. Taking advantage of the special covariance structure the effort of the sampling is linear in the discretization and makes the realization possible