Real earnings and business cycles: new evidence

In the time domain, the observed cyclical behavior of the real wage hides a range of economic influences that give rise to cycles of differing lengths and strengths. This may serve to produce a distorted picture of wage cyclicality. Here, we employ frequency domain methods that allow us to assess the relative contribution of cyclical frequency bands on real wage earnings. Earnings are decomposed into standard and overtime components. We also distinguish between consumption and production wages. Frequency domain analysis is carried out in relation to wages alone and to wages in relation to output and employment cycles. Our univariate analysis suggests that, in general, the dominant cycle followed by output, employment, real consumer and producer wages and their components is 5-7years. Consistent with previous findings reported in the macro-level literature, our bi-variate results show that the various measures of the wage are generally not linked to the employment cycle. However, and in sharp contrast with previous macro-level studies we find strong procyclical links between the consumer wage and its overtime components and the output cycle, especially at the 5-7years frequency. Observed real wages are not constant over the cycle, but neither do they exhibit consistent pro- or counter-cyclical movements. This suggests that any attempt to assign systematic real wage movements a central role in an explanation of business cycles is doomed to failure. (lucas 1977

Using event-related brain potentials to explore the temporal dynamics of decision-making related to information security

Insider threat from individuals operating within an organization presents a significant source of violations of information security. Our previous research has used scalp recorded event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and the Information Security Paradigm (ISP) to identify the neural correlates of decision-making processes related to violations of information security. In the current study, we sought to expand this research by examining the effects of two variables that were drawn from the broader decision-making literature (i.e., the benefactor and delay of a reward) on ERPs measured in the ISP. In the ISP we varied whether Josh—a hypothetical IT specialist—or a significant other was the benefactor of a violation, and whether the benefit of a violation was received after a short or long delay. The choice data revealed that individuals were less likely to endorse an unethical action than a control action. The electrophysiological data revealed ERPs that differentiated ethical scenarios from control scenarios between 200 and 2,000 ms after onset of the decision prompt, distributed over the occipital, central, and lateral frontal regions of the scalp. These ERPs were insensitive to the benefactor and delay of the reward. In contrast, there was slow wave activity over the frontal-polar region that was sensitive to both variables. The current findings provide evidence for separable neural systems that are either generally related to ethical decision-making in the ISP or are sensitive to the benefactor or delay of a reward resulting from an unethical decision

Manufacturing Earnings and Cycles: New Evidence

In the time domain, the observed cyclical behavior of the real wage hides a range of economic in uences that give rise to cycles of di ering lengths and strengths. This may serve to produce a distorted picture of wage cyclicality. Here, we employ and develop frequency domain meth- ods that allow us to assess the relative contribution of cyclical frequency bands on real wage earnings. Earnings are decomposed into standard and overtime components. We also distinguish between consumption and production wages. Frequency domain analysis is carried out in re- lation to wages alone (the univariate case) and to wages in relation to a selected range of cyclical economic indicators (multivariate). We es- tablish that all key components of real wages are strongly pro-cyclical but display signicant co-variations with more than one frequency band. Moreover, components are by no means uniformly associated with each of the chosen proxies for the cycle.

A Social Cognitive Neuroscience Approach to Information Security

Information security (InfoSec) represents a significant challenge for private citizens, corporations, and government entities. Breaches of InfoSec, may lower consumer confidence (Yayla & Hu, 2011), shape national and international politics (Groll, 2017), and represent a significant threat to the world economy (e.g., estimated costs of breaches related to cybercrime were $3 trillion in 2015; Cybersecurity Ventures). Significant progress has been made in the context of developing and refining hardware and software infrastructure to thwart cybercrime (Ayuso, Gasca, & Lefevre, 2012; Choo, 2011). However, much less attention has been devoted to understanding the factors that lead individuals within an organization to compromise the digital assets of a company or government entity (Posey, Bennett, & Roberts, 2011; Warkentin & Willison, 2009). The need to for a greater understanding of the causes of insider threat becomes readily apparent when one considers that roughly 50% of security violations result from the activities of individuals within an organization (Richardson, 2011). Additionally, in a recent survey 89% of respondents felt that their organizations were at risk from an insider attack, and 34% felt very or extremely vulnerable (Vormetric Data Security, 2015). In this paper we describe our program of research that examines the neural basis of individual decision making related to InfoSec, and is grounded in a social cognitive neuroscience approach. We also consider evidence from studies examining the effects of individual and cultural differences on decision making related to InfoSec. Together this evidence may serve to motivate future research that integrates theories from neuroscience and the social and behavioral sciences in order to deepen our understanding of the factors that lead individuals to compromise InfoSec

Predictors of Pathology Smartphone Use: Reward Processing, Depressive Symptoms, and Self-Control

The widespread adoption of smartphones that allow us to work, engage with friends and family, and pursue leisure activities has been associated with the emergence of pathological smartphone use wherein individuals experience anxiety and depressive symptoms when separated from their devices and may be more likely to engage in risky behavior while using their phone. Consistent with the broader literature on behavioral addictions, smartphone pathology is associated with increased depressive symptoms and decreased self-control. The current study builds upon a foundation of evidence from studies of pathological technology use including video games, the Internet, and social media to explore the association between the neural correlates of reward processing and smartphone pathology, depressive symptoms, and self-control. Our findings reveal that greater levels of smartphone pathology are associated with decreased neural activity related to the processing of both gains and losses when the individual is the agent of choice in a simple gambling task. Additionally, we replicate the association between depressive symptoms, self-control and smartphone pathology; and further demonstrate that reward processing represents a unique predictor of pathology beyond any shared association with depressive symptoms and self-control

Development of a model of focal pneumococcal pneumonia in young rats

BACKGROUND: A recently licensed pneumococcal conjugate vaccine has been shown to be highly effective in the prevention of bacteremia in immunized children but the degree of protection against pneumonia has been difficult to determine. METHODS: We sought to develop a model of Streptococcus pneumoniae pneumonia in Sprague-Dawley rats. We challenged three-week old Sprague-Dawley pups via intrapulmonary injection of S. pneumoniae serotypes 3 and 6B. Outcomes included bacteremia, mortality as well histologic sections of the lungs. RESULTS: Pneumonia was reliably produced in animals receiving either 10 or 100 cfu of type 3 pneumococci, with 30% and 50% mortality respectively. Similarly, with type 6B, the likelihood of pneumonia increased with the inoculum, as did the mortality rate. Prophylactic administration of a preparation of high-titered anticapsular antibody prevented the development of type 3 pneumonia and death. CONCLUSION: We propose that this model may be useful for the evaluation of vaccines for the prevention of pneumococcal pneumonia

Photoshop with friends: A synchronous learning community for graphic design

Photoshop with Friends is an online community of learners exchanging just-in-time help on graphic design tasks. The system attempts to provide an interactive, visual, context-aware, and personalized mode of learning. Developed as a Facebook application, Photoshop with Friends allows users to help each other in live sessions, with built-in screen sharing, recording, and voice chat support. Major design decisions are guided by two laboratory studies that identified challenges in learning graphic design skills on the web