Power Weighted Densities for Time Series Data

While time series prediction is an important, actively studied problem, the predictive accuracy of time series models is complicated by nonstationarity. We develop a fast and effective approach to allow for nonstationarity in the parameters of a chosen time series model. In our power-weighted density (PWD) approach, observations in the distant past are down-weighted in the likelihood function relative to more recent observations, while still giving the practitioner control over the choice of data model. One of the most popular nonstationary techniques in the academic finance community, rolling window estimation, is a special case of our PWD approach. Our PWD framework is a simpler alternative compared to popular state–space methods that explicitly model the evolution of an underlying state vector. We demonstrate the benefits of our PWD approach in terms of predictive performance compared to both stationary models and alternative nonstationary methods. In a financial application to thirty industry portfolios, our PWD method has a significantly favorable predictive performance and draws a number of substantive conclusions about the evolution of the coefficients and the importance of market factors over time

The path to fracture in granular flows: dynamics of contact networks

Capturing the dynamics of granular flows at intermediate length scales can often be difficult. We propose studying the dynamics of contact networks as a new tool to study fracture at intermediate scales. Using experimental three-dimensional flow fields with particle-scale resolution, we calculate the time evolving broken-links network and find that a giant component of this network is formed as shear is applied to this system. We implement a model of link breakages where the probability of a link breaking is proportional to the average rate of longitudinal strain (elongation) in the direction of the edge and find that the model demonstrates qualitative agreement with the data when studying the onset of the giant component. We note, however, that the broken-links network formed in the model is less clustered than our experimental observations, indicating that the model reflects less localized breakage events and does not fully capture the dynamics of the granular flow.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Trying to Make Sense of the Senseless: Classifying the Syrian War under the Law of Armed Conflict

Article published in the Michigan State International Law Review

Neurosystems: brain rhythms and cognitive processing

Neuronal rhythms are ubiquitous features of brain dynamics, and are highly correlated with cognitive processing. However, the relationship between the physiological mechanisms producing these rhythms and the functions associated with the rhythms remains mysterious. This article investigates the contributions of rhythms to basic cognitive computations (such as filtering signals by coherence and/or frequency) and to major cognitive functions (such as attention and multi-modal coordination). We offer support to the premise that the physiology underlying brain rhythms plays an essential role in how these rhythms facilitate some cognitive operations.098352 - Wellcome Trust; 5R01NS067199 - NINDS NIH HH

New Perspectives: Postgraduate Symposium for the Humanities - Reflections, Volume 1

This volume features articles written by the postgraduate presenters at Maynooth University's first annual New Perspectives: Postgraduate Symposium on the Humanities (NPPSH), which took place in October 2016. This conference, which coincided with the annual Dean’s Lecture, strove to highlight scholarship conducted by postgraduates in the Arts & Humanities in Ireland. From explorations of 20th century literature, to contributions in Irish music, to the intersection of STEM and the Humanities, the articles in this volume showcase a breadth of scholarship and a diversity of approaches which highlights the multifaceted nature of an Arts & Humanities education

New Perspectives: Postgraduate Symposium for the Humanities - Reflections, Volume 1

This volume features articles written by the postgraduate presenters at Maynooth University's first annual New Perspectives: Postgraduate Symposium on the Humanities (NPPSH), which took place in October 2016. This conference, which coincided with the annual Dean’s Lecture, strove to highlight scholarship conducted by postgraduates in the Arts & Humanities in Ireland. From explorations of 20th century literature, to contributions in Irish music, to the intersection of STEM and the Humanities, the articles in this volume showcase a breadth of scholarship and a diversity of approaches which highlights the multifaceted nature of an Arts & Humanities education

Experimental-confirmation and functional-annotation of predicted proteins in the chicken genome

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The chicken genome was sequenced because of its phylogenetic position as a non-mammalian vertebrate, its use as a biomedical model especially to study embryology and development, its role as a source of human disease organisms and its importance as the major source of animal derived food protein. However, genomic sequence data is, in itself, of limited value; generally it is not equivalent to understanding biological function. The benefit of having a genome sequence is that it provides a basis for functional genomics. However, the sequence data currently available is poorly structurally and functionally annotated and many genes do not have standard nomenclature assigned.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We analysed eight chicken tissues and improved the chicken genome structural annotation by providing experimental support for the <it>in vivo </it>expression of 7,809 computationally predicted proteins, including 30 chicken proteins that were only electronically predicted or hypothetical translations in human. To improve functional annotation (based on Gene Ontology), we mapped these identified proteins to their human and mouse orthologs and used this orthology to transfer Gene Ontology (GO) functional annotations to the chicken proteins. The 8,213 orthology-based GO annotations that we produced represent an 8% increase in currently available chicken GO annotations. Orthologous chicken products were also assigned standardized nomenclature based on current chicken nomenclature guidelines.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We demonstrate the utility of high-throughput expression proteomics for rapid experimental structural annotation of a newly sequenced eukaryote genome. These experimentally-supported predicted proteins were further annotated by assigning the proteins with standardized nomenclature and functional annotation. This method is widely applicable to a diverse range of species. Moreover, information from one genome can be used to improve the annotation of other genomes and inform gene prediction algorithms.</p