Rank and response: A field experiment on peer information and water use behavior

Perception of peer rank, or how we perform relative to our peers, can be a powerful motivator. While research exists on the effect of social information on decision making, there is less work on how ranked comparisons with our peers influence our behavior. This paper outlines a field experiment conducted with 3896 households in Castro Valley, California, which uses household mailers with various forms of social information and peer rank messaging to motivate water conservation. The experiment tests the effect of a visible peer rank on water use, and how the competitive framing of rank information influences behavioral response. The results show that households with relatively low or high water use in the pre-treatment period responded differently to how rank information was framed. I find that a neutrally-framed peer rank caused a small “boomerang effect” (i.e., an increase in average water use) for low water use households, but this effect was eliminated by competitive framing. At the same time, a competitively-framed peer rank demotivated high water use households, increasing their average water use over the full period of the experiment. This result is supported by evidence that the competitive frame on rank information increased water use for households who ranked “last” in the peer group – a detrimental “last place effect” from competitively-framed rankings.     

Strength matters: Tie strength as a causal driver of networks’ information benefits

Studies of social networks have often taken the existence of a social tie as a proxy for the transmission of information. However, other studies of social networks in the labor market propose that the likelihood of information transmission might depend on strength of the tie; and that tie strength is a potentially important source of the tie's value. After all, even if job seekers have social ties to those who have valuable job information, the seekers will gain little information benefit when the ties do not actually transmit the information. This paper clarifies the conditions under which social ties might provide information benefits. We use a survey vignette experiment and ask MBA students about their likelihood of relaying job information via strong ties (to friends) or weak ties (to acquaintances), holding constant the structural locations spanned by the tie and job seekers' fit with the job. The results support the claim that strength of tie has a causal effect on the chances of information transmission: potential referrers are more likely to relay job information to their friends than to acquaintances. The larger implication of these findings is that whatever benefits there might be to using weak ties to reach distant non-redundant information during job search, these benefits need to be considered against the likely fact that people connected via weak ties are less likely to actually share information about job opportunities than are people to whom the job seeker is strongly tied.     

特低渗透油藏 CO2 驱室内实验研究

针对大庆外围油田特低渗透油藏剩余油潜力大、井网加密效益差、水驱采收率低等问题，提出了特低渗透油藏 CO2驱技术。通过细管实验和天然岩芯 CO2 驱油实验，确定了 CO2 与高台子油田原油的最小混相压力，评价了特低渗透砂岩油藏 CO2 驱油效果。实验结果表明，CO2 驱可以应用于高台子油田，并取得较好的驱油效果。当天然岩芯空气渗透率为0.58 mD 时，在水驱基础上，气驱可以进一步提高采收率 8% 以上，特低渗透油藏实施 CO2 驱油技术是可行的。     

How Sunday, price, and social norms influence donation behaviour

We describe a natural field experiment investigating donation behaviour. The setting was an art gallery where donations could be deposited into a transparent box in the foyer. Two aspects of the donation environment were manipulated: signs on the donation box and the initial contents of the box. We used three sign treatments: a control with no sign, a sign that thanked donors, and a sign that indicated donations would be matched. We used two initial contents treatments: one with relatively little money ($50) and one with four times as much. The average donation per donor was significantly larger in the $200 treatments but this was offset by a decrease in the propensity to donate. In the matching treatments donations were significantly larger both at the per donor and per visitor level. A control variable turned out to have the largest influence on donation behaviour: the day of the week. The average donation per visitor was 51% higher on Sundays, when compared to every other day of the week.     

与实验紧密结合的工科大学物理小班化探索

针对工科大学物理在小班化进程中的师生角色转换和课时不足等问题,分析了教师角色、教学内容和模式,并结合高校培养目标,从物理理论和实验的关系着手,提出一种将两者融为一体的课程模式,经由多角色教师团队、“全”和“精”的教学内容和开放的教学模式,搭建起理论和实验“承上启下”的桥梁。学生在实验平台上的具体实践表明,这种小班化教学效果明显。     

Symmetrical Design of Experiment in Global Sensitivity Analysis Based on ANOVA High-dimensional Model Representation

This article reviews symmetrical global sensitivity analysis based on the analysis of variance of high-dimensional model representation. To overcome the computational difficulties and explore the use of symmetrical design of experiment (SDOE), two methods are presented. If the form of the objective function f is known, we use SDOE to estimate the symmetrical global sensitivity indices instead of Monte Carlo or quasi-Monte Carlo simulation. Otherwise, we use the observed values of the experiment to do symmetrical global sensitivity analysis. These methods are easy to implement and can reduce the computational cost. An example is given by symmetrical design of experiment.     

1980年代“译介热”与中国审美话语的本体自律

20世纪80年代的“译介热”通过引进西方现代文论资源,实现了对政治意识形态“工具论”“反映论”的反拨与对抗,与此同构的是审美自律的进程和审美本体的建构.“审美自律论”和“方法多元论”成为“译介热”的两个主要支点,共同参与现代性人学启蒙,促使了现代派文学的文本发现与形式自律.“审美自律论”促使了审美活动从外部的“他律”转向了审美的“自律”,形式主义文论、结构主义文论等在译介热中引入中国,纷纷促使了美学和文学批评从外部转向内部、从内容转向形式、从思想内涵转向话语革命.同时也直接启发了中国现代派文学和先锋小说的创作,激活了新时期以来潜藏的“形式化”冲动,从而使得形式和语言实验在80年代中后期的文学创作中焕发出愈加重要的作用.     

大学生虚拟生存的影响及对策

大学生虚拟生存是大学生群体在物理身体不在场状态下,在以比特为单位的数字化环境中,凭借现代电子通信、网络技术等手段,利用网络信息资源开展学习、工作、娱乐等一系列活动的行为。它满足了大学生求知娱乐、社会交往、自主平等、自我实现的需要,同时也给大学．牛的心理和行为带来了消极的影响,应采取措施积极应对。     

网络犯罪的法理分析和立法思考

随着计算机和信息网络的普及,人类的交流更加方便和快捷。与此同时,网络犯罪也呈现出复杂多样的形态,且危害性日益严重。令人忧虑的是,由于我国法律体系建设的滞后,对一些新型的网络犯罪行为的定罪还存在无法可依的现象。笔者试就几种主要的网络犯罪行为进行分析,并在此基础上对网络立法问题提出一些初步的意见。     

Virtual Interpersonal Touch and Digital Chameleons

We studied the characteristics of hand touch with a mechanical device that approximated a handshake, and we then examined the effect of handshake mimicry on assessment of a partner. Two participants interacted with a force-feedback joystick that recorded each of their hand movements individually. The two participants then greeted one another by feeling the recording of the other person’s movements via the force-feedback device. For each dyad, one of the participants actually received his or her own virtual handshake back under the guise that it was the other person’s virtual handshake. Results demonstrated three significant findings. First, for any given participant, a metric that took into account position, angle, speed, and acceleration of the hand movements correlated highly within individuals across two handshakes. Second, across participants, these metrics demonstrated specific differences by gender. Finally, there was an interaction between gender and mimicry, such that male participants liked people who mimicked their handshakes more than female participants did. We discuss the implications of these findings and relate them to theories of social interaction.