“I Know That You Know How I Feel”: Behavioral and Physiological Signals Demonstrate Emotional Attunement While Interacting with a Computer Simulating Emotional Intelligence

Human–human communication studies have suggested that within communicative interactions, individuals acknowledge each other as intentional agents and adjust their emotion nonverbal behavior according to the other. This process has been defined as emotional attunement. In this study, we examine the emotional attunement process in the context of affective human–computer interactions. To this purpose, participants were exposed to one of two conditions. In one case, they played with a computer that simulated understanding of their emotional reactions while guiding them across four different game-like activities; in the other, the computer guided participants across the activities without mentioning any ability to understand emotional responses. Face movements, gaze direction, posture, vocal behavior, electrocardiogram and electrodermal activity were simultaneously recorded during the experimental sessions. Results showed that if participants were aware of interacting with an agent able to recognize their emotions, they reported that the computer was able to “understand” them and showed a higher number of nonverbal behaviors during the most interactive activity. The implications are discussed.     

A measure of interrater absolute agreement for ordinal categorical data

Statistical Methods & Applications - A measure of interrater absolute agreement for ordinal scales is proposed capitalizing on the dispersion index for ordinal variables proposed by Giuseppe...     

Intensity of preference and related uncertainty in non-compensatory aggregation rules

Non-compensatory aggregation rules are applied in a variety of problems such as voting theory, multi-criteria analysis, composite indicators, web ranking algorithms and so on. A major open problem is the fact that non-compensability implies the analytical cost of loosing all available information about intensity of preference, i.e. if some variables are measured on interval or ratio scales, they have to be treated as measured on an ordinal scale. Here this problem has been tackled in its most general formulation, that is when mixed measurement scales (interval, ratio and ordinal) are used and both stochastic and fuzzy uncertainties are present. Objectives of this article are first to present a comprehensive review of useful solutions already proposed in the literature and second to advance the state of the art mainly in the theoretical guarantee that weights have the meaning of importance coefficients and they can be summarized in a voting matrix. This is a key result for using non-compensatory Condorcet consistent rules. A proof on the probability of existence of ties in the voting matrix is also developed.     

The Input Evaluation of Generalized Bernoulli Processes for Salary Lines Construction by Means of Continuous Time Generalized Non-Homogeneous Semi-Markov Processes

Salary line forecasting assumes a relevant role in manpower and in pension funds Previously, the authors presented a generalized Bernoulli process, useful for forecasting the evolution of salary lines, taking into account the salary costs, the number of workers at each rank and the probability transitions between the ranks. The problem with applying this model is constructing the probability of transition between the grades. In this article, we will present a model that allows obtaining these probabilities by means of the solution of the evolution equation of a generalization of continuous time non-homogeneous semi-Markov processes.     

Governance and Performance of a Mixed Public-Private Enterprise: An Assessment of a Company in the Estonian Water Sector

Local governments are increasingly entering into partnerships with the private sector in the “externalization” of public service delivery. While the financial and non-financial interests of the partners involved may appear to be in opposition and potentially un-reconcilable, this is not always the case, especially where governance arrangements exist to align and balance the requirements of financial and non-financial performance. Such arrangements are analysed here with reference to Estonia’s largest water company with mixed public-private ownership. It has a business-like management that facilitates a combination of good non-financial performance (quality and affordability) and considerable financial performance (profitability).     

Do ownership and size affect the performance of water utilities? Evidence from Estonian municipalities

Concerns regarding rising water and sewerage prices have generated a renewed interest in measuring and assessing water utility performance. An efficiency analysis can serve as a basis for price setting decisions. This article examines the influence of ownership structure and corporate size on the efficiency of Estonian water companies, and assesses the empirical efficiency gaps through the lens of corporate governance and natural monopoly theories. To assess efficiency and the influence of ownership and corporate size on efficiency, we use a Data Envelopment Analysis and truncated regression with maximum likelihood estimation as well as an ANOVA test. The study sample consists of 43 water utilities, serving more than 68% of the Estonian population. One main finding of the study reveals that ownership structure does not affect the efficiency of Estonian water utilities, while efficiency does increase with corporate size: large water utilities outperform small utilities. An additional conclusion is that the Estonian water sector is too fragmented.     

Simulation analysis of cold chain performance based on time–temperature data

Perishable goods are a fundamental source of revenue for the retail sector; their management, however, constitutes a severe challenge for retailers and supply chain partners. A significant cost in particular is the fraction of products perished through the supply chain, which also constitutes an ethical and environmental concern. Supply chain organisation and operative characteristics have a significant influence on this matter, as in fact ensuring suitable temperature conditions for the stock-keeping units throughout the supply chain is mandatory for perishable products. Recent developments in sensing and communication technologies allow detailed monitoring and control of cold chain; however, depending on the characteristics of the supply chain, an inherent risk of perished products is often inevitable, even in the hypothesis of perfect control. This article proposes a methodology to evaluate the performance of a cold chain in terms of expected product quality at the retail store, and to estimate the expected fraction of perished products, according to the supply chain configuration. The approach is based on Monte Carlo simulation, and implements referenced shelf-life models. A real application is also presented, involving a preliminary analysis and mapping of the supply chain activities based on time–temperature data, in order to demonstrate the practicability of the approach proposed.     

Local Banks Efficiency and Employment

Abstract. This work analyses the links between credit and labour markets highlighting the influence of credit market inefficiencies on employment. We argue that if banks are not efficient in monitoring the borrowers in the presence of asymmetric information, credit market imperfections have real effects. We estimate dynamic equations using system generalized method of moments (GMM) for bank loans and employment on panel data for Italian firms. The system GMM estimates indicate that the impact of credit market on employment is higher where the local financial market is less developed, asymmetric information is widespread, bank managers are less efficient in assessing the firms' solvency and do not use appropriate methods to evaluate the borrowers' payback capacity.     

Firm’s protection against disasters: are investment and insurance substitutes or complements?

Theory and Decision - We use a controlled laboratory experiment to study firm’s protection against potential technological damages. The probability of a catastrophic event is known, and the...