Integrated Calendar

Abstract
Surface reactivity depends intimately on the motion of adsorbates and the mechanisms that enable thermal activation. These processes occur on
timescales that are typically between a few picoseconds and a nano-second, where few experimental techniques are effective. Many of the basic processes can now be observed directly by combining nuclear-spin
manipulation with the surface sensitivity arising from the scattering of
inert atoms at thermal energies. This new technique, known as helium,
spin-echo spectroscopy (HeSE) gives unprecedented information on the
energy-landscape for adsorbate motion as well as the ability to measure
inter-adsorbate interactions through the effects they have on the dynamics.
The picture is completed by including the thermal coupling between
adsorbate and substrate, which is usually described through a nano-scale
friction. By offering a series of examples I will illustrate the extent to
which conventional wisdom fails to describe the reality observed at the
atomic scale.

Strange metals are materials with numerous anomalous properties. The flow of electricity cannot be explained in the familiar language of a fluid of individual electrons, but instead requires a new strongly interacting description. In this talk, I will review some basic facts about these materials. With this as motivation, I will explain how to compute conductivity in certain strongly interacting, non-relativistic field theories which are defined holographically.

I review scattering amplitudes in N=4 supersymmetric gauge theories, and the connection between weak and strong coupling. I discuss recent developments, including aspects of Grassmanians and dual conformal invariance. I also present some recent progress on the so-called "remainder function", which describes the difference between a simple exponentation of the six-point amplitude and the complete amplitude.

A large corpus of evidence concerning social comparison processes indicates that relative material payoffs affect people’s well-being and behavior. Envy and schadenfreude are emotions related to social comparison. Envy is a negative reaction in the face of another person’s good fortune while schadenfreude, is the joy about the misfortune of another.
We suggested that the neural network which mediates envy and schadenfreude involves the 'mentalizing network' and the reward/punishment systems. To examine our model we conducted a lesion study, an fMRI study and a study involving administration of oxytocin.
The results confirm our model and shwo differential patterns of activation in the reward and mentalizing networks in envy and schadenfreude. These studies support the role of the metalizing system (particularly the medial prefrontal cortex) in these emotions. The pattern of activation in the ventral striatum suggests that winning money can seem like a loss when another person wins a larger amount. Likewise, losing money can seem like a gain when another person loses more.
Finally, we demonstrate that the oxytocinergic system modulates the feeling of envy and schadenfruede. Specifically, intranasal administration of oxytocin increases ratings of envy and schadenfreude in competitive situations, suggesting that this hormone has a general role in negative as well as positive social behaviors.
Although it has been well established that humans are motivated to seek rewards and avoid punishments, our studies demonstrate that humans are as sensitive to social comparisons, that even a loss can induce joy when it is compared to another's greater loss. These processes seem to be mediated by the reward system and the oxytocinegic system