Strategies used as spectroscopy of financial markets reveal new stylized facts

We propose a new set of stylized facts quantifying the structure of financial markets. The key idea is to study the combined structure of both investment strategies and prices in order to open a qualitatively new level of understanding of financial and economic markets. We study the detailed order flow on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange of China for the whole year of 2003. This enormous dataset allows us to compare (i) a closed national market (A-shares) with an international market (B-shares), (ii) individuals and institutions and (iii) real investors to random strategies with respect to timing that share otherwise all other characteristics. We find that more trading results in smaller net return due to trading frictions. We unveiled quantitative power laws with non-trivial exponents, that quantify the deterioration of performance with frequency and with holding period of the strategies used by investors. Random strategies are found to perform much better than real ones, both for winners and losers. Surprising large arbitrage opportunities exist, especially when using zero-intelligence strategies. This is a diagnostic of possible inefficiencies of these financial markets.Comment: 13 pages including 5 figures and 1 tabl

Dirac Equation with Spin Symmetry for the Modified P\"oschl-Teller Potential in DD-dimensions

We present solutions of the Dirac equation with spin symmetry for vector and scalar modified P\"oschl-Teller potential within framework of an approximation of the centrifugal term. The relativistic energy spectrum is obtained using the Nikiforov-Uvarov method and the two-component spinor wavefunctions are obtain are in terms of the Jacobi polynomials. It is found that there exist only positive-energy states for bound states under spin symmetry, and the energy levels increase with the dimension and the potential range parameter $\alpha$.Comment: 9 pages and 1tabl

Innate and adaptive autoimmunity in type 1 diabetes

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74867/1/j.1399-5448.2007.00334.x.pd

Dualities for Loop Amplitudes of N=6 Chern-Simons Matter Theory

In this paper we study the one- and two-loop corrections to the four-point amplitude of N=6 Chern-Simons matter theory. Using generalized unitarity methods we express the one- and two-loop amplitudes in terms of dual-conformal integrals. Explicit integration by using dimensional reduction gives vanishing one-loop result as expected, while the two-loop result is non-vanishing and matches with the Wilson loop computation. Furthermore, the two-loop correction takes the same form as the one-loop correction to the four-point amplitude of N=4 super Yang-Mills. We discuss possible higher loop extensions of this correspondence between the two theories. As a side result, we extend the method of dimensional reduction for three dimensions to five dimensions where dual conformal symmetry is most manifest, demonstrating significant simplification to the computation of integrals.Comment: 32 pages and 6 figures. v2: minus sign corrections, ref updated v3: Published versio

The Functional DRD3 Ser9Gly Polymorphism (rs6280) Is Pleiotropic, Affecting Reward as Well as Movement

Abnormalities of motivation and behavior in the context of reward are a fundamental component of addiction and mood disorders. Here we test the effect of a functional missense mutation in the dopamine 3 receptor (DRD3) gene (ser9gly, rs6280) on reward-associated dopamine (DA) release in the striatum. Twenty-six healthy controls (HCs) and 10 unmedicated subjects with major depressive disorder (MDD) completed two positron emission tomography (PET) scans with [11C]raclopride using the bolus plus constant infusion method. On one occasion subjects completed a sensorimotor task (control condition) and on another occasion subjects completed a gambling task (reward condition). A linear regression analysis controlling for age, sex, diagnosis, and self-reported anhedonia indicated that during receipt of unpredictable monetary reward the glycine allele was associated with a greater reduction in D2/3 receptor binding (i.e., increased reward-related DA release) in the middle (anterior) caudate (p<0.01) and the ventral striatum (p<0.05). The possible functional effect of the ser9gly polymorphism on DA release is consistent with previous work demonstrating that the glycine allele yields D3 autoreceptors that have a higher affinity for DA and display more robust intracellular signaling. Preclinical evidence indicates that chronic stress and aversive stimulation induce activation of the DA system, raising the possibility that the glycine allele, by virtue of its facilitatory effect on striatal DA release, increases susceptibility to hyperdopaminergic responses that have previously been associated with stress, addiction, and psychosis

Return to fertility after extended chemical castration with a GnRH antagonist

BACKGROUND: Antagonistic analogues of GnRH for the treatment of prostate cancer may be used clinically in persons for whom return to fertility after such treatment is important or desirable. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to evaluate the effects of a long term treatment with orntide, a GnRH antagonist, on testosterone levels and fertility in male rats. METHODS: Two groups of male rats received either 120-day orntide microspheres (8.8 mg orntide/kg/120 days) or vehicle alone (control group). Serum orntide and testosterone levels in both groups were monitored at certain intervals for 9 months from the initiation of treatment. After recovery of normal serum testosterone levels in the treated animals, each rat was housed with two proven breeder, but drug-naive, females. RESULTS: All mates of treated rats achieved pregnancy as rapidly as the mates of control rats although two of the control rats did not sire a litter with either female and one sired only one litter. The mean size of the litters of treated (12.3 offspring per litter) and control (10.6 offspring per litter) were similar. All offspring were grossly normal morphologically and behaviorally during the time to weaning. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that lack of fertility due to testosterone suppression is reversible after cessation of treatment with this GnRH antagonist

The Accumulation of Organic Carbon in Mineral Soils by Afforestation of Abandoned Farmland

The afforestation of abandoned farmland significantly influences soil organic carbon (OC). However, the dynamics between OC inputs after afforestation and the original OC are not well understood. To learn more about soil OC dynamics after afforestation of farmland, we measured the soil OC content in paired forest and farmland plots in Shaanxi Province, China. The forest plots had been established on farmland 18, 24, 48, 100, and 200 yr previously. The natural 13C abundance of soil organic matter was also analyzed to distinguish between crop- and forest-derived C in the afforested soils. We observed a nonlinear accumulation of total OC in the 0–80 cm depth of the mineral soil across time. Total soil OC accumulated more rapidly under forest stands aged 18 to 48 yr than under forest stands aged 100 or 200 yrs. The rate of OC accumulation was also greater in the 0–10 cm depth than in the 10–80 cm depth. Forest-derived OC in afforested soils also accumulated nonlinearly across time, with the greatest increase in the 0–20 cm depth. Forest-derived OC in afforest soils accounted for 52–86% of the total OC in the 0–10 cm depth, 36–61% of the total OC in the 10–20 cm depth, and 11–50% of the total OC in the 20–80 cm depth. Crop-derived OC concentrations in the 0–20 cm depth decreased slightly after afforestation, but there was no change in crop-derived OC concentrations in the 20–80 cm depth. The results of our study support the claim that afforestation of farmland can sequester atmospheric CO2 by increasing soil OC stocks. Changes in the OC stocks of mineral soils after afforestation appear to be influenced mainly by the input of forest-derived C rather than by the loss of original OC

Anodization of nanoporous alumina on impurity-induced hemisphere curved surface of aluminum at room temperature

Nanoporous alumina which was produced by a conventional direct current anodization [DCA] process at low temperatures has received much attention in various applications such as nanomaterial synthesis, sensors, and photonics. In this article, we employed a newly developed hybrid pulse anodization [HPA] method to fabricate the nanoporous alumina on a flat and curved surface of an aluminum [Al] foil at room temperature [RT]. We fabricate the nanopores to grow on a hemisphere curved surface and characterize their behavior along the normal vectors of the hemisphere curve. In a conventional DCA approach, the structures of branched nanopores were grown on a photolithography-and-etched low-curvature curved surface with large interpore distances. However, a high-curvature hemisphere curved surface can be obtained by the HPA technique. Such a curved surface by HPA is intrinsically induced by the high-resistivity impurities in the aluminum foil and leads to branching and bending of nanopore growth via the electric field mechanism rather than the interpore distance in conventional approaches. It is noted that by the HPA technique, the Joule heat during the RT process has been significantly suppressed globally on the material, and nanopores have been grown along the normal vectors of a hemisphere curve. The curvature is much larger than that in other literatures due to different fabrication methods. In theory, the number of nanopores on the hemisphere surface is two times of the conventional flat plane, which is potentially useful for photocatalyst or other applications

Movement Protein Pns6 of Rice dwarf phytoreovirus Has Both ATPase and RNA Binding Activities

Cell-to-cell movement is essential for plant viruses to systemically infect host plants. Plant viruses encode movement proteins (MP) to facilitate such movement. Unlike the well-characterized MPs of DNA viruses and single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) viruses, knowledge of the functional mechanisms of MPs encoded by double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) viruses is very limited. In particular, many studied MPs of DNA and ssRNA viruses bind non-specifically ssRNAs, leading to models in which ribonucleoprotein complexes (RNPs) move from cell to cell. Thus, it will be of special interest to determine whether MPs of dsRNA viruses interact with genomic dsRNAs or their derivative sRNAs. To this end, we studied the biochemical functions of MP Pns6 of Rice dwarf phytoreovirus (RDV), a member of Phytoreovirus that contains a 12-segmented dsRNA genome. We report here that Pns6 binds both dsRNAs and ssRNAs. Intriguingly, Pns6 exhibits non-sequence specificity for dsRNA but shows preference for ssRNA sequences derived from the conserved genomic 5′- and 3′- terminal consensus sequences of RDV. Furthermore, Pns6 exhibits magnesium-dependent ATPase activities. Mutagenesis identified the RNA binding and ATPase activity sites of Pns6 at the N- and C-termini, respectively. Our results uncovered the novel property of a viral MP in differentially recognizing dsRNA and ssRNA and establish a biochemical basis to enable further studies on the mechanisms of dsRNA viral MP functions