Unsolicited Opinions Research Articles

Attention, sentiments and emotions towards emerging climate technologies on Twitter

Public perception of emerging climate technologies, such as greenhouse gas removal (GGR) and solar radiation management (SRM), will strongly influence their future development and deployment. Studying perceptions of these technologies with traditional survey methods is challenging, because they are largely unknown to the public. Social media data provides a complementary line of evidence by allowing for retrospective analysis of how individuals share their unsolicited opinions. Our large-scale, comparative study of 1.5 million tweets covers 16 GGR and SRM technologies and uses state-of-the-art deep learning models to show how attention, and expressions of sentiment and emotion developed between 2006 and 2021. We find that in recent years, attention has shifted from general geoengineering themes to specific GGR methods. On the other hand, there is little attention to specific SRM technologies and they often coincide with conspiracy narratives. Sentiments and emotions in GGR tweets tend to be more positive, particularly for methods perceived to be natural, but are more negative when framed in the geoengineering context.

Questioning Marriage and Family Norms.

In Newlywed, a woman is stressed by unsolicited opinions and frequent insinuations that marriage inevitably leads to babies. She laments, "Even the pope's got an opinion!," in response to his suggestion that selfishness motivates couples who choose not to have children.

Hybrid preference assessment for tourism research using solicited and unsolicited opinions: an application in rural tourism

Social media analysis is a powerful tool for tourism research that, at a relatively low cost, can be used to manage and process large datasets of comments, ratings, and shares from different online communities. However, the heterogeneous nature of unsolicited opinions, the complexity of natural language assessment, and differences in the characteristics of social-data sources hinder the accurate assessment of preferences. Likewise, the use of solicited data sources, such as direct polling, is typically resource-intensive, time-consuming, and geographically limited. We analyze a hybrid approach that combines active polling with passive social media analysis to rate tourist experience. To this end, we present a novel multiple criteria decision analysis model for preference-extraction from solicited and unsolicited data. The proposed approach can significantly reduce the number of polls required to accurately assess the preferences of a community, especially when surveying rural destinations, which are sparsely populated geographic areas situated outside cities and towns.

The Dual Role of Power in Resisting Social Influence

This article maintains that power enhances consumers’ ability to resist social influence but produces different resistance outcomes, depending on the level of certainty with which consumers hold their own attitudes. When attitude certainty is high, empowered consumers resist social influence by discounting others’ opinions. When attitude certainty is low, empowered consumers intentionally diverge from others’ opinions to signal their independence. Data from the first two experiments provide consistent support for the dual impact of power. The last two experiments examine the processes leading to the reactant response. Experiment 3 finds that the experience of uncertainty weakens empowered consumers’ confidence in their sense of power, leading them to perceive others’ unsolicited opinions as a threat to their autonomy, which then triggers the reactant response. Finally, consistent with a self-presentation interpretation of reactance, experiment 4 finds that power leads to reactance when evaluations are public but not when they are private.

Rating Competition and Structured Finance

As subprime mortgage losses cascade throughout the global financial system, attention has turned to the structure and performance of the bond rating industry. Faulty ratings on securities backed by subprime mortgages are believed responsible for billions of dollars in losses. This article argues that any such faulty ratings are due in part to conflicts inherent in the issuer-pays rating agency business model. Such conflicts, when combined with existing structured finance practices, have led to widespread rating shopping. Efforts to increase competition among rating agencies may exacerbate the problem unless fundamental changes occur in the structured finance area, particularly in attitudes toward unsolicited ratings. Competitive forces will not improve the quality of ratings until every competitor has the ability to offer an unsolicited opinion. Regulatory authorities must insist that future structured finance transactions be sufficiently transparent in their structure and in the details of the underlying collateral that any rating agency may offer a credible opinion, regardless whether it was selected by the originator. <b>TOPICS:</b>Exchanges/markets/clearinghouses, legal and regulatory issues for structured finance, legal/regulatory/public policy

Des usagers sceptiques face aux médicaments génériques : une approche anthropologique

Background Since the enactment of the 2002 legislative measures favoring the prescription of generic drugs, various quantitative studies have shown that approval by prescribers and users has risen in France. Nevertheless, scepticism remains as well as distrust towards these drugs focusing on their effectiveness compared with brand-name drugs, on potential dangers, and on the interruption they cause in prescription and consumption habits. Using a comprehensive approach, this article analyzes the social and cultural logic behind the negative image of generic drugs. Methods The materials issued from an ethnographic study on the prescription of drugs for high blood pressure. Sixty-eight interviews were undertaken between April 2002 and October 2004 with people (39 women and 29 men, between the age of 40 and 95, 52 over the age of 60) treated for over a year for high blood pressure in rural areas in the Southeast of France. Thirteen people provided unsolicited opinions about generic drugs. Results Analysis of the information collected shows that users have various representations of generic drugs, including the idea of counterfeited and foreign drugs. These representations interfere with the adjustment process and the development of consumer loyalty. They are part of a set of social representations about drugs which form and express the user's reality. In these representations, the drug is an ambivalent object, carrier of both biological effectiveness and toxicity; it is also the metonymical extension of the prescriber, bestowing upon the prescription a symbolic value. Conclusion By placing the generic drug in its network of symbolic and social meaning, this study highlights the coherence of the scepticism towards generic drugs by consumers (and prescribers) with a system of common opinion in which drugs are everyday things, personalized and compatible with users, symbolic exchange carriers in the physician-patient relationship, and in which confidence in the drug is also that given to the health care system in general.

The Value of Certification as a Critical Care Nurse An Unsolicited Opinion

The Value of Certification as a Critical Care Nurse An Unsolicited Opinion

Diversion of mentally disordered offenders: a legitimate role for clinicians?

Consultations to the courts often extend beyond criminal competencies and may include implicit statements regarding the diversion of mentally disordered offenders to treatment facilities. Arguments for diversion are based on humanitarian interests and treatment needs. Arguments opposing diversion recommendations emphasize (a) the variability of opinions regarding treatability, (b) the lack of sufficient outcome data, and (c) the potential for negative consequences in offering unsolicited opinions on diversion. Initial data from 271 pretrial evaluations underscore the range in psychiatric use of diversion recommendations, although inpatient referrals in particular appear to be based on clinical status.

"The Gods Must Be Crazy": Unsolicited Opinions

"The Gods Must Be Crazy": Unsolicited Opinions