Sentiment analysis of European bonds 2016 - 2018

We revisit the discussion of market sentiment in European sovereign bonds using a correlation analysis toolkit based on influence networks and hierarchical clustering. We focus on three case studies of political interest. In the case of the 2016 Brexit referendum, the market showed negative correlations between core and periphery only in the week before the referendum. Before the French presidential elections in 2017, the French bond spread widened together with the estimated Le Pen election probability, but the position of French bonds in the correlation blocks did not weaken. In summer 2018, during the budget negotiations within the new Italian coalition, the Italian bonds reacted very sensitively to changing political messages but did not show contagion risk to Spain or Portugal for several months. The situation changed during the week from October 22 to 26, as a spillover pattern of negative sentiment also to the other peripheral countries emerged

Advances in financial machine learning

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Quantitative Finance on 8 January 2020, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14697688.2019.170303

Influence and benefits of navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) in radiotherapy of malignant brain tumors

Im klinischen Alltag werden zur Planung der Strahlentherapie anatomische Bildgebungsverfahren eingesetzt. Eine Berücksichtigung eloquenter Kortexareale in der konventionellen Radiotherapie (RT) ist dadurch nicht möglich. Die navigierte transkranielle Magnetstimulation (nTMS) ist ein Verfahren zur nicht-invasiven Identifikation eloquenter Gehirnareale. nTMS kann in die stereotaktische RT maligner Gehirntumore integriert werden und erzielt damit in ausgewählten Patientenfällen eine signifikante Reduktion der Bestrahlungsdosis motorisch eloquenter Kortexareale.Anatomical imaging is used for radiotherapy (RT) treatment planning in routine clinical practice. Therefore, considering eloquent brain areas in conventional RT planning is not possible. Navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) is a tool for non-invasive identification of eloquent brain areas. Integrating nTMS in stereotactic RT of malignant brain tumors is feasible and achieves significant dose reductions in motor-eloquent brain areas in selected patient cases

5 year-long monitoring of Barkley Canyon cold-seeps with the internet operated deep-sea crawler "Wally"

Despite the technological advances of the last decades (e.g. ROVs, AUVs, cabled observatories), our knowledge of most deep-sea environments is still strongly limited by spatio-temporal sampling and observational capabilities. The novel Internet Operated Deep-Sea Crawler technology can provide high-frequency, multi-sensor data, during long-term deployments, 24/7 communication with researchers and broader spatial coverage (i.e. mobile platform) than fixed instrument installations. The crawler “Wally” is deployed at the Barkley Canyon methane hydrates site (NE Pacific, Canada; ~890 m depth) and connected to the Ocean Networks Canada NEPTUNE cabled observatory network (ONC; www. oceannetworks.ca). Here we present the environmental and biological datasets obtained from Wally instruments and cameras, during the first deployment phase (September 2010 to January 2015), as well as new features and preliminary results obtained since it was re-deployed (May 2016 – present). In addition to data provided by the standard payload of the crawler (i.e. ADCP, CTD, methane sensor, turbidity sensor and fluorometer), the hydrates community was video-monitored at different frequencies and timespans. Photomosaics were generated at two distinct locations, in order to map chemosynthetic bacterial mats and vesicomyid clam colonies covering the ~2-3 m high hydrate mounds, and document their temporal dynamics. The crawler followed the development of a deep-sea shell taphonomic experiment aiming to quantify biogenic carbon fluxes at the hydrates environment. The composition and diel activity patterns of the hydrates megafaunal community were studied with the use of linear video-transects conducted from February 2013 to April 2014. Since the summer of 2016, video-frames recorded at different locations of the site are analyzed for a biodiversity study and photomosaicing of the hydrate mounds continues, with 3D modelling of the mound structures also available as a new feature of the crawler deployed in May 2016. All data are archived in real-time and can be accessed online on the Ocean Networks Canada database. As deep-sea crawler technology and similar mobile, benthic platform technologies progress towards full operational autonomy, they will provide an even greater capacity for future monitoring and understanding of dynamic, extreme environments such as methane hydrate fields.Peer Reviewe

Extreme Ionizing-Radiation-Resistant Bacterium

There is a growing concern that desiccation and extreme radiation-resistant, non-spore-forming microorganisms associated with spacecraft surfaces can withstand space environmental conditions and subsequent proliferation on another solar body. Such forward contamination would jeopardize future life detection or sample return technologies. The prime focus of NASA s planetary protection efforts is the development of strategies for inactivating resistance-bearing microorganisms. Eradification techniques can be designed to target resistance-conferring microbial populations by first identifying and understanding their physiologic and biochemical capabilities that confers its elevated tolerance (as is being studied in Deinococcus phoenicis, as a result of this description). Furthermore, hospitals, food, and government agencies frequently use biological indicators to ensure the efficacy of a wide range of radiation- based sterilization processes. Due to their resistance to a variety of perturbations, the non-spore forming D. phoenicis may be a more appropriate biological indicator than those currently in use. The high flux of cosmic rays during space travel and onto the unshielded surface of Mars poses a significant hazard to the survival of microbial life. Thus, radiation-resistant microorganisms are of particular concern that can survive extreme radiation, desiccation, and low temperatures experienced during space travel. Spore-forming bacteria, a common inhabitant of spacecraft assembly facilities, are known to tolerate these extreme conditions. Since the Viking era, spores have been utilized to assess the degree and level of microbiological contamination on spacecraft and their associated spacecraft assembly facilities. Members of the non-spore-forming bacterial community such as Deinococcus radiodurans can survive acute exposures to ionizing radiation (5 kGy), ultraviolet light (1 kJ/sq m), and desiccation (years). These resistive phenotypes of Deinococcus enhance the potential for transfer, and subsequent proliferation, on another solar body such as Mars and Europa. These organisms are more likely to escape planetary protection assays, which only take into account presence of spores. Hence, presences of extreme radiation-resistant Deinococcus in the cleanroom facility where spacecraft are assembled pose a serious risk for integrity of life-detection missions. The microorganism described herein was isolated from the surfaces of the cleanroom facility in which the Phoenix Lander was assembled. The isolated bacterial strain was subjected to a comprehensive polyphasic analysis to characterize its taxonomic position. This bacterium exhibits very low 16SrRNA similarity with any other environmental isolate reported to date. Both phenotypic and phylogenetic analyses clearly indicate that this isolate belongs to the genus Deinococcus and represents a novel species. The name Deinococcus phoenicis was proposed after the Phoenix spacecraft, which was undergoing assembly, testing, and launch operations in the spacecraft assembly facility at the time of isolation. D. phoenicis cells exhibited higher resistance to ionizing radiation (cobalt-60; 14 kGy) than the cells of the D. radiodurans (5 kGy). Thus, it is in the best interest of NASA to thoroughly characterize this organism, which will further assess in determining the potential for forward contamination. Upon the completion of genetic and physiological characteristics of D. phoenicis, it will be added to a planetary protection database to be able to further model and predict the probability of forward contamination

Distributed functional programming in Scheme

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2010.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-62).In this thesis, we present a framework for writing distributed computer programs in Scheme using simple "future" semantics. This allows a Scheme program originally written for execution on a single computer to be run in a distributed manner on a cluster of computers with very little modification to the program. The structure of the computation can be extremely general and need not be specified in advance. In order to provide this programming environment, we implemented a system of job execution servers which transparently execute arbitrary Scheme code written in a functional or mostly functional style. The use of a functional, side effect free style of programming simplifies the challenges of data consistency. A number of demonstrations of the system are presented, including a distributed SAT solver. The performance of the system is shown to increase roughly linearly with the number of servers employed.by Alex Schwendner.M.Eng

Hardy Bacterium Isolated From Two Geographically Distinct Spacecraft Assembly Cleanroom Facilities

Earlier studies have confirmed that a tenacious hardy bacterial population manages to persist and survive throughout a spacecraft assembly process. The widespread detection of these organisms underscores the challenges in eliminating them completely. Only comprehensive and repetitive microbial diversity studies of geographically distinct cleanroom facilities will bolster the understanding of planetary protection relevant microbes. Extensive characterizations of the physiological traits demonstrated by cleanroom microbes will aid NASA in gauging the forward contamination risk that hardy bacteria (such as Tersicoccus phoenicis) pose to spacecraft. This study reports on the isolation and identification of two gram-positive, non-motile, non-spore-forming bacterial strains from the spacecraft assembly facilities at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA and Centre Spatial Guyanais, Kourou, French Guiana. DNA-DNA relatedness values between the novel strains indicates that these novel strains were indeed members of a same species. Phylogenetic evidence derived from a 16S ribosomal DNA analysis indicated that both the novel strains are less closely related to all other Arthrobacter species

TESTING OF CONNECTIONS TAKEN FROM OLD NAILED ROOF TRUSSES

Experimental testing of nailed connections taken from old roof trusses is presented in this paper. To enable the further use and preservation of nailed roof trusses, it is important to understand how the nail corrosion and aging processes of steel and wood affect the load-bearing capacity and deformation behaviour of such structures. The hypothesis was investigated whether corroded nails allow an increase in load-bearing capacity. Several old and new joints were tested in a first test series, and the results were very promising regarding the initial assumption. However, more tests must be carried out to verify the results