Although economics is not commonly thought to be an experimental science, laboratory methods are being increasingly used as economic theories become more sophisticated. It is often possible to structure payoffs and procedures so that a theory is tested on its domain, with all structural assumptions satisfied. If the theory fails, individual components can be tested; if the theory works, it can ...

Introduction The Friction Stir Welding (FSW) process is an innovative technique to join metals in the plasticity field, thus not reaching the melting temperature and consequently the liquid state as it happen in traditional welding processes. This feature of the FSW proved an enhancement of the fatigue behaviour and strength of the joints, leading some companies to adopt the process for the man...

Controlled experimental auctions can be used to elicit preferences for food products. We describe results from two series of experiments in which subjects revealed their willingness-to-pay for safer food. In one series, the risk reduction technology was not specified; in the other, it was identified as food irradiation. The results provide some evidence on the acceptability of food irradiation ...

Localization is the process of updating the pose of a robot in an environment, based on sensor readings. In this experimental study, we compare two recent methods for localization of indoor mobile robots: Markov localization, which uses a probability distribution across a grid of robot poses; and scan matching, which uses Kalman filtering techniques based on matching sensor scans. Both these te...

This experiment consists of determining the modal properties of a model structure. Many buildings in the practical world can be reasonably approximated by shear structures in which only one translational degree of freedom is taken into account for each floor level. Due to the simple characteristics of a shear structure, it is possible to determine its modal properties, such as the natural frequ...