Inf-convolution of G-expectations

In this paper we will discuss the optimal risk transfer problems when risk measures are generated by G-expectations, and we present the relationship between inf-convolution of G-expectations and the inf-convolution of drivers G.Comment: 23 page

Clinical practice of language fMRI in epilepsy centers: a European survey and conclusions by the ESNR Epilepsy Working Group

Purpose: To assess current clinical practices throughout Europe with respect to acquisition, implementation, evaluation, and interpretation of language functional MRI (fMRI) in epilepsy patients. Methods: An online survey was emailed to all European Society of Neuroradiology members (n = 1662), known associates (n = 6400), and 64 members of European Epilepsy network. The questionnaire featured 40 individual items on demographic data, clinical practice and indications, fMRI paradigms, radiological workflow, data post-processing protocol, and reporting. Results: A total of 49 non-duplicate entries from European centers were received from 20 countries. Of these, 73.5% were board-certified neuroradiologists and 69.4% had an in-house epilepsy surgery program. Seventy-one percent of centers performed fewer than five scans per month for epilepsy. The most frequently used paradigms were phonemic verbal fluency (47.7%) and audi

Representation of the penalty term of dynamic concave utilities

In this paper we will provide a representation of the penalty term of general dynamic concave utilities (hence of dynamic convex risk measures) by applying the theory of g-expectations.Comment: An updated version is published in Finance & Stochastics. The final publication is available at http://www.springerlink.co

A study of patent thickets

Report analysing whether entry of UK enterprises into patenting in a technology area is affected by patent thickets in the technology area

Recent progress in random metric theory and its applications to conditional risk measures

The purpose of this paper is to give a selective survey on recent progress in random metric theory and its applications to conditional risk measures. This paper includes eight sections. Section 1 is a longer introduction, which gives a brief introduction to random metric theory, risk measures and conditional risk measures. Section 2 gives the central framework in random metric theory, topological structures, important examples, the notions of a random conjugate space and the Hahn-Banach theorems for random linear functionals. Section 3 gives several important representation theorems for random conjugate spaces. Section 4 gives characterizations for a complete random normed module to be random reflexive. Section 5 gives hyperplane separation theorems currently available in random locally convex modules. Section 6 gives the theory of random duality with respect to the locally $L^{0}-$convex topology and in particular a characterization for a locally $L^{0}-$convex module to be $L^{0}-$pre$-$barreled. Section 7 gives some basic results on $L^{0}-$convex analysis together with some applications to conditional risk measures. Finally, Section 8 is devoted to extensions of conditional convex risk measures, which shows that every representable $L^{\infty}-$type of conditional convex risk measure and every continuous $L^{p}-$type of convex conditional risk measure ($1\leq p<+\infty$) can be extended to an $L^{\infty}_{\cal F}({\cal E})-$type of $\sigma_{\epsilon,\lambda}(L^{\infty}_{\cal F}({\cal E}), L^{1}_{\cal F}({\cal E}))-$lower semicontinuous conditional convex risk measure and an $L^{p}_{\cal F}({\cal E})-$type of ${\cal T}_{\epsilon,\lambda}-$continuous conditional convex risk measure ($1\leq p<+\infty$), respectively.Comment: 37 page

Structural Basis of Enzymatic Activity for the Ferulic Acid Decarboxylase (FADase) from Enterobacter sp. Px6-4

Microbial ferulic acid decarboxylase (FADase) catalyzes the transformation of ferulic acid to 4-hydroxy-3-methoxystyrene (4-vinylguaiacol) via non-oxidative decarboxylation. Here we report the crystal structures of the Enterobacter sp. Px6-4 FADase and the enzyme in complex with substrate analogues. Our analyses revealed that FADase possessed a half-opened bottom β-barrel with the catalytic pocket located between the middle of the core β-barrel and the helical bottom. Its structure shared a high degree of similarity with members of the phenolic acid decarboxylase (PAD) superfamily. Structural analysis revealed that FADase catalyzed reactions by an “open-closed” mechanism involving a pocket of 8×8×15 Å dimension on the surface of the enzyme. The active pocket could directly contact the solvent and allow the substrate to enter when induced by substrate analogues. Site-directed mutagenesis showed that the E134A mutation decreased the enzyme activity by more than 60%, and Y21A and Y27A mutations abolished the enzyme activity completely. The combined structural and mutagenesis results suggest that during decarboxylation of ferulic acid by FADase, Trp25 and Tyr27 are required for the entering and proper orientation of the substrate while Glu134 and Asn23 participate in proton transfer