Recursive Portfolio Selection with Decision Trees

A great proportion of stock dynamics can be explained using publicly available information. The relationship between dynamics and public information may be of nonlinear character. In this paper we offer an approach to stock picking by employing so-called decision trees and applying them to XETRA DAX stocks. Using a set of fundamental and technical variables, stocks are classified into three groups according to the proposed position: long, short or neutral. More precisely, by assessing the current state of a company, which is represented by fundamental variables and current market situation, well reflected by technical variables, it is possible to suggest if the current market value of a company is underestimated, overestimated or the stock is fairly priced. The performance of the model over the observed period suggests that XETRA DAX stock returns can adequately be predicted by publicly available economic data. Another conclusion of this study is that the implied volatility variable, when included into the training sample, boosts the predictive power of the model significantly.CART, decision trees in finance, nonlinear decision rules, asset management, portfolio optimisation

Intelligent Communication and Patterning in Smart Cities

What makes a city great and smart has puzzled many, and millions are fascinated by metropolises and interested in the effects and phenotypes of urbanization. More than ever before, citizens are demanding smart cities, which are in progress and have co-evolved and shaped us, the citizens, the country, the economy, and the world, reciprocally over many centuries. This chapter highlights the past and future roles of communication and pattern formation in the local cluster of the developing smart city and “assistive technologies” and catalyzes that were and will be needed to transform a city via better cluster management, urban planning, coordination, citizen enablement, integration, and citizen feedback into a better functioning, convenient, and intelligent place for all of us including disabled, ill, young, or aged persons. With some explicatory analogy, the “metacity” is becoming a new living entity that is either more or less disable and needs “smart enablement,” new solutions that solve old bottlenecks, as the city is as enabled as its citizens that need some aids. Hence, smart cities are on the agenda in most countries, and fair opportunity, city functioning, smart communication, and smart pattern formation play pivotal roles in the unmatched urban enablement of all citizens and, concomitantly, the enablement of the “metacity” entity. Smart cities thus hold the key to stimulate the economy, to create the pattern of great places for all, to meet our Maslow’s pyramid of needs also on the city level, and without leaving anyone of us behind

Interfacial thermal resistance between porous layers: impact on thermal conductivity of a multilayered porous structure

Features of thermal transport in multilayered porous silicon nanostructures are considered. Such nanostructures were fabricated by electrochemical etching of monocrystalline Si substrates by applying periodically changed current density. Hereby, the multilayered structures with specific phononic properties were formed. Photoacoustic (PA) technique in gas-microphone configuration was applied for thermal conductivity evaluation. Experimental amplitude-frequency dependencies were adjusted by temperature distribution simulation with thermal conductivity of the multilayered porous structure as a fitting parameter. The experimentally determined values of thermal conductivity were found to be significantly lower than theoretically calculated ones. Such difference was associated with the presence of thermal resistance at the interfaces between porous layers with different porosities arising because of elastic parameters mismatch (acoustical mismatch). Accordingly, the magnitude of this interfacial thermal resistance was experimentally evaluated for the first time. Furthermore, crucial impact of the resistance on thermal transport perturbation in a multilayered porous silicon structure was revealed

An Integrated Strategy Framework (ISF) for Combining Porter's 5-Forces, Diamond, PESTEL, and SWOT Analysis

INTRODUCTION Porter's Five-Forces, Porter's Diamond, PESTEL, the 6th-Forths, and Humphrey's SWOT analysis are among the most important and popular concepts taught in business schools around the world. A new integrated strategy framework (ISF) combines all major concepts. PURPOSE Porter's Five-Forces, Porter's Diamond, PESTEL, the 6th-Forths, and Humphrey's SWOT analysis are among the most important and popular concepts taught in business schools around the world. A new integrated strategy framework (ISF) now combines all of these major concepts. DESIGN An alignment of the previous models is used to cancel, combine and unify previous nodes to build a more comprehensive and compatible logical strategy landscape with a star topology of industry structure to derive competitive advantage via holistic and weighted network analysis at its hub. FINDINGS The models could be simplified into an integrated strategy framework, which may assist in a more systematic final assessment and consolidation of all sub-models into strategic decision-making. ORIGINALITY The new ISF model is the next logical step to visualize a combination of all major analytical competitiveness models, which is required for all final strategic decision making and enables a more holistic qualitative and quantitative strategy analysis and better prepares for in-depth analysis

On the Future Advances in Engineering and In-Vitro Culture of Human Embryos

The far-reaching socio-economic, the censored methodologic-scientific, and the forgotten moral-ethical prospects of the lately emerging "human engineering techniques" are newly discussed here. The unanimously unmentioned future "human embryo-based (embryogenic) transplantation methods" are first claimed here as a potential and very powerful biomedical strategy that could now become enabled in the future due to these recent new protocols that could cause an unseen political and societal dilemma regarding their adequate, international, and humane regulation

Monetary Development and Transmission in the Eurosystem

Since the launch of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in January 1999 till today in 2015, the Euro has ascended to become the second largest reference currency in the world. With about €1.6 trillion of currency in circulation it is at present even positioned above the US dollar with €1.3 trillion. The Eurosystem now comprises 19 EU countries with about 340 million people and inherits an outstanding role for the economy of the EMU, world trade, and international finance. Despite its importance, a recent independent empirical review that conclusively analyzes all key factors and efficiencies remains much obsolete. Thus, this research and review sets out to empirically-theoretically compile the last 16 years of the EMU with a focus on monetary developments, functioning of monetary transmission channels (MTCs) and mechanisms, as well as the performance of the Eurosystem and its ECB governed monetary policies (MP). For the first time it reviews a complete set of 16 MTCs and systematically evaluates the functioning of the Eurosystem and its role for the real economy and its people. It finds a high efficiency loss in all MTCs related to fractional reserve banking, excessive EU indebtedness, or legal frameworks such as MFI, financial, or equity law. Scientifically, based on all data and results, there is no way to reach a different conclusion and reminder that stresses the need, exigency and must to replace an old-fashioned reserve banking system by digital full-reserve banking via monetary reform at the earliest feasible date possible

Monetary Development and Transmission in the Eurosystem

Since the launch of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in January 1999 till today in 2015, the Euro has ascended to become the second largest reference currency in the world. With about €1.6 trillion of currency in circulation it is at present even positioned above the US dollar with €1.3 trillion. The Eurosystem now comprises 19 EU countries with about 340 million people and inherits an outstanding role for the economy of the EMU, world trade, and international finance. Despite its importance, a recent independent empirical review that conclusively analyzes all key factors and efficiencies remains much obsolete. Thus, this research and review sets out to empirically-theoretically compile the last 16 years of the EMU with a focus on monetary developments, functioning of monetary transmission channels (MTCs) and mechanisms, as well as the performance of the Eurosystem and its ECB governed monetary policies (MP). For the first time it reviews a complete set of 16 MTCs and systematically evaluates the functioning of the Eurosystem and its role for the real economy and its people. It finds a high efficiency loss in all MTCs related to fractional reserve banking, excessive EU indebtedness, or legal frameworks such as MFI, financial, or equity law. Scientifically, based on all data and results, there is no way to reach a different conclusion and reminder that stresses the need, exigency and must to replace an old-fashioned reserve banking system by digital full-reserve banking via monetary reform at the earliest feasible date possible