Bridging a yawning chasm: EEG investigations into the debate concerning the role of the human mirror neuron system in contagious yawning

Ongoing debate in the literature concerns whether there is a link between contagious yawning and the human mirror neuron system (hMNS). One way of examining this issue is with the use of the electroencephalogram (EEG) to measure changes in mu activation during the observation of yawns. Mu oscillations are seen in the alpha bandwidth of the EEG (8–12 Hz) over sensorimotor areas. Previous work has shown that mu suppression is a useful index of hMNS activation and is sensitive to individual differences in empathy. In two experiments, we presented participants with videos of either people yawning or control stimuli. We found greater mu suppression for yawns than for controls over right motor and premotor areas, particularly for those scoring higher on traits of empathy. In a third experiment, auditory recordings of yawns were compared against electronically scrambled versions of the same yawns. We observed greater mu suppression for yawns than for the controls over right lateral premotor areas. Again, these findings were driven by those scoring highly on empathy. The results from these experiments support the notion that the hMNS is involved in contagious yawning, emphasise the link between contagious yawning and empathy, and stress the importance of good control stimuli.

State capitalism and social responsibility in China's banking industry

China’s financial system has experienced a series of major reforms in recent years. Efforts have been made towards introducing the shareholding system in state-owned commercial banks, restructuring of securities firms, re-organising equity of joint venture insurance companies, further improving the corporate governance structure, managing financial risks and ultimately establishing a system to protect investors (Xinhua, 2010). Financial product innovation, with the further opening up of financial markets and the development of the insurance and bond market, has increased liquidity as well as reduced financial risks. The U.S. subprime crisis indicated the benefit of financial innovations for the economy, but without proper control, they may lead to unexpected consequences. Kirkpatrick (2009) argues that failures and weaknesses in corporate governance arrangements and insufficient accounting standards and regulatory requirements attributed to the financial crisis. Similar to the financial crises of the last decade, the global financial crisis which sparked in 2008, surfaced a variety of significant corporate governance failures: the dysfunction of market mechanisms, the lack of transparency and accountability, misaligned compensation arrangements and the late response of government, all which encouraged management short-termism, poor risk management, as well as some fraudulent schemes. The unique characteristics of the Chinese banking system are an interesting point for studying post-crisis corporate governance reform. Considering that China modelled its governance system on the Anglo-American system, this paper examines the impact of the financial crisis on corporate governance reform in developed economies, and particularly, China’s reform of its financial sector. The paper further analyses the Chinese government’s role in bank supervision and risk management. In this regard, the paper contributes to the corporate governance literature within the Chinese context by providing insights into the contributing factors to the corporate governance failure that led to the global financial crisis. It also provides policy recommendations for China’s policy makers to seriously consider. The results suggest a need for the re-examination of corporate governance adequacy and the institutionalisation of business ethics. The paper’s next section provides a review of China’s financial system with reference to the financial crisis, followed by a critical evaluation of a capitalistic system and a review of Anglo-American and Continental European models. It then analyses the need for a new corporate governance model in China by considering the bank failures in developed economies and the potential risks and inefficiencies in a current State controlled system. The paper closes by reflecting the need for Chinese policy makers to continually develop, adapt and rewrite corporate governance practices capable of meeting the new challenge, and to pay attention to business ethics, an issue which goes beyond regulation.

Uma Proposta de especificação formal e fundamentação teórica para simulated annealing

Os algoritmos baseados no paradigma Simulated Annealing e suas variações são atualmente usados de forma ampla na resolução de problemas de otimização de larga escala. Esta popularidade é resultado da estrutura extremamente simples e aparentemente universal dos algoritmos, da aplicabilidade geral e da habilidade de fornecer soluções bastante próximas da ótima. No início da década de 80, Kirkpatrick e outros apresentaram uma proposta de utilização dos conceitos de annealing (resfriamento lento e controlado de sólidos) em otimização combinatória. Esta proposta considera a forte analogia entre o processo físico de annealing e a resolução de problemas grandes de otimização combinatória. Simulated Annealing (SA) é um denominação genérica para os algoritmos desenvolvidos com base nesta proposta. Estes algoritmos combinam técnicas de busca local e de randomização. O objetivo do presente trabalho é proporcionar um entendimento das características do Simulated Annealing e facilitar o desenvolvimento de algoritmos com estas características. Assim, é apresentado como Simulated Annealing e suas variações estão sendo utilizados na resolução de problemas de otimização combinatória, proposta uma formalização através de um método de desenvolvimento de algoritmos e analisados aspectos de complexidade. O método de desenvolvimento especifica um programa abstrato para um algoritmo Simulated Annealing seqüencial, identifica funções e predicados que constituem os procedimentos deste programa abstrato e estabelece axiomas que permitem a visualização das propriedades que estes procedimentos devem satisfazer. A complexidade do Simulated Annealing é analisada a partir do programa abstrato desenvolvido e de seus principais procedimentos, permitindo o estabelecimento de uma equação genérica para a complexidade. Esta equação genérica é aplicável aos algoritmos desenvolvidos com base no método proposto. Uma prova de correção é apresentada para o programa abstrato e um código exemplo é analisado com relação aos axiomas estabelecidos. O estabelecimento de axiomas tem como propósito definir uma semântica para o algoritmo, o que permite a um desenvolvedor analisar a correção do código especificado para um algoritmo levando em consideração estes axiomas. O trabalho foi realizado a partir de um estudo introdutório de otimização combinatória, de técnicas de resolução de problemas, de um levantamento histórico do uso do Simulated Annealing, das variações em torno do modelo e de embasamentos matemáticos documentados. Isto permitiu identificar as características essenciais dos algoritmos baseados no paradigma, analisar os aspectos relacionados com estas características, como as diferentes formas de realizar uma prescrição de resfriamento e percorrer um espaço de soluções, e construir a fundamentação teórica genérica proposta.

Critérios e indicadores de desempenho para sistemas de treinamento corporativo virtual : um modelo para medir resultados

O presente estudo tem por objetivo principal a identificação de critérios e indicadores essenciais de avaliação para sistemas de treinamento corporativo virtual. A motivação para a realização deste estudo surgiu em decorrência das constantes dificuldades enfrentadas pelas organizações no tocante à avaliação de seus programas de treinamento – sobretudo treinamento virtual – bem como com relação à vinculação entre os resultados destes programas e os resultados globais obtidos pelas empresas. Neste contexto, a pesquisa parte de um referencial teórico sustentado pelas seguintes temáticas: perspectivas de treinamento e desenvolvimento; estrutura e avaliação de treinamento – especialmente treinamento virtual – com ênfase no modelo de avaliação de quatro níveis, proposto por Kirkpatrick (1998); e definição de indicadores sob as ópticas da qualidade (TAKASHINA; FLORES, 1995; CAMARGO, 2000; CAMPOS, 2001) e da metodologia do Balanced Scorecard (KAPLAN; NORTON, 1997). A partir de tais conceitos obtidos durante o estudo bibliográfico, foi sintetizado um modelo conceitual de avaliação, e elaborada a pesquisa exploratória, composta de uma etapa de coleta de dados e de uma etapa de estudo de caso em uma empresa do comércio varejista. Na etapa de coleta de dados, foram realizadas entrevistas com 9 especialistas em educação a distância e foi feita a análise de 32 práticas organizacionais de treinamento virtual (cujos resultados originaram o modelo conceitual-exploratório). Na etapa de estudo de caso em uma empresa do comércio varejista, foram identificados 20 indicadores de resultado relevantes e, posteriormente, foi elaborado um modelo customizado de avaliação de treinamento virtual, com utilização de entrevistas, documentação, observação direta e apoio no referencial teórico. Este modelo de avaliação visa o estabelecimento de relações entre os critérios e indicadores de treinamento virtual, e os principais indicadores de avaliação de resultados propostos para a empresa, como forma de explicitação de possíveis relações entre resultados de treinamento virtual e resultados organizacionais.

Efeitos de acoplamentos biquadráticos e campos aleatórios em vidros de spins

In this work we have studied the effects of random biquadratic and random fields in spin-glass models using the replica method. The effect of a random biquadratic coupling was studied in two spin-1 spin-glass models: in one case the interactions occur between pairs of spins, whereas in the second one the interactions occur between p spins and the limit p > oo is considered. Both couplings (spin glass and biquadratic) have zero-mean Gaussian probability distributions. In the first model, the replica-symmetric assumption reveals that the system presents two pha¬ses, namely, paramagnetic and spin-glass, separated by a continuous transition line. The stability analysis of the replica-symmetric solution yields, besides the usual instability associated with the spin-glass ordering, a new phase due to the random biquadratic cou¬plings between the spins. For the case p oo, the replica-symmetric assumption yields again only two phases, namely, paramagnetic and quadrupolar. In both these phases the spin-glass parameter is zero. Besides, it is shown that they are stable under the Almeida-Thouless stability analysis. One of them presents negative entropy at low temperatures. We developed one step of replica simmetry breaking and noticed that a new phase, the biquadratic glass phase, emerge. In this way we have obtained the correct phase diagram, with.three first-order transition lines. These lines merges in a common triple point. The effects of random fields were studied in the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model consi¬dered in the presence of an external random magnetic field following a trimodal distribu¬tion {P{hi) = p+S(hi - h0) +Po${hi) +pS(hi + h0))- It is shown that the border of the ferromagnetic phase may present, for conveniently chosen values of p0 and hQ, first-order phase transitions, as well as tricritical points at finite temperatures. It is verified that the first-order phase transitions are directly related to the dilution in the fields: the extensions of these transitions are reduced for increasing values of po- In fact, the threshold value pg, above which all phase transitions are continuous, is calculated analytically. The stability analysis of the replica-symmetric solution is performed and the regions of validity of such a solution are identified

Education for Energy Efficiency through an Educational Game

This paper presents an assessment of an educational game for teaching the efficient use of electricity. Developed with Adobe Flash (R), it is a virtual board game where participants choose a car that starts the path and reaches the same final goal, going through a number of track steps defined in terms of a dice that each player rolls in turn. The car moves if the participant is able to correctly answer a question that is randomly generated by the software. The objective of the game is to answer questions related to energy efficiency promoting a healthy and attractive learning process for participants on concepts related to energy efficiency such as: the rational use of energy, the basic concepts of forms of energy generation, among others. The main objective of this paper is to assess the impact of the application of this virtual game in the teaching and learning process of high school students. Therefore, the game was applied in the discipline of physics in a class of junior high public school in the state of Sao Paulo. Initially, the class that had 43 students was divided into 10 groups of 4 students, and 1 group of 3 students. Each student group competed with one another. The idea was that each of them should indicate a student who was the representative of this group until only 4 group leaders were selected for the finals. At this stage, each student could interact with a group of up to ten students that acted as advisers. The adopted assessment process is based on the model proposed by Savi [7]. Then, at the end of the game, the students answered a prepared questionnaire based on the model proposed by Savi. According to Savi, although there are significant studies that show the importance of educational games for the process of cognitive development and learning concepts of students, there are few papers that present forms of assessing the potential of these resources. Thus, the assessment criteria proposed by Savi are based on the model of training evaluation by Kirkpatrick [3], taken as a reference to measure the efficiency of processes of continuing education courses for professionals. The authors assert that the metric of the evaluation proposed to assess the game is based on the first level of the model proposed by Kirkpatrick.

Potential Economic Damage From Introduction of Brown Tree Snakes, Boiga Irregularis (Reptilia: Colubridae), to The Islands Of Hawai‘i

The Brown Tree Snake (Boiga irregularis) has caused ecological and economic damage to Guam, and the snake has the potential to colonize other islands in the Pacific Ocean. This study quantifies the potential economic damage if the snake were translocated, established in the state of Hawaii, and causing damage at levels similar to those on Guam. Damages modeled included costs of medical treatments due to snakebites, snake-caused power outages, and decreased tourism resulting from effects of the snake. Damage caused by presence of the Brown Tree Snake on Guam was used as a guide to estimate potential economic damage to Hawaii from both medical- and power outage–related damage. To predict tourism impact, a survey was administered to Hawaiian tourists that identified tourist responses to potential effects of the Brown Tree Snake. These results were then used in an input-output model to predict damage to the state economy. Summing these damages resulted in an estimated total potential annual damage to Hawaii of between $593 million and $2.14 billion. This economic analysis provides a range of potential damages that policy makers can use in evaluation of future prevention and control programs.

Mode-coupling theory: generalizations, high dimensions and microscopic dynamics

This work contains several applications of the mode-coupling theory (MCT) and is separated into three parts. In the first part we investigate the liquid-glass transition of hard spheres for dimensions d→∞ analytically and numerically up to d=800 in the framework of MCT. We find that the critical packing fraction ϕc(d) scales as d²2^(-d), which is larger than the Kauzmann packing fraction ϕK(d) found by a small-cage expansion by Parisi and Zamponi [J. Stat. Mech.: Theory Exp. 2006, P03017 (2006)]. The scaling of the critical packing fraction is different from the relation ϕc(d)∼d2^(-d) found earlier by Kirkpatrick and Wolynes [Phys. Rev. A 35, 3072 (1987)]. This is due to the fact that the k dependence of the critical collective and self nonergodicity parameters fc(k;d) and fcs(k;d) was assumed to be Gaussian in the previous theories. We show that in MCT this is not the case. Instead fc(k;d) and fcs(k;d), which become identical in the limit d→∞, converge to a non-Gaussian master function on the scale k∼d^(3/2). We find that the numerically determined value for the exponent parameter λ and therefore also the critical exponents a and b depend on the dimension d, even at the largest evaluated dimension d=800. In the second part we compare the results of a molecular-dynamics simulation of liquid Lennard-Jones argon far away from the glass transition [D. Levesque, L. Verlet, and J. Kurkijärvi, Phys. Rev. A 7, 1690 (1973)] with MCT. We show that the agreement between theory and computer simulation can be improved by taking binary collisions into account [L. Sjögren, Phys. Rev. A 22, 2866 (1980)]. We find that an empiric prefactor of the memory function of the original MCT equations leads to similar results. In the third part we derive the equations for a mode-coupling theory for the spherical components of the stress tensor. Unfortunately it turns out that they are too complex to be solved numerically.

Rigorous results in Spin Glasses and Monomer-Dimer systems

In this work I reported recent results in the field of Statistical Mechanics of Equilibrium, and in particular in Spin Glass models and Monomer Dimer models . We start giving the mathematical background and the general formalism for Spin (Disordered) Models with some of their applications to physical and mathematical problems. Next we move on general aspects of the theory of spin glasses, in particular to the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model which is of fundamental interest for the work. In Chapter 3, we introduce the Multi-species Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model (MSK), we prove the existence of the thermodynamical limit and the Guerra's Bound for the quenched pressure together with a detailed analysis of the annealed and the replica symmetric regime. The result is a multidimensional generalization of the Parisi's theory. Finally we brie y illustrate the strategy of the Panchenko's proof of the lower bound. In Chapter 4 we discuss the Aizenmann-Contucci and the Ghirlanda-Guerra identities for a wide class of Spin Glass models. As an example of application, we discuss the role of these identities in the proof of the lower bound. In Chapter 5 we introduce the basic mathematical formalism of Monomer Dimer models. We introduce a Gaussian representation of the partition function that will be fundamental in the rest of the work. In Chapter 6, we introduce an interacting Monomer-Dimer model. Its exact solution is derived and a detailed study of its analytical properties and related physical quantities is performed. In Chapter 7, we introduce a quenched randomness in the Monomer Dimer model and show that, under suitable conditions the pressure is a self averaging quantity. The main result is that, if we consider randomness only in the monomer activity, the model is exactly solvable.

Icatibant, a new bradykinin-receptor antagonist, in hereditary angioedema

Hereditary angioedema is characterized by recurrent attacks of angioedema of the skin, larynx, and gastrointestinal tract. Bradykinin is the key mediator of symptoms. Icatibant is a selective bradykinin B2 receptor antagonist.