Do Consumers Trust Online Product Reviews? An Experimental Study of Biases in Online Product Reviews

Previous studies have identified the impact of self-selection biases in online product reviews on consumer surplus. However, no empirical study has studied whether consumers trust online reviews, especially when credibility of reviews is susceptible to be jeopardized by self-selection biases. This study investigates how the existence of different types of self-selection biases in online product reviews influences consumers’ intentions to purchase products and post reviews. A 4×2 randomized experiment was conducted to examine the role of two self-selection biases (under-reporting and purchasing biases). Results indicate that subjects exposed to online product reviews that suffer from under-reporting bias and purchasing bias have a significantly lower intention to purchase a product and post a review. Because consumers are not able to fully correct the self-selection biases in online product reviews, this study calls for the need to overcome self-selection biases and formulate strategies to help consumers trust online product reviews

A cognitive poetics of kinaesthesia in Wordsworth

This project is an effort to explore the kinetic aspects of Wordsworth's works on the one hand and scale up cognitive grammar (Langacker, 2008; Talmy, 2000a, 2000b) to literary discourse on the other hand, both of which stand as relatively underdeveloped areas in a cognitive approach to literature. Specifically, I focus on the kinetic and kinaesthetic notions of motion, force and energy expounded in cognitive grammar, mainly, fictive motion, force dynamics and energy chains, addressing issues not only related to kinetic representation in literary texts but also its possible effects upon readers. With the English Romantic poet Wordsworth as the case study, I conduct detailed cognitive poetic analyses of selected poems, mainly informed by some cognitive grammatical constructs, to reveal the 'invisible' meaning of the text (Langacker, 1993). I outline a cognitive aesthetics of motion by drawing on findings from cognitive science, cognitive grammar and aesthetic theory. Based on this account, I conduct a systematic examination of the fictive motion and fictive stationariness in Wordsworth's works as regards their literary representation and poetic effects. Particularly this reveals how Wordsworth instils fictivity, dynamicity and subjectivity in the literary representation of nature. I relate this manner of describing nature to the picturesque tradition, which is closely associated with a static representation of nature originating in the eighteenth century. I present my analysis as evidence of Wordsworth's attempt to transcend this tradition. With respect to force, I link the notions of force dynamics, texture and poetic tension (Tate, 1948), arguing that force dynamics on the one hand constitutes one important dimension of texture and on the other hand is the conceptual core of poetic tension. I then apply the force-dynamic model to demonstrate how a force-dynamic view could illuminate the differing texture of two poems by Wordsworth. My analysis of the two poems helps account for their differing conceptual complexity and also their contrasting popularity among literary critics. In the case of energy, I draw on Langacker's action chain model, which proposes an energy flow across clauses. I scale the model up to the discourse level and then develop an energetic reading of Wordsworth, examining how energy is represented in another two poems by Wordsworth. This thesis sets out to be a significant work in both cognitive poetics and critical studies of Wordsworth. In the field of cognitive poetics, it is a timely response to redress the imbalance between a majority of macro-level analyses and a minority of close stylistic analyses, and to answer a growing call for returning the focus back to the textuality and texture of the text. The frameworks I have drawn on are not limited to the appreciation of Wordsworth or nature poetry; they can be fruitfully applied to other poets and other types of poetry

A cognitive poetics of kinaesthesia in Wordsworth

This project is an effort to explore the kinetic aspects of Wordsworth's works on the one hand and scale up cognitive grammar (Langacker, 2008; Talmy, 2000a, 2000b) to literary discourse on the other hand, both of which stand as relatively underdeveloped areas in a cognitive approach to literature. Specifically, I focus on the kinetic and kinaesthetic notions of motion, force and energy expounded in cognitive grammar, mainly, fictive motion, force dynamics and energy chains, addressing issues not only related to kinetic representation in literary texts but also its possible effects upon readers. With the English Romantic poet Wordsworth as the case study, I conduct detailed cognitive poetic analyses of selected poems, mainly informed by some cognitive grammatical constructs, to reveal the 'invisible' meaning of the text (Langacker, 1993). I outline a cognitive aesthetics of motion by drawing on findings from cognitive science, cognitive grammar and aesthetic theory. Based on this account, I conduct a systematic examination of the fictive motion and fictive stationariness in Wordsworth's works as regards their literary representation and poetic effects. Particularly this reveals how Wordsworth instils fictivity, dynamicity and subjectivity in the literary representation of nature. I relate this manner of describing nature to the picturesque tradition, which is closely associated with a static representation of nature originating in the eighteenth century. I present my analysis as evidence of Wordsworth's attempt to transcend this tradition. With respect to force, I link the notions of force dynamics, texture and poetic tension (Tate, 1948), arguing that force dynamics on the one hand constitutes one important dimension of texture and on the other hand is the conceptual core of poetic tension. I then apply the force-dynamic model to demonstrate how a force-dynamic view could illuminate the differing texture of two poems by Wordsworth. My analysis of the two poems helps account for their differing conceptual complexity and also their contrasting popularity among literary critics. In the case of energy, I draw on Langacker's action chain model, which proposes an energy flow across clauses. I scale the model up to the discourse level and then develop an energetic reading of Wordsworth, examining how energy is represented in another two poems by Wordsworth. This thesis sets out to be a significant work in both cognitive poetics and critical studies of Wordsworth. In the field of cognitive poetics, it is a timely response to redress the imbalance between a majority of macro-level analyses and a minority of close stylistic analyses, and to answer a growing call for returning the focus back to the textuality and texture of the text. The frameworks I have drawn on are not limited to the appreciation of Wordsworth or nature poetry; they can be fruitfully applied to other poets and other types of poetry

Attentional windowing in David Foster Wallace’s ‘The Soul Is Not a Smithy’

is is the first book to present an account of literary meaning and effects drawing on our best understanding of mind and language in the form of a Cognitive Grammar. e contributors provide exemplary analyses of a range of literature from science fiction, dystopia, absurdism and graphic novels to the poetry of Wordsworth, Hopkins, Sassoon, Balassi, and Dylan omas, as well as Shakespeare, Chaucer, Barrett Browning, Whitman, Owen and others. e application of Cognitive Grammar allows the discussion of meaning, translation, ambience, action, reflection, multimodality, empathy, experience and literariness itself to be conducted in newly valid ways. With a Foreword by the creator of Cognitive Grammar, Ronald Langacker, and an Aerword by the cognitive scientist Todd Oakley, the book represents the latest advance in literary linguistics, cognitive poetics and literary critical practic

AC Transport Loss in Superconductors Carrying Harmonic Current with Different Phase Angles for Large Scale Power Components

It is of great industrial interest and academic importance to investigate current harmonics impacts on AC losses of superconductors, especially in large-scale power devices. However, only effect of amplitude of in-phase current harmonics on AC loss has been studied in the works of literature. We numerically characterized nonsinusoidal AC loss of superconducting tape carrying harmonic currents with orders below 20th versus phase angles. A drastic AC loss variation was found when phase angle was considered for harmonic components. We observed that different harmonic orders show different AC loss profile versus phase angle

AC Loss Characterization of HTS Pancake and Solenoid Coils Carrying Nonsinusoidal Currents

Application of high-temperature superconducting devices become promising in power networks, and transportation, including ship, train, and electric aircraft propulsion systems, with the advantages of light weight, compact size, and high efficiency, compared to conventional devices. In reality, electric networks—either in grid or transportation propulsion system—are polluted with harmonics due to the widespread use of power electronic devices and nonlinear loads. It is essential to explore the dependency of harmonic ac losses of different coil configurations carrying nonsinusoidal current. We modeled and compared harmonic ac loss behaviors in three coil configurations, single pancake coil (SPC), double pancake coil (DPC), and solenoid coil (SNC), where SPC and SNC are wound by identical wire length and DPC has twice conductor number compared to SPC. The research work has been carried out by means of H-formulation finite element method in a 2-D axisymmetric modeling environment of COMSOL Multiphysics. We explored and reported ac losses in these three coil structures carrying nonsinusoidal current with the third and the fifth harmonic orders, respectively, under different total harmonic distortion (THD) and fundamental current levels. It has been concluded that ac loss in these coils first decreases with the increase of the third harmonic content, when THD of the third harmonic 0.2. AC loss in coils monotonically increases with the increase of the fifth harmonic, drastically. We found that ac loss in SPC carrying the third harmonic and the fifth harmonic at different THD are more than 3.8 times of that in DPC; ac loss in SPC carrying either third or fifth harmonics at different THD are around 4.5 times of that in SNC

Artificial intelligence for superconducting transformers

Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques are currently widely used in different parts of the electrical engineering sector due to their privileges for being used in smarter manufacturing and accurate and efficient operating of electric devices. Power transformers are a vital and expensive asset in the power network, where their consistent and fault-free operation greatly impacts the reliability of the whole system. The superconducting transformer has the potential to fully modernize the power network in the near future with its invincible advantages, including much lighter weight, more compact size, much lower loss, and higher efficiency compared with conventional oil-immersed counterparts. In this article, we have looked into the perspective of using AI for revolutionizing superconducting transformer technology in many aspects related to their design, operation, condition monitoring, maintenance, and asset management. We believe that this article offers a roadmap for what could be and needs to be done in the current decade 2020-2030 to integrate AI into superconducting transformer technology

Unshifted Metastable He I* Mini-Broad Absorption Line System in the Narrow Line Type 1 Quasar SDSS J080248.18++551328.9

We report the identification of an unusual absorption line system in the quasar SDSS J080248.18$+$551328.9 and present a detailed study of the system, incorporating follow-up optical and NIR spectroscopy. A few tens of absorption lines are detected, including He I*, Fe II* and Ni II* that arise from metastable or excited levels, as well as resonant lines in Mg I, Mg II, Fe II, Mn II, and Ca II. All of the isolated absorption lines show the same profile of width $\Delta v\sim 1,500$km s$^{-1}$ centered at a common redshift as that of the quasar emission lines, such as [O II], [S II], and hydrogen Paschen and Balmer series. With narrow Balmer lines, strong optical Fe II multiplets, and weak [O III] doublets, its emission line spectrum is typical for that of a narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy (NLS1). We have derived reliable measurements of the gas-phase column densities of the absorbing ions/levels. Photoionization modeling indicates that the absorber has a density of $n_{\rm H} \sim (1.0-2.5)\times 10^5~ {\rm cm}^{-3}$ and a column density of $N_{\rm H} \sim (1.0-3.2)\times 10^{21} \sim {\rm cm}^{-2}$, and is located at $R\sim100-250$ pc from the central super-massive black hole. The location of the absorber, the symmetric profile of the absorption lines, and the coincidence of the absorption and emission line centroid jointly suggest that the absorption gas is originated from the host galaxy and is plausibly accelerated by stellar processes, such as stellar winds \zhy{and/or} supernova explosions. The implications for the detection of such a peculiar absorption line system in an NLS1 are discussed in the context of co-evolution between super-massive black hole growth and host galaxy build-up.Comment: 28 pages, 16 figures; accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journa