Speaker: YAO WentaoVenue: Room A423, School of Management, Zijingang CampusAbstract: We estimate the ecological costs of corporate toxic emissions using managerial pressure to meet earnings benchmarks as an instrument for toxic releases. Linking plant-level emissions to millions of U.S. birdwatching records from 2002–2018, we examine changes in local bird populations around manufacturing facilities owned by U.S. public firms. Bird abundance declines significantly near plants during quarters in which parent firms just meet earnings benchmarks, with effects persisting for up to two years and varying with emission toxicity and species traits. Species richness also declines, though the effects are smaller and less persistent. Combining benchmark-induced changes in toxic releases and bird abundance implies that a 10 percent increase in emissions is associated with a 1.5 percent decline in local bird abundance. Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that regulatory and private efforts to curb toxic emissions preserved approximately 8.1 percent of local bird populations between 1998 and 2023.

Speaker: Tim BurnessVenue: Room 203, Haina Building 2, Zijingang CampusAbstract: Let G be a transitive permutation group on a finite set X, let H be a point stabiliser and recall that the base size of G, denoted b(G,X), is the minimal size of a base for G. Equivalently, the base size is the minimal integer k such that G has a regular orbit on the Cartesian product (G/H)^k. Seeking a natural generalisation, let us say that a k-tuple (H_1,..., H_k) of core-free subgroups of G is regular if G has a regular orbit on G/H_1 x ... x G/H_k. Then the regularity number of G, denoted R(G), is the minimal integer k such that every k-tuple of core-free subgroups of G is regular. More refined invariants can be defined by imposing additional conditions on the component subgroups, such as solubility or nilpotency, and this leads to natural generalisations of several widely studied conjectures on bases due to Cameron, Pyber and Vdovin.In this talk, I will introduce the key definitions and I will discuss some of the main methods we use to study subgroup regularity. I will then present some recent results obtained with my PhD student Marina Anagnostopoulou-Merkouri, and I will also discuss work with Hongyi Huang on the regularity of nilpotent subgroups of simple groups, and joint work with Lei Wang on the regularity of irreducible subgroups of classical groups. Along the way, I will also highlight a number of open problems in this area.

Speaker: HUANG LingVenue: Room 618, School of Economics, Zijingang CampusAbstract: Huang Ling, currently an associate professor of economics at the University of Connecticut, graduated from Duke University, with research areas including environmental economics and industrial organization. Professor Huang Ling is committed to designing more effective policies by mining large-scale microdata, with a particular focus on the evaluation of environmental policy effectiveness and the impact of individual strategic behavior. Her research has been published in journals such as American Economic Review, Environmental and Resource Economics, PLOS ONE, and Marine Resource Economics. Currently, she is using machine learning algorithms in computer vision to analyze satellite imagery in order to study sustainable urbanization policies. These studies aim to optimize the use of resources from both temporal and spatial dimensions, using advanced dynamic models and cutting-edge computer vision technology.

Speaker: Georg NorthoffVenue: Zhonglan Lecture Hall, School of Medicine, Zijingang CampusAbstract: Neural activities in the human brain exhibit multiple different timescales, such as the duration of neural information processing, which are referred to as Intrinsic Neural Timescales (INT).   Previous studies have found that INT display a hierarchical topological structure in the human brain, ranging from sensory regions to higher-order cognitive regions. However, the specific mechanisms by which INT contribute to consciousness remain to be further elucidated. This talk will introduce the spatial topological characteristics of INT in the brain and their roles in levels of consciousness, states of consciousness, and contents of consciousness. In addition, the talk will also incorporate computational modeling studies to demonstrate the key role of intra-regional recurrent processing in shaping INT.

Speaker: Paul A. YushkevichVenue: Room 414, CHOW YEI CHING BUILDING, Zijingang CampusAbstract: Dr. Paul Yushkevich is a Professor in the Department of Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the Bioengineering Graduate Group. His research focuses on developing novel computational methodologies for biomedical image analysis, including shape representation for statistical analysis, multi-atlas and shape-based segmentation, groupwise registration, and structure-specific fMRI and diffusion MRI analysis. In his graduate work at UNC under Stephen M. Pizer, he developed the continuous medial representation (cm-rep) approach, and he has since extended this work using differential equations to solve complex geometric constraints in skeleton-based shape analysis. He has built a detailed atlas of the hippocampal region from high-field, ultra-high-resolution MRI and dense histology, and has applied his algorithms to problems in neuroimaging and cardiac imaging – earning first-place finishes in MICCAI segmentation challenges in 2012 and 2013. Dr. Yushkevich is also deeply committed to open-source software, leading the development of ITK-SNAP (a widely used interactive 3D segmentation tool with >10,000 monthly downloads) and the companion Convert3D utility. His recent work includes ex vivo 3D mapping of tau pathology in the medial temporal lobe, the ASHS software for hippocampal subfield segmentation, and deep learning-based biomarkers for early Alzheimer's disease progression.

Speaker: Bak Kong LowVenue: Room 414, Haigong Building, Zhoushan CampusAbstract: This talk presents examples of efficient first- and second-order reliability methods (FORM and SORM) in environmental and water engineering. It will be shown that system reliability, importance sampling, and Monte Carlo simulations can be done as lucid extensions of FORM. The aim is to overcome conceptual and implementation hurdles of probability methods for engineers, advanced undergraduates, and master and PhD students. Instead of lengthy mathematics in the traditional approach, the same solutions are obtained quickly and clearly by automatic cell-based constrained optimization in a ubiquitous platform. The talk will focus on insights, alternative perspectives and comparisons with other methods.

Speaker: Khellil SefianeVenue: Room 2-328, School of Mechanical Engineering Building, Zijingang CampusAbstract: The lecture will present the results of a series of studies on droplets evaporation and wetting. It will aim to elucidate the effects of substrate thermal properties as well as atmosphere nature and atmospheric conditions. The presentation will introduce the results also reveal some hydrothermal instabilities and patterns. The evaporation of complex fluids drops such as nanofluids and polymers will be introduced. Theoretical studies on evaporating droplets lifetimes and effect of wettability will be discussed. Following these fundamental aspects of droplets evaporation the lecture will introduce some concepts on the development of a Leidenfrost engine driven by droplets levitating on hot substrates.

Speaker: HAN YanVenue: Room A423, School of Management, Zijingang CampusAbstract: Han Yan is an assistant professor of accounting at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia. His research focuses on banking, climate risk, and artificial intelligence. He received his PhD in Accounting from the Stern School of Business at New York University. His recent work has been published in the Review of Accounting Studies.

Speaker: Ray ZhangVenue: Room A423, School of Management, Zijingang CampusAbstract: Using a proprietary dataset that documents corporate bond issuances in China, we find that bond regulators' comment letters (CLs) on issuers' public disclosures generally target opaque firms and reduce bond issuance success. We also find, however, that connected investors—financial institutions with prior business relationships with the issuers—purchase a relatively larger share of bond issuances from CL recipients than from non-CL recipients, and this greater participation contributes to overpricing. Further analysis shows that when connected investors support CL recipients, they are motivated by their capacity to transfer private information and benefits derived from their connections.