Administering Systemic Risk vs. Administering Justice: What Can We Do Now that We Have Agreed to Pay Differences?

Professor Stout's brilliant concept of disagreement-based speculation (in "Risk, Speculation, and OTC Derivatives: An Inaugural Essay for Convivium") calls for further developments and studies concerning implications for stability and resilience of the financial system over time. Moreover, it also suggests rediscovering and situating the socio-economic function of finance (and financing) in the economy and society. To complement this approach, we recall the European acceptance of "paying differences" since late nineteenth century. Derivative assets were traded in Europe, but the underlying assets (stocks and bonds) on which derivatives are built were authorized beforehand. Marteau and Morand (2010) recently appealed for reintroducing an a priori authorization procedure before new derivative assets can be marketed: this view thus inherits a century-long tradition. Eventually, it seems that a priori authorization allows for administration of systemic risk while common law-inherited rejection of disagreement-based speculation is a strong foundation for both supervisory and legal (a posteriori) decisions.

Coincidences between Gravitational Wave Interferometers and High Energy Neutrino Telescopes

Sources of gravitational waves (GW) and emitters of high energy (HE) neutrinos both involve compact objects and matter moving at relativistic speeds. GW emission requires a departure from spherical symmetry, which is the case if clumps of matter are accreted around black holes or neutron stars, and ejected in relativistic jets, where neutrinos are believed to be produced. Both messengers interact weakly with the surrounding matter, hence point directly to the heart of the engines that power these emissions. Coincidences between GW interferometers (e.g. Virgo) and HE neutrino telescopes (e.g. Antares) would then give a unique insight on the physics of the most powerful objects in the Universe. The possibility, observability and detectability for such GW/HE neutrino coincidences are analysed.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figures, Proceedings of the "International Workshop on a Very Large Volume Neutrino Telescope for the Mediterranean Sea" VLVnT08 - Toulon, Var, France, 22-24 April 200

Facts, Norms and Expected Utility Functions

In this paper we want to explore an argumentative pattern that provides a normative justification for expected utility functions grounded on empirical evidence, showing how it worked in three different episodes of their development. The argument claims that we should prudentially maximize our expected utility since this is the criterion effectively applied by those who are considered wisest in making risky choices (be it gamblers or businessmen). Yet, to justify the adoption of this rule, it should be proven that this is empirically true: i.e., that a given function allows us to predict the choices of that particular class of agents. We show how expected utility functions were introduced and contested in accordance to this pattern in the 18th century and how it recurred in the 1950s when M. Allais made his case against the neobernoullians.Expected utility;Normative theory;

ANTARES Status & Milestones : News from Deep-Sea

The ANTARES project aims to build a deep-sea Cherenkov Telescope for High Energy Neutrino Astronomy located in the Mediterranean Sea. The experiment, currently in the construction phase, has recently achieved an important milestone : the operation of a prototype line and of a line with monitoring instruments. These deployments allowed a thorough understanding of environmental parameters.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. To appear in the Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Frontier Science - Physics and Astrophysics in Space, Frascati, Italy, 14-19 June 200

Administering Systemic Risk vs. Administering Justice: What Can We Do Now that We Have Agreed to Pay Differences?

International audienceProfessor Stout's brilliant concept of disagreement-based speculation (in "Risk, Speculation, and OTC Derivatives: An Inaugural Essay for Convivium") calls for further developments and studies concerning implications for stability and resilience of the financial system over time. Moreover, it also suggests rediscovering and situating the socio-economic function of finance (and financing) in the economy and society. To complement this approach, we recall the European acceptance of "paying differences" since late nineteenth century. Derivative assets were traded in Europe, but the underlying assets (stocks and bonds) on which derivatives are built were authorized beforehand. Marteau and Morand (2010) recently appealed for reintroducing an a priori authorization procedure before new derivative assets can be marketed: this view thus inherits a century-long tradition. Eventually, it seems that a priori authorization allows for administration of systemic risk while common law-inherited rejection of disagreement-based speculation is a strong foundation for both supervisory and legal (a posteriori) decisions

L’ethnoscénologie. Vers une scénologie générale

L’ethnoscénologie est une nouvelle ethnoscience (1995) fondée sur la nécessité de maîtriser toute forme d’ethnocentrisme dans l’étude des arts du spectacle vivant placés dans leur contexte historique, culturel et social. La spécificité de l’ethnoscénologie est définie par rapport à l’ethnomusicologie, les performance studies, la théorie de l’ethnodrame (Mars) et l’anthropologie théâtrale (Barba). La définition exploratoire est suivie de l’examen de la notion de pratique performative — dérivée du néologisme introduit par Jerzy Grotowski (1997). Cette notion constitue un outil épistémologique utile pour la constitution d’une scénologie générale. L’auteur soutient qu’il est nécessaire d’abandonner la monodisciplinarité propre aux études théâtrales, d’adopter une perspective transdisciplinaire, en incluant notamment les neurosciences et les sciences cognitives, tout en développant un dialogue entre expertises scientifiques et la connaissance des performers eux-mêmes.This article offers an account of a new ethnoscience (1995) based on the need to avoid any form of ethnocentrism in the study of the performing arts and practices in their cultural, historical and social context. Ethnoscenology is placed in relation to ethnomusicology, performance studies, ethnodrama (Mars) and theatre anthropology (Barba). An exploratory definition is proposed, followed by a discussion of the notion of performative practice, derived from the neologism proposed by Jerzy Grotowski (1997) as a useful conceptual tool for elaborating a general scenology. Furthermore, the author argues that it is necessary to abandon one-dimensional strategies in research and to adopt a transdisciplinary perspective, which includes neuro- and cognitive sciences and fosters a dialogue between scientific experts and performers

Estimating source distances for high-energy neutrinos: A method for improving electromagnetic follow-up searches

High-energy neutrino telescopes such as IceCube or KM3NeT issue public alerts describing the characteristics of possible astrophysical high-energy neutrino events. This information, particularly with respect to the arrival direction and the associated uncertainty of the neutrino candidates, is used by observatories to search for possible electromagnetic counterparts. Such searches are complicated by the size of localisation areas, which can be up to tens of squared degrees or more, coupled with the absence of constraints on the distance or nature of the possible source - in contrast to gravitational wave alerts issued by instruments such as LIGO/Virgo. Here, we describe a method for deriving a probable distance interval for the astrophysical source that may possibly be associated with a HEN event, which may then be used in a cross-matching with galaxy catalogues to search for plausible electromagnetic counterparts. This study is intended to serve as a guide for high-energy neutrino followup campaigns.Comment: Changes after A&A Referee report. In particular new title and new Figure 1 with different parameters. Accepted for publication as A&A Letter to the Editor. New version with correction from language edito