14,752 research outputs found
Value-at-Risk for fixed-income portfolios: a Kalman filtering approach
We propose a way of measuring the risk of a sovereign debt portfolio by using a simple two-factor short rate model. The model is calibrated from data and then the changes in the bond prices are simulated by using a Kalman filter. The bond prices being simulated remain arbitrage-free, in contrast with principal component analysis-based strategies for simulation and risk measurement of debt portfolios. In liquid sovereign debt markets, a risk measurement methodology which allows the future bond price scenarios to be arbitrage-free may be seen as a potentially more realistic way of measuring the debt portfolio risk due to interest rate fluctuations. We demonstrate the performance of this methodology with calibration and backtesting, both on simulated data as well as on a real portfolio of US government bonds
Microscopic Study of Quantum Vortex-Glass Transition Field in Two-Dimensional Superconductors
The position of a field-tuned superconductor-insulator quantum transition
occuring in disordered thin films is examined within the mean field
approximation. Our calculation shows that the microscopic disorder-induced
reduction of the quantum transition point found experimentally cannot be
explained if the interplay between the disorder and an electron-electron
repulsive interaction is ignored. This work is presented as a microscopic basis
of an explanation (cond-mat/0105122) of resistive phenomena near the transition
field.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures. To appear in J.Phys.Soc.Jp
Charge and Density Fluctuations Lock Horns : Ionic Criticality with Power-Law Forces
How do charge and density fluctuations compete in ionic fluids near
gas-liquid criticality when quantum mechanical effects play a role ? To gain
some insight, long-range
interactions (with ), that encompass van der Waals forces (when
), have been incorporated in exactly soluble, -dimensional
1:1 ionic spherical models with charges and hard-core repulsions. In
accord with previous work, when (and is not too
large), the Coulomb interactions do not alter the () critical
universality class that is characterized by density correlations at criticality
decaying as with . But screening
is now algebraic, the charge-charge correlations decaying, in general, only as
; thus faithfully mimics known
\textit{non}critical quantal effects. But in the \textit{absence} of full
() ion symmetry, density and charge fluctuations mix via a transparent
mechanism: then the screening \textit{at criticality} is \textit{weaker} by a
factor . Furthermore, the otherwise valid Stillinger-Lovett sum
rule fails \textit{at} criticality whenever (as, e.g., when
) although it remains valid if (as for or in
real Ising-type systems).Comment: 8 pages, in press in J. Phys. A, Letters to the Edito
Gamma oscillation underlies hyperthermia-induced epileptiform-like spikes in immature rat hippocampal slices
BACKGROUND: Recently a hyperthermic rat hippocampal slice model system has been used to investigate febrile seizure pathophysiology. Our previous data indicates that heating immature rat hippocampal slices from 34 to 41°C in an interface chamber induced epileptiform-like population spikes accompanied by a spreading depression (SD). This may serve as an in vitro model of febrile seizures. RESULTS: In this study, we further investigate cellular mechanisms of hyperthermia-induced initial population spike activity. We hypothesized that GABA(A) receptor-mediated 30–100 Hz γ oscillations underlie some aspects of the hyperthermic population spike activity. In 24 rat hippocampal slices, the hyperthermic population spike activity occurred at an average frequency of 45.9 ± 14.9 Hz (Mean ± SE, range = 21–79 Hz, n = 24), which does not differ significantly from the frequency of post-tetanic γ oscillations (47.1 ± 14.9 Hz, n = 34) in the same system. High intensity tetanic stimulation induces hippocampal neuronal discharges followed by a slow SD that has the magnitude and time course of the SD, which resembles hyperthermic responses. Both post-tetanic γ oscillations and hyperthermic population spike activity can be blocked completely by a specific GABA(A) receptor blocker, bicuculline (5–20 μM). Bath-apply kynurenic acid (7 mM) blocks synaptic transmission, but fails to prevent hyperthermic population spikes, while intracellular diffusion of QX-314 (30 mM) abolishes spikes and produces a smooth depolarization in intracellular recording. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the GABA(A) receptor-governed γ oscillations underlie the hyperthermic population spike activity in immature hippocampal slices
The use of synchrotron edge topography to study polytype nearest neighbour relationships in SiC
A brief review of the phenomenon of polytypism is presented and its prolific abundance in Silicon Carbide discussed. An attempt has been made to emphasise modern developments in understanding this unique behaviour. The properties of Synchrotron Radiation are shown to be ideally suited to studies of polytypes in various materials and in particular the coalescence of polytypes in SiC. It is shown that with complex multipolytypic crystals the technique of edge topography allows the spatial extent of disorder to be determined and, from the superposition of Laue type reflections, neighbourhood relationships between polytypes can be deduced. Finer features have now been observed with the advent of second generation synchrotrons, the resolution available enabling the regions between adjoining polytypes to be examined more closely. It is shown that Long Period Polytypes and One Dimensionally Disordered layers often found in association with regions of high defect density are common features at polytype boundaries. An idealised configuration termed a "polytype sandwich" is presented as a model for the structure of SiC grown by the modified Lely technique. The frequency of common sandwich edge profiles are classified and some general trends of polytype neighbourism are summarised
Influence of the structural modulations and the Chain-ladder interaction in the compounds
We studied the effects of the incommensurate structural modulations on the
ladder subsystem of the family of compounds
using ab-initio explicitly-correlated calculations. From these calculations we
derived model as a function of the fourth crystallographic coordinate
describing the incommensurate modulations. It was found that in the
highly calcium-doped system, the on-site orbital energies are strongly
modulated along the ladder legs. On the contrary the two sites of the ladder
rungs are iso-energetic and the holes are thus expected to be delocalized on
the rungs. Chain-ladder interactions were also evaluated and found to be very
negligible. The ladder superconductivity model for these systems is discussed
in the light of the present results.Comment: 8 octobre 200
Physical instrumental vetoes for gravitational-wave burst triggers
We present a robust strategy to \emph{veto} certain classes of instrumental
glitches that appear at the output of interferometric gravitational-wave (GW)
detectors.This veto method is `physical' in the sense that, in order to veto a
burst trigger, we make use of our knowledge of the coupling of different
detector subsystems to the main detector output. The main idea behind this
method is that the noise in an instrumental channel X can be \emph{transferred}
to the detector output (channel H) using the \emph{transfer function} from X to
H, provided the noise coupling is \emph{linear} and the transfer function is
\emph{unique}. If a non-stationarity in channel H is causally related to one in
channel X, the two have to be consistent with the transfer function. We
formulate two methods for testing the consistency between the burst triggers in
channel X and channel H. One method makes use of the \emph{null-stream}
constructed from channel H and the \emph{transferred} channel X, and the second
involves cross-correlating the two. We demonstrate the efficiency of the veto
by `injecting' instrumental glitches in the hardware of the GEO 600 detector.
The \emph{veto safety} is demonstrated by performing GW-like hardware
injections. We also show an example application of this method using 5 days of
data from the fifth science run of GEO 600. The method is found to have very
high veto efficiency with a very low accidental veto rate.Comment: Minor changes, To appear in Phys. Rev.
Cooling abolishes neuronal network synchronization in rat hippocampal slices.
PURPOSE: We sought to determine whether cooling brain tissue from 34 to 21 degrees C could abolish tetany-induced neuronal network synchronization (gamma oscillations) without blocking normal synaptic transmission.
METHODS: Intracellular and extracellular electrodes recorded activity in transverse hippocampal slices (450-500 microm) from Sprague-Dawley male rats, maintained in an air-fluid interface chamber. Gamma oscillations were evoked by afferent stimulation at 100 Hz for 200 ms. Baseline temperature in the recording chamber was 34 degrees C, reduced to 21 degrees C within 20 min.
RESULTS: Suprathreshold tetanic stimuli evoked membrane potential oscillations in the 40-Hz frequency range (n = 21). Gamma oscillations induced by tetanic stimulation were blocked by bicuculline, a gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)A-receptor antagonist. Cooling from 34 to 21 degrees C reversibly abolished gamma oscillations in all slices tested. Short, low-frequency discharges persisted after cooling in six of 14 slices. Single-pulse-evoked potentials, however, were preserved after cooling in all cases. Latency between stimulus and onset of gamma oscillation was increased with cooling. Frequency of oscillation was correlated with chamber cooling temperature (r = 0.77). Tetanic stimulation at high intensity elicited not only gamma oscillation, but also epileptiform bursts. Cooling dramatically attenuated gamma oscillation and abolished epileptiform bursts in a reversible manner.
CONCLUSIONS: Tetany-induced neuronal network synchronization by GABAA-sensitive gamma oscillations is abolished reversibly by cooling to temperatures that do not block excitatory synaptic transmission. Cooling also suppresses transition from gamma oscillation to ictal bursting at higher stimulus intensities. These findings suggest that cooling may disrupt network synchrony necessary for epileptiform activity
Coherent frequentism
By representing the range of fair betting odds according to a pair of
confidence set estimators, dual probability measures on parameter space called
frequentist posteriors secure the coherence of subjective inference without any
prior distribution. The closure of the set of expected losses corresponding to
the dual frequentist posteriors constrains decisions without arbitrarily
forcing optimization under all circumstances. This decision theory reduces to
those that maximize expected utility when the pair of frequentist posteriors is
induced by an exact or approximate confidence set estimator or when an
automatic reduction rule is applied to the pair. In such cases, the resulting
frequentist posterior is coherent in the sense that, as a probability
distribution of the parameter of interest, it satisfies the axioms of the
decision-theoretic and logic-theoretic systems typically cited in support of
the Bayesian posterior. Unlike the p-value, the confidence level of an interval
hypothesis derived from such a measure is suitable as an estimator of the
indicator of hypothesis truth since it converges in sample-space probability to
1 if the hypothesis is true or to 0 otherwise under general conditions.Comment: The confidence-measure theory of inference and decision is explicitly
extended to vector parameters of interest. The derivation of upper and lower
confidence levels from valid and nonconservative set estimators is formalize
Coevolutionary Dynamics: From Finite to Infinite Populations
Traditionally, frequency dependent evolutionary dynamics is described by
deterministic replicator dynamics assuming implicitly infinite population
sizes. Only recently have stochastic processes been introduced to study
evolutionary dynamics in finite populations. However, the relationship between
deterministic and stochastic approaches remained unclear. Here we solve this
problem by explicitly considering large populations. In particular, we identify
different microscopic stochastic processes that lead to the standard or the
adjusted replicator dynamics. Moreover, differences on the individual level can
lead to qualitatively different dynamics in asymmetric conflicts and, depending
on the population size, can even invert the direction of the evolutionary
process.Comment: 4 pages (2 figs included). Published in Phys. Rev. Lett., December
200
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