Evaluative Perception: Introduction

In this Introduction we introduce the central themes of the Evaluative Perception volume. After identifying historical and recent contemporary work on this topic, we discuss some central questions under three headings: (1) Questions about the Existence and Nature of Evaluative Perception: Are there perceptual experiences of values? If so, what is their nature? Are experiences of values sui generis? Are values necessary for certain kinds of experience? (2) Questions about the Epistemology of Evaluative Perception: Can evaluative experiences ever justify evaluative judgments? Are experiences of values necessary for certain kinds of justified evaluative judgments? (3) Questions about Value Theory and Evaluative Perception: Is the existence of evaluative experience supported or undermined by particular views in value theory? Are particular views in value theory supported or undermined by the existence of value experience

Native and Non-Native Speaker Judgements on the Quality of Synthesized Speech

The difference between native speakers' and non-native speak- ers' naturalness judgements of synthetic speech is investigated. Similar/difference judgements are analysed via a multidimen- sional scaling analysis and compared to Mean opinion scores. It is shown that although the two groups generally behave in a similar manner the variance of non-native speaker judgements is generally higher. While both groups of subject can clearly distinguish natural speech from the best synthetic examples, the groups' responses to different artefacts present in the synthetic speech can vary

Soft gluon resummation for gluon-induced Higgs Strahlung

We study the effect of soft gluon emission on the total cross section predictions for the $gg\to HZ$ associated Higgs production process at the LHC. To this end, we perform resummation of threshold corrections at the NLL accuracy in the absolute threshold production limit and in the threshold limit for production of a $ZH$ system with a given invariant mass. Analytical results and numerical predictions for various possible LHC collision energies are presented. The perturbative stability of the results is verified by including universal NNLL effects. We find that resummation significantly reduces the scale uncertainty of the $gg\to HZ$ contribution, which is the dominant source of perturbative uncertainty to $ZH$ production. We use our results to evaluate updated numbers for the total inclusive cross section of associated $pp \to ZH$ production at the LHC. The reduced scale uncertainty of the $gg\to HZ$ component translates into a decrease of the overall scale error by about a factor of two.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, 2 table

Volatility and correlations for stock markets in the emerging economies

This paper examines the European investment implications of the recent European Union (EU) expansion to encompass former Eastern bloc economies. What are the risk and return characteristics of these markets pre- and post-EU? What are the implications for investors within the Euro zone? Should investors diversify outside the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)? The former Eastern bloc economies constitute emerging markets which typically offer attractive risk-adjusted returns for international investors. In this paper, we explore a number of aspects of this important issue and their implications for CEE based investors, culminating in a Markowitz efficient frontier analysis of these markets pre- and post-EU expansion.Emerging Markets; European Union; Portfolio investment

The zipper mechanism in phagocytosis: energetic requirements and variability in phagocytic cup shape

Phagocytosis is the fundamental cellular process by which eukaryotic cells bind and engulf particles by their cell membrane. Particle engulfment involves particle recognition by cell-surface receptors, signaling and remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton to guide the membrane around the particle in a zipper-like fashion. Despite the signaling complexity, phagocytosis also depends strongly on biophysical parameters, such as particle shape, and the need for actin-driven force generation remains poorly understood. Here, we propose a novel, three-dimensional and stochastic biophysical model of phagocytosis, and study the engulfment of particles of various sizes and shapes, including spiral and rod-shaped particles reminiscent of bacteria. Highly curved shapes are not taken up, in line with recent experimental results. Furthermore, we surprisingly find that even without actin-driven force generation, engulfment proceeds in a large regime of parameter values, albeit more slowly and with highly variable phagocytic cups. We experimentally confirm these predictions using fibroblasts, transfected with immunoreceptor FcyRIIa for engulfment of immunoglobulin G-opsonized particles. Specifically, we compare the wild-type receptor with a mutant receptor, unable to signal to the actin cytoskeleton. Based on the reconstruction of phagocytic cups from imaging data, we indeed show that cells are able to engulf small particles even without support from biological actin-driven processes. This suggests that biochemical pathways render the evolutionary ancient process of phagocytic highly robust, allowing cells to engulf even very large particles. The particle-shape dependence of phagocytosis makes a systematic investigation of host-pathogen interactions and an efficient design of a vehicle for drug delivery possible.Comment: Accepted for publication in BMC Systems Biology. 17 pages, 6 Figures, + supplementary informatio

Isolated critical point from Lovelock gravity

For any K(=2k+1)th-order Lovelock gravity with fine-tuned Lovelock couplings, we demonstrate the existence of a special isolated critical point characterized by non-standard critical exponents in the phase diagram of hyperbolic vacuum black holes. In the Gibbs free energy this corresponds to a place wherefrom two swallowtails emerge, giving rise to two first-order phase transitions between small and large black holes. We believe that this is a first example of a critical point with non-standard critical exponents obtained in a geometric theory of gravity.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

An examination of the interaction between morality and self-control in offending : a study of differences between girls and boys

Background: There is a well-documented gender difference in offending, with evidence that boys, on average, are more involved in crime than girls. Opinions differ, however,on whether the causes of crime apply to girls and boys similarly.Aims: Our aim is to explore crime propensity in boys and girls. Our research questions were (1) are there differences between boys and girls in moral values and self-control;(2) are these attributes similarly correlated with offending among girls and boys; and (3) is any interaction effect between morality and self-control identical for girls and boys. Methods: Data were drawn from the Malmö Individual and Neighbourhood Development Study, which includes 481 girls and boys aged 16–17. An 8-item self-control scale was derived from Grasmick’s self-control instrument; we created a 16-item morality scale. Analysis of variance was used to test for differences in scale scores.Results: There were significant gender differences in moral values but not self-control.Moral values and self-control were significantly correlated with offending among both girls and boys. In the multiple regression analysis, the three-way interaction term used to test the interaction between gender, self-control and moral values was non-significant, indicating that the magnitude of the self-control–moral value interaction is not affected by gender.Conclusions: Our findings indicate that effects of morality and self-control are general and apply to girls and boys similarly, so more research is needed to explain gender differences in crime prevalence

A liquidity redistribution effect in intercorporate lending : evidence from private firms in Poland

Purpose: We examine the mechanism of intercorporate lending outside the business group, and a reaction of capital expenditures (CAPEX) and capital engagement in other firms to shocks in the provision of such loans. We diagnose the causes and effects of intercorporate lending outside the business group. Design/Methodology/Approach: We use panel data from annual reports (balance sheets and income statements) of 4,600 private Polish companies that provided loans to other firms in the period 2003-2014. We apply the vector autoregression panel model for microeconomic data and analysis of Granger causality, impulse response functions, and forecast error variation decomposition to explore the mechanism of intercorporate loan provision. Findings: Non-financial firms provide loans outside the business group through redistribution of their cash holdings generated from operating activity (cash flow) and long-term bank loans. The provision of loans by non-financial enterprises decreases CAPEX, as a result of the absence of free cash flows that were already used for loan provision. Shareholder loans substitute for capital engagement in other firms. Practical Implications: The findings could assist policymakers to notice that emergency borrowings from other companies are being used to defer defaults and introduce a new credit risk into the business sector. Originality/Value: The redistribution effect of cash holdings and money borrowed from banks provided to unrelated firms outside the business group is dangerous for the stability of the financial system due to the risk that these “indirect borrowers” will default.peer-reviewe