oTree is an open-source and online software for implementing interactive experiments in the laboratory, online, the field or combinations thereof. oTree does not require installation of software on ...subjects’ devices; it can run on any device that has a web browser, be that a desktop computer, a tablet or a smartphone. Deployment can be internet-based without a shared local network, or local-network-based even without internet access. For coding, Python is used, a popular, open-source programming language. www.oTree.org provides the source code, a library of standard game templates and demo games which can be played by anyone.
The increasing richness of data related to cold dense matter, from laboratory experiments to neutron-star observations, requires a framework for constraining the properties of such matter that makes ...use of all relevant information. Here, we present a rigorous but practical Bayesian approach that can include diverse evidence, such as nuclear data and the inferred masses, radii, tidal deformabilities, moments of inertia, and gravitational binding energies of neutron stars. We emphasize that the full posterior probability distributions of measurements should be used rather than, as is common, imposing a cut on the maximum mass or other quantities. Our method can be used with any parameterization of the equation of state (EOS). We use both a spectral parameterization and a piecewise polytropic parameterization with variable transition densities to illustrate the implications of current measurements and show how future measurements in many domains could improve our understanding of cold catalyzed matter. We find that different types of measurements will play distinct roles in constraining the EOS in different density ranges. For example, better symmetry energy measurements will have a major influence on our understanding of matter somewhat below nuclear saturation density but little influence above that density. In contrast, precise radius measurements or multiple tidal deformability measurements of the quality of those from GW170817 or better will improve our knowledge of the EOS over a broader density range.
Achieving temporal synchrony between sensory modalities is crucial for natural perception of object interaction in virtual reality. While subjective questionnaires are currently used to evaluate ...users’ VR experiences, leveraging behavior and psychophysiological responses can provide additional insights. We investigated motion and ocular behavior as discriminators between realistic and unrealistic object interactions. Participants grasped and placed a virtual object while experiencing sensory feedback that either matched their expectations or occurred too early. We also explored visual-only feedback vs. combined visual and haptic feedback. Due to technological limitations, a condition with delayed feedback was added post-hoc. Gaze-based metrics revealed discrimination between high and low feedback realism. Increased interaction uncertainty was associated with longer fixations on the avatar hand and temporal shifts in the gaze-action relationship. Our findings enable real-time evaluation of users’ perception of realism in interactions. They facilitate the optimization of interaction realism in virtual environments and beyond.
Astrochemistry During the Formation of Stars Jørgensen, Jes K; Belloche, Arnaud; Garrod, Robin T
Annual review of astronomy and astrophysics,
08/2020, Letnik:
58, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Star-forming regions show a rich and varied chemistry, including the presence of complex organic molecules-in both the cold gas distributed on large scales and the hot regions close to young stars ...where protoplanetary disks arise. Recent advances in observational techniques have opened new possibilities for studying this chemistry. In particular, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array has made it possible to study astrochemistry down to Solar System-size scales while also revealing molecules of increasing variety and complexity. In this review, we discuss recent observations of the chemistry of star-forming environments, with a particular focus on complex organic molecules, taking context from the laboratory experiments and chemical models that they have stimulated. The key takeaway points include the following:
The physical evolution of individual sources plays a crucial role in their inferred chemical signatures and remains an important area for observations and models to elucidate.
Comparisons of the abundances measured toward different star-forming environments (high-mass versus low-mass, Galactic Center versus Galactic disk) reveal a remarkable similarity, which is an indication that the underlying chemistry is relatively independent of variations in their physical conditions.
Studies of molecular isotopologues in star-forming regions provide a link with measurements in our own Solar System, and thus may shed light on the chemical similarities and differences expected in other planetary systems.
We quantify patient-regarding preferences by fitting a bounded rationality model to data from an incentivized laboratory experiment, where Chinese medical doctors, German medical students and Chinese ...medical students decide under different payment schemes. We find a remarkable stability in patient-regarding preferences when comparing subject pools and we cannot reject the hypothesis of equal patient-regarding preferences in the three groups. The results suggest that a health economic experiment can provide knowledge that reach beyond the student subject pool, and that the preferences of decision-makers in one cultural context can be of relevance in a very different cultural context.
The efficient market hypothesis predicts that asset prices reflect all available information. Recent experimental work found the rational expectation model to outperform the prior information model ...in contingent claim markets when traders hold homogeneous values, despite the no trade equilibrium. However, recent experiments have also demonstrated the inability of contingent claim markets to successfully aggregate information when traders hold highly differentiated asset values. These prior findings beg the question of whether homogeneous values are a necessary condition for efficient market outcomes in contingent claim markets. The experiments reported in this paper show that homogeneous values are not a necessary condition for information aggregation.
•Robust prior evidence of information aggregation from homogeneous trader markets.•New experiments conducted with heterogeneous, but similar values among traders.•Observed contingent claim market outcomes consistent with rational expectations.•Homogeneous values are not a necessary condition for information aggregation.
We must ensure that trials are scientifically, politically, and socially robust, publicly accountable, and widely transparent
Gene drive organisms (GDOs), whose genomes have been genetically ...engineered to spread a desired allele through a population, have the potential to transform the way societies address a wide range of daunting public health and environmental challenges. The development, testing, and release of GDOs, however, are complex and often controversial. A key challenge is to clarify the appropriate roles of developers and others actively engaged in work with GDOs in decision-making processes, and, in particular, how to establish partnerships with relevant authorities and other stakeholders. Several members of the gene drive community previously proposed safeguards for laboratory experiments with GDOs (
1
) that, in the absence of national or international guidelines, were considered essential for responsible laboratory work to proceed. Now, with GDO development advancing in laboratories (
2
–
5
), we envision similar safeguards for the potential next step: ecologically and/or genetically confined field trials to further assess the performance of GDOs. A GDO's propensity to spread necessitates well-developed criteria for field trials to assess its potential impacts (
6
). We, as a multidisciplinary group of GDO developers, ecologists, conservation biologists, and experts in social science, ethics, and policy, outline commitments below that we deem critical for responsible conduct of a field trial and to ensure that these technologies, if they are introduced, serve the public interest.
•We experimentally investigate the role of the time dimension for deceptive behavior.•We find significantly less dishonest reports under time pressure.•Our design requires subjects to become aware of ...the misreporting opportunity.•Time pressure decreases this awareness.•When controlling for awareness we find no impact of time pressure on deception.
Time is a crucial determinant of deception, since some misreporting opportunities come as a surprise and require an intuitive decision while others allow for extensive reflection time. To be able to pursue a deceptive strategy, however, a subject must be aware of the misreporting opportunity. This paper provides experimental evidence on the role of the time dimension for dishonest decision-making and for the cognition process of the chance to deceive. We conduct a laboratory experiment of self-serving deceptive behavior which combines two exogenously varied levels of reflection time with a cognition process about the deception opportunity. We find that time pressure leads to more honesty compared to sufficient contemplation time. More importantly, decomposing misreporting into its two components, i.e., the cognition process of the misreporting opportunity and the conscious decision to misreport, reveals that more reflection time increases awareness of the misreporting opportunity. However, more time has no effect on the conscious decision of whether to misreport or not.
•We investigate the role of intrinsic motivations as potential drivers of tax morale.•We argue that intrinsic motivations embody several behavioural drivers.•We identify the role of unconditional ...propensity to pay taxes in two experiments.•Unconditional tax propensity accounts for a non-negligible part of tax compliance.
The purpose of this article is to closely examine one of the potential drivers of tax morale: intrinsic motivations. Although frequently intended as a single concept, tax morale may take the form of an intrinsic motivation to comply, but can also arise through different channels, such as norms, peer effects, and bounded rationality. Often, these channels overlap, making it difficult to distinguish where the effect of one end and that of the other begins. Moreover, the concept of intrinsic motivation itself embodies different behavioral drivers. In two laboratory experiments, we investigate one of the several facets of intrinsic motivations which can be defined as Unconditional Tax Propensity (UTP). In the first experiment, we test the effect of UTP by avoiding other possible confounding factors such as prosociality, interactions with the experimenters, efficiency concerns, inequity aversion, and threats of enforcement mechanisms. The second experiment extends the research by introducing and considering enforcement mechanisms and deterrence. We do find clear evidence of individual tax propensity, which, in our setting, works on top of both a general sense of prosociality and deterrence threats.
Survey experiments are ubiquitous in social science. A frequent critique is that positive results in these studies stem from experimenter demand effects (EDEs)—bias that occurs when participants ...infer the purpose of an experiment and respond so as to help confirm a researcher’s hypothesis. We argue that online survey experiments have several features that make them robust to EDEs, and test for their presence in studies that involve over 12,000 participants and replicate five experimental designs touching on all empirical political science subfields. We randomly assign participants information about experimenter intent and show that providing this information does not alter the treatment effects in these experiments. Even financial incentives to respond in line with researcher expectations fail to consistently induce demand effects. Research participants exhibit a limited ability to adjust their behavior to align with researcher expectations, a finding with important implications for the design and interpretation of survey experiments.
PDF
