Betting on bitcoin: a profitable trading between directional and shielding strategies

In this paper, we come up with an original trading strategy on Bitcoins. The methodology we propose is profit-oriented, and it is based on buying or selling the so-called Contracts for Difference, so that the investor’s gain, assessed at a given future time t, is obtained as the difference between the predicted Bitcoin price and an apt threshold. Starting from some empirical findings, and passing through the specification of a suitable theoretical model for the Bitcoin price process, we are able to provide possible investment scenarios, thanks to the use of a Recurrent Neural Network with a Long Short-Term Memory for predicting purposes

End to end simulator for the WIVERN W-band Doppler conically scanning spaceborne radar

The WIVERN (WInd VElocity Radar Nephoscope) mission, soon entering in Phase-0 of the ESA Earth Explorer program, promises to complement Doppler wind lidar by globally observing, for the first time, vertical profiles of winds in cloudy areas. This work describes an end to end simulator of the WIVERN conically scanning 94 GHz Doppler radar, the only payload of the mission. Specific features of the simulator are: the conically scanning geometry; the inclusion of cross-polarization effects and of the simulation of a radiometric mode; the applicability to global cloud model outputs via an orbital model; the incorporation of a mispointing model accounting for thermo-elastic distortions, microvibrations, startrackers uncertainties, etc.; the inclusion of the surface clutter. Some of the simulator capabilities are showcased for a case study involving a full rotational scan of the instrument. The simulator represents a very useful tool for studying the performances of the WIVERN concept and possible trade-offs for the different configurations (e.g. different antenna sizes, pulse lengths, antenna patterns, . . . ). Thanks to its modular structure the simulator can be easily adapted to different orbits, different scanning geometries and different frequencie

Apoptotic epitope-specific CD8+ T cells and interferon signaling intersect in chronic hepatitis C virus infection

CD8(+) T cells specific to caspase-cleaved antigens derived from apoptotic T cells represent a principal player in chronic immune activation (CIA). Here, we found that both apoptotic epitope (AE)-specific and hepatitis C virus (HCV)-specific CD8(+) T cells were mostly confined within the effector memory (EM) or terminally differentiated EM CD45RA(+) cell subsets expressing a dysfunctional T-helper-1-like signature program in chronic (c)HCV infection. However, AE-specific CD8(+) T cells produced tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin-2 at the intrahepatic level significantly more than HCV-specific CD8(+) T cells, despite both populations acquiring high levels of programmed death-1 receptor expression. Contextually, only AE-specific CD8(+) T cells correlated with both interferon-stimulated gene levels in T cells and hepatic fibrosis score. Taken together, these data suggest that AE-specific CD8(+) T cells can sustain CIA by their capacity to produce TNF-α and be resistant to inhibitory signals more than HCV-specific CD8(+) T cells in cHCV infection

Combination of chemotherapy and PD-1 blockade induces T cell responses to tumor non-mutated neoantigens

Here, we developed an unbiased, functional target-discovery platform to identify immunogenic proteins from primary non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells that had been induced to apoptosis by cisplatin (CDDP) treatment in vitro, as compared with their live counterparts. Among the multitude of proteins identified, some of them were represented as fragmented proteins in apoptotic tumor cells, and acted as non-mutated neoantigens (NM-neoAgs). Indeed, only the fragmented proteins elicited effective multi-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses, upon a chemotherapy protocol including CDDP. Importantly, these responses further increased upon anti-PD-1 therapy, and correlated with patients’ survival and decreased PD-1 expression. Cross-presentation assays showed that NM-neoAgs were unveiled in apoptotic tumor cells as the result of caspase-dependent proteolytic activity of cellular proteins. Our study demonstrates that apoptotic tumor cells generate a repertoire of immunogenic NM-neoAgs that could be potentially used for developing effective T cell-based immunotherapy across multiple cancer patients

Expansion of activated regulatory T cells inversely correlates with clinical severity in septic neonates.

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Arbitrating in a world of communicative reason

The present article advocates for a reworking of the theoretical foundations of international arbitration. With the aim of strengthening legitimacy and improving its dispute resolution efficiency, the authors argue in favour of a different approach to international arbitration's practices. Taking in consideration the transnational and trans-cultural nature of international arbitration they claim for a framework that would be more inclusive of parties' different socio-legal systems of reference, the latter suggested as the proper foundation upon which to build a system respectful of the parties' expectations. Jürgen Habermas's discourse theory provides the theoretical outline for a communicative dynamics that would move international arbitration towards a new dimension of mutual understanding among parties' diverging backgrounds. The authors explore the feasibility of such project and, suggesting possible guidelines, hope to open up a debate about the future perspectives of international arbitration

Universal is plural

Abstract: This chapter discusses the dichotomy universalism-particularism based mainly on the contributions of Weber and Parsons and analyzes the plural forms in which it occurs today. To make a statistical cross-national analysis about universalism, a data matrix has been constructed using answers to two international survey projects: Gallup World Poll (GWP) and World Values Survey (WVS). From such a scenario an incomplete form of universalism emerges; probably, due to the persistence of the dualism of in-group and out-group morality

La ricerca sociale e le sue pratiche

More than ever, methodology is a very broad and heterogeneous field of study. Investigation practices are constantly changing and redefining according to the contexts, so much so that we can speak of the "biodiversity" of social research. Emerging opportunities provided by big and open data bring with them new challenges and, at the same time, re-new traditional themes of reflection on method. Innovative strategies and techniques do not replace the consolidated ones, but join them and transform them, hybridizing approaches and tools. The volume traces a map of this biodiversity. The strategies and techniques are illustrated in their fundamental aspects, and presented in such a way as to highlight both their peculiarities and similarities. Thus, a specificity of social research in some ways irreducible to that of other scientific domain is evident