Predicting trend reversals using market instantaneous state

Collective behaviours taking place in financial markets reveal strongly correlated states especially during a crisis period. A natural hypothesis is that trend reversals are also driven by mutual influences between the different stock exchanges. Using a maximum entropy approach, we find coordinated behaviour during trend reversals dominated by the pairwise component. In particular, these events are predicted with high significant accuracy by the ensemble's instantaneous state.Comment: 18 pages, 15 figure

A statistical physics perspective on criticality in financial markets

Stock markets are complex systems exhibiting collective phenomena and particular features such as synchronization, fluctuations distributed as power-laws, non-random structures and similarity to neural networks. Such specific properties suggest that markets operate at a very special point. Financial markets are believed to be critical by analogy to physical systems but few statistically founded evidence have been given. Through a data-based methodology and comparison to simulations inspired by statistical physics of complex systems, we show that the Dow Jones and indices sets are not rigorously critical. However, financial systems are closer to the criticality in the crash neighborhood.Comment: 23 pages, 19 figure

Fearless Friday: Taylor Bury

This week, SURGE is pleased to feature Taylor Bury ’16 as Gettysburg’s Fearless Leader! Taylor is a senior at Gettysburg College. She is a Biology Major from York, Pennsylvania. She has been involved with Student Senate since her first year on campus, rising through the ranks to serve as its President. [excerpt

Non‐hierarchical learning: sharing knowledge, power and outcomes

Arguing that every student has the capacity to succeed and that every student must be provided with the opportunity to reach their full potential, this article introduces a new pedagogic approach that draws on a wide range of influences. Linking theoretical practices from sociology, pedagogy, social and educational psychology, and cultural studies, the approach posits that teaching and learning should be conducted in non‐hierarchical classrooms where all members are equal and working towards shared objectives. A theoretical frame is outlined and the factors that helped shape it are reflected on. A conceptual framework which covers the goals of instruction, instructional materials, classroom management, instructional methods, and assessment is also presented. It is hoped that educators will consider the concepts included in this article and, if possible, incorporate them into their teaching practices

The folly of fancy fonts

Research has indicated that the font information is presented in can be used by readers as a visual guide to the potential difficulty of the content; specifically that disfluent fonts are perceived as indicating greater task difficulty. A series of preliminary experiments was conducted in a Japanese high school in order to determine if such effects can be found in second language learners. It was found that students do indeed use the font lesson materials are presented in as a guide to the perceived difficulty or enjoyability of a task. Furthermore, these decisions are made within seconds of first seeing the material. The potential effects of disfluent fonts in boosting vocabulary retention were also investigated. However, while the results were inconclusive, it was determined that the students believed that such an effect existed. While further research is needed, these results indicate that teachers can potentially engineer small increases (or decreases) in student motivation via the font they choose when preparing lesson materials

The artist speaks: the interview as documentation

Nearly every exhibition catalogue now contains an interview with, or related statement by, the artist. How and why did this become the norm? The increasing popularity of the artist's words is traced back in this article to its roots in Romanticism, the rise of the mass media and the cult of the avant-garde artist. The value and reliability of the transcribed and printed words is questioned and a bibliography of published interviews with artists follows