Central counterparty auction design

We analyze the role of auctions in managing the default of a central counterparty's clearing member. We first consider two established sealed-bid auction formats in which clearing members simultaneously submit bids for a defaulting clearing member's portfolio: first price and first price with budget constraints. We argue that the use of some form of penalty could have significant implications for financial stability by inefficiently distributing losses deriving from the unallocated portfolio to surviving clearing members. In response to these potential adverse implications, we propose a third auction type, second price with loss-sharing, which increases the revenue by allowing bidders to consider potential losses within their bidding function without passively waiting for a possible form of penalty

Structured Light Stereoscopic Imaging with Dynamic Pseudo-random Patterns

Abstract. Structured light stereoscopic imaging offers an efficient and afford-able solution to 3D modeling of objects. The majority of structured light pat-terns that have been proposed either provide a limited resolution or are sensitive to the inherent texture on the surface of the object. This paper proposes an in-novative imaging strategy that accomplishes 3D reconstruction of objects using a combination of spatial-neighboring and time-multiplexing structured light pat-terns encoded with uniquely defined pseudo-random color codes. The approach is extended with the concept of dynamic patterns that adaptively increases the reconstruction resolution. Original techniques are introduced to recover and validate pseudo-random codes from stereoscopic images, and to consistently map color and texture over the reconstructed surface map. Experimental results demonstrate the potential of the solution to create reconstructions with various densities of points and prove the robustness of the approach on objects with dif-ferent surface properties

Cross-channel histogram equalisation for colour face recognition

Changes in illumination conditions will alter the appearance of digital images that will in turn have a detrimental effect on face recognition. To overcome the problem, histogram equalisation has already been applied to grey world face recognition and extended to colour object recognition by independently processing the three colour channels. This paper furthers this work by introducing a new technique, cross-channel histogram equalisation, and reports upon its application to colour face recognition under different illumination conditions. Based on the experimental tests, our approach has been shown to outperform other efforts on histogram equalisation for normalisation. Finally we give our conclusions and discuss future wor

Research on new timescale ensemble algorithms in Database for TA(PL)

Baza danych dla Polskiej Atomowej skali czasu TA(PL), w skrócie Baza Danych TA(PL), rozwijana jest dzięki ponad 15 letniej współpracy polskich laboratoriów badawczych zajmujących się tematyką metrologii czasu. Baza powstała w 2004 roku w celu automatyzacji procesu porównań atomowych wzorców czasu oraz wyliczania zaimplementowanych algorytmów zespołowych skal czasu. Zespołowe skale czasu, jako potencjalnie znacznie stabilniejsze od każdego wzorca w grupie, mają zastosowanie do kontroli poszczególnych wzorców, mogą także być wykorzystane do sterowania realizacją państwowego czasu urzędowego UTC(PL). W Bazie zaimplementowano podstawowy algorytm TA(PL) oraz zestaw algorytmów eksperymentalnych. W okresie ostatnich 2 lat zaktualizowano wiele funkcji obsługowych Bazy oraz zaimplementowano nowe algorytmy zespołowych skal czasu. Artykuł prezentuje wyniki badań nowych algorytmów oraz porównanie stabilności uzyskanych za ich pomocą zespołowych skal czasu w stosunku do wyników poprzednio zaimplementowanych algorytmów.The Database for Polish Atomic Timescale TA(PL) is a result of 15 years of cooperation of Polish Time Laboratories. The work on the Database started in 2004. The purpose was to automate the process of time-standards comparison and calculate implemented group timescale ensembles algorithms. The group timescales ensemble algorithms are much more stable than any of the standards within the group. Therefore they can be used as a stable reference to control and supervise each standard. In the future, they can steer the Polish official realization of international Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) the UTC(PL) maintained by the Central Office of Measures (GUM). The Database was prepared with an original algorithm of TA(PL) based on ALGOS (the algorithm developed by International Bureau of Measurements –BIPM). During the time a set of experimental algorithms has been implemented (one day-shifted ALGOS and AT1). The last implemented algorithm is AT2 developed by the Time-team of National Institute of Telecommunications (NIT) on the basis of the theorem published by NIST (National Institute of Standard and Technology - USA) which seems to be the most stable even according to preliminary results. The final version of this paper presents the analysis of the results of new implemented algorithms and the comparison with former implementations. The last part of this paper deals with the future plans for development of the Database for TA(PL)

Symposium overview: Mechanism of action of nicotine on neuronal acetylcholine receptors, from molecule to behavior

Nicotine has long been known to interact with nicotinic acetylcholine (ACh) receptors since Langley used it extensively to chart sympathetic ganglia a century ago. It has also been used as an effective insecticide. However, it was not until the 1990s that the significance of nicotine was increasingly recognized from the toxicological, pharmacological, and environmental points of view. This is partly because studies of neuronal nicotinic ACh receptors are rapidly emerging from orphan status, fueled by several lines of research. Since Alzheimer's disease is known to be associated with down-regulation of cholinergic activity in the brain, a variety of nicotine derivatives are being tested and developed for treatment of the disease. Public awareness of the adverse effects of nicotine has reached the highest level recently. Since insect resistance to insecticides is one of the most serious issues in the pest-control arena, it is an urgent requirement to develop new insecticides that act on target sites not shared by the existing insecticides. The neuronal nicotinic ACh receptor is one of them, and new nicotinoids are being developed. Thus, the time is ripe to discuss the mechanism of action of nicotine from a variety of angles, including the molecular, physiological, and behavioral points of view. This symposium covered a wide area of nicotine studies: genetic, genomic, and functional aspects of nicotinic ACh receptors were studied, as related to anthelmintics and insecticides; interactions between ethanol and nicotine out the ACh receptor were analyzed, in an attempt to explain the well-known heavy drinker-heavy smoker correlation; the mechanisms that underlie the desensitization of ACh receptors were studied as related to nicotine action; selective pharmacological profiles of nicotine, and descriptions of some derivatives were described; and chronic nicotine infusion effects on memory were examined using animal models