>>The European View of China since 17 Century
Speaker: Professor Sabine Dabringhaus, University of Freiburg
Topic: The European View of China Since 17 Century
Venue: Jingyuan Courtyard No.2, Peking University
Date: Dec. 12, 2010 (Sunday)
Time: 14:30-16:30
Organizer: PKU Department of History
>>New development in Magnetic Tunnel Junction, Physics and Devices Research
Speaker: Researcher Han Xiufeng
Topic: New development in Magnetic Tunnel Junction, Physics and Devices Research
Venue: Room 505, Lee Shau Kee Building (Classroom Building No.2), Peking University
Date: Nov. 24, 2010 (Wednesday)
Time: 15:00-17:00
Organizer: PKU College of Engineering
>>Capturing Deformation at the Nano and Micron Scales
Speaker: Professor Katerina E. Aifantis
Topic: Capturing Deformation at the Nano and Micron Scales
Venue: Seminar 434, The Building of Mechanics, Peking University
Date: Nov.19, 2010 (Friday)
Time: 16:00-17:00
Organizer: PKU College of Engineering
Intro:
In order to explicitly account for the effect of interfaces in the micron and nano scales, two gradient plasticity frameworks have been proposed: (i) At the micron scale interfaces oppose dislocation motion and therefore the interface is taken to act as a surface of discontinuity for the plastic strain gradient and a separate interface energy parameter is assigned to internal surfaces. (ii) At the nanoscale due to the higher surface to volume ratio a finite interface thickness must be accounted for and therefore interfaces are treated as a separate phase. Both models are in agreement with experimental evidence regarding deformation in the micron and nanoscale.
>>Nnaomaterials & Nanomechanics
Speaker: Elias C. Aifantis
Topic: Nnaomaterials & Nanomechanics
Venue: Seminar 434, The Building of Mechanics, Peking University
Date: Nov.19, 2010 (Friday)
Time: 15:00-16:00
Organizer: PKU College of Engineering
Intro:
After a brief review of some pioneering experimental observations by the author and his MTU colleagues in the mid 90’s on nanocrystalline (nc) and ultrafine-grained (ufg) polycrystals, an extended continuum mechanics framework for interpreting these observations is sketched. It accounts for “bulk-surface” interactions in the form of extra gradient terms that enter in the balance laws and/or the evolution equations of the relevant constitutive variables that govern behavior at the nanoscale. The effectiveness of the approach is shown by considering certain benchmark problems for nanoelasticity, nanoplasticity and nanodiffusion for which standard continuum mechanics theory fails to model the observed behavior. Its implications to interpreting inverse Hall-petch behavior and size-dependent stress-strain curves for nanopolycrystals with varying grain size are also discussed.
>>Does the Stock Market Harm Investment Incentives?
Speaker: Professor Alexander Ljungqvist, New York University
Topic: Does the Stock Market Harm Investment Incentives?
Venue: Room 216, The New Guanghua Building, Peking University
Date: Nov.19, 2010 (Friday)
Time: 13:30-15:00
Organizer: PKU Guanghua School of Management
Intro:
Do stock market-listed firms in the U.S. invest suboptimally due to agency costs resulting from separation of ownership and control? We derive testable predictions distinguishing between underinvestment due to rational “short-termism” and overinvestment due to “empire building.” Our identification strategy exploits a rich new data source on unlisted U.S. firms which are essentially agency-cost free. Listed firms invest less and are less responsive to changes in investment opportunities compared to observably similar unlisted firms, especially in industries in which stock prices are particularly sensitive to current profits. Listed firms also tend to smooth earnings growth and dividends and avoid reporting losses. These patterns are consistent with short-termism and do not appear to be due to firms endogenously choosing to be public or private: Firms that go public for reasons other than to fund investment invest like unlisted firms pre-IPO and like listed firms post-IPO. Nor do the results appear to be driven by measurement error. Our evidence suggests that the stock market distorts investment, at least for the fast-growing companies in our sample.
>>Nouns and Classifiers in Ancient Chinese Language
Speaker: Professor Li Zuofeng
Topic: Nouns and Classifiers in Ancient Chinese Language
Venue: Room 515, Lee Shau Kee Building (Classroom Building No.2), Peking University
Date: Nov.19, 2010 (Friday)
Time: 10:10-12:00
Organizer: PKU Dept. of Chinese Language and Literature
>>Christianity and the Development of Korean Society
Speaker: Dr. Wu Zhengxian
Topic: Christianity and the Development of Korean Society
Venue: Room 108, Jingyuan Courtyard No.2, Peking University
Date: Nov.18, 2010 (Thursday)
Time: 19:00-21:00
Organizer: PKU Department of History
>>Semiparametric Efficient Estimation and Optimal Estimation for partially Linear Single-index Models with Responses Missing at random
Speaker: Wang Qihua
Topic: Semiparametric efficient estimation and optimal estimation for partially linear single-index models with responses missing at random
Venue: Room 1303, Natural Science Classroom Building NO.1, Peking University
Date: Nov.18, 2010 (Thursday)
Time: 14:00-15:00
Organizer: PKU Guanghua School of Management
Intro:
In this talk, we establish the semiparametric efficient bound for the heteroscedastic partially linear single-index models with responses missing at random, and develop the augmented inverse probability weighted efficient estimating equation method. By solving the estimating equation, we obtain estimators for the parameter vectors in the linear part and the single index part simultaneously. The estimators are asymptotically semiparametric efficient when both the propensity score function and the conditional probability density function of the response given the covariables (working model) are specified correctly, and are double robust in the sense that both the estimators are consistent if one of the two posited models is specified correctly. The estimating equation concerns the MLE of parameters of both the posited models. Hence, if one of the two posited models are specified errorly, the proposed estimators are inefficient. In the case where the working model is specified errorly and the propensity score model is specified correctly, we improve the efficiency of the estimators by improving the estimating equation. This estimating equation can be improved with the MLE of the parameter of the wrong working model in the estimating equation replaced by a consistent estimator of the minimizer of the asymptotic variances of the estimators on the parameter of the working model. A simulation was conducted to evaluate the proposed methods.
>>Reduced Carbon Emissions from Deforestation and Biodiversity Conservation
Speaker: Dr. Juha Siikamki
Topic: Reduced Carbon Emissions from Deforestation and Biodiversity Conservation
(A Global Assessment of Tradeoffs and Synergies)
Venue: Room 301, the Building of Earth Science, Peking University
Date: Nov.18, 2010 (Thursday)
Time: 12:00-13:30
Organizer: College of Environmental Science and Enginnering
Intro:
Deforestation is the second largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide emissions and options for its reduction are integral to climate policy. Besides reducing carbon emissions, possibly at a relatively low cost, reduced deforestation has the potential to considerably contribute to biodiversity conservation.
This speech will talk about a research which estimates global benefits to biodiversity conservation from an international program directed towards reducing carbon emissions from deforestation. The results indicate that the proposed carbon-focused policies will not maximize benefits to biodiversity conservatio. Therefore，an alternative policy should be designed to increase biodiversity benefits while keeping carbon benefits equal.
>>Search Engine Marketing
Speaker: Feng Tianfang, Chief Consultant for Search Engine Marketing of Baidu
Topic: Search Engine Marketing
Venue: Room 217, the Guanghua Building, Peking University
Date: Nov.17, 2010 (Wednesday)
Time: 19:00-21:00
Organizer: PKU Guanghua School of Management
>>The Relation among Physics, Chemistry, and Biology in the Natural World
Speaker: Frank Shu Hsia-san, former President of Tsinghua University (NTHU)
Topic: The relation among physics, chemistry, and biology in the natural world
Venue: Room 109, Natural Science Classroom Building
Date: Nov.17, 2010 (Wednesday)
Time: 19:00-21:00
Organizer: PKU School of Physics
Intro:
Physics, chemistry, and biology are taught in high school and college as if they were separate disciplines. However, the separation is more an accident of human history than a part of the natural world. The division was not so important when we humans were just learning to understand and control the seemingly chaotic elemental forces all around us, but as we have gained more and more power over the natural world, the failure to see the systems aspects of nature rather than just its component parts is proving ever more restrictive and dangerous. As an example of these deep connections, I review the history of human thought on the elemental building blocks of the universe and the forces that exist among them, from their beginnings in mystical thought to our current understanding of their context in fundamental laws, and to the role that these same building blocks and forces play in the origin and sustenance of life on Earth. Despite this progress in scientific understanding, however, most people still project mystical ideas onto the natural world that they inhabit. Only if we have an appreciation of the true scope and scale of the marvelous processes that created the Earth and the life forms that exist on it, can we do long-range planning beyond the brief lives of individual humans.
>>The Past, Present and Future of Particle Physics
Speaker: Professor Zheng Hanqing
Topic: The Past, Present and Future of Particle Physics
Venue: Room 201, Wen-shi Classroom Building, Peking University
Date: Nov.17, 2010 (Wednesday)
Time: 18:40-20:30
Organizer: PKU School of Physics
>>Physics of Nano-Scale Systems: Nanoscience – towards a new Technology
Speaker: Dr. Johannes Georg Bednorz
Topic: Physics of Nano-Scale Systems: Nanoscience – towards a new Technology
Venue: Press Hall, Yingjie Overseas Exchange Center, Peking University
Date: Nov.17, 2010 (Wednesday)
Time: 15:00-17:00
Organizer: PKU School of Physics
Translated by: Chen Wei
Edited by: Zhang Chunlan
Source: http://lecture.pku.edu.cn
Copyright 2010 Peking University News
