The impact of the certainty context on the process of choice

In this study we examine how the introduction of a reference lottery with non-random outcomes alters the way in which choices among pairs of lotteries are made, even if it does not alter the choices. We use different domains (some of the lotteries produce gains, other losses), and different contexts (one member of the pair, the reference lottery, may be either risky or certain). In our experiment, the change from gain to loss domain affects choices: subjects are risk averse in gain domain, but not in the loss domain. On the contrary, the context effect of the certain lottery does not affect choices. But the introduction of the certainty reference lottery affects two behavioral variables, response time and brain activation, in a dramatic way. This result suggests that the certainty lottery promotes a different process through which preferences are revealed, even if the differences among lotteries may not be large enough to induce different choices

RTDF2010-42034 ROTATIONAL ENERGY HARVESTING SYSTEMS FOR UNPOWERED FREIGHT RAIL CARS

ABSTRACT Commonly, freight cars have no available source of electric power, thus preventing the use of any electronic devices that could improve convenience, performance, and efficiency of railroad operations. The devices introduced in this paper are motion-based electromagnetic energy harvesting systems. Similar in size and shape to a conventional damper or shock absorber, the systems are to be placed in the coil spring of the suspension to convert part of the energy usually wasted as heat into useful electric energy. This paper will present the design, development and testing of such devices. Tests of prototype devices on a shock dynamometer show that more than 20 Watts RMS of power can be produced with motions that can be encountered in train suspensions. The devices presented, although primarily developed for railroad applications, are not limited to use in freight cars and could be similarly applied in various vehicles with suspension like tractor-trailers, buses or automobiles