Moralization and the 2012 U.S. presidential election campaign

People vary in the extent to which they imbue an attitude with moral conviction; however, little is known about what makes an issue transform from a relatively non-moral preference to a moral conviction. In the context of the 2012 U.S. presidential election, we test if affect and beliefs (thoughts about harms and benefits) are antecedents or consequences of participants’ moral conviction about their candidate preferences, or are some combination of both. Using a longitudinal design in the run-up to the election, we find that, overall, affect is both an antecedent and consequence, and beliefs about harms and benefits are only consequences, of changes in moral conviction related to candidate preferences. The affect results were consistent across liberals, conservatives, and moderates; however, the role of beliefs showed some differences between ideologues (liberals and conservatives) and moderates. Keywords: moral conviction; affect; hostility; enthusiasm; political psycholog

General principles of monitoring land cover change based on two case studies in Britain and Denmark

There is a well-established need to monitor land use and ecological change so that appropriate policies for the maintenance and enhancement of biodiversity can be developed. By building such exercises around sound scientific principles the reliabilityof the results can be quantified and policy makers can have confidence that they are genuinely independent. This paper describes two case studies of the development of such systems, the Small Biotope project of Denmark and the Countryside Survey project of Great Britain. These systems illustrate the problems involved in studies at the landscape level and the way satisfactory results can be achieved. Monitoring is considered to be effectively repeated surveillance and needs especially strict protocols toseparate real change from the artefacts of sampling. The lessons to be learnt from these studies are summarised as a number of guidelines

Moral punishment in everyday life

The present research investigated event-related, contextual, demographic, and dispositional predictors of the desire to punish perpetrators of immoral deeds in daily life, as well as connections among the desire to punish, moral emotions, and momentary well-being. The desire to punish was reliably predicted by linear gradients of social closeness to both the perpetrator (negative relationship) and the victim (positive relationship). Older rather than younger adults, conservatives rather than people with other political orientations, and individuals high rather than low in moral identity desired to punish perpetrators more harshly. The desire to punish was related to state anger, disgust, and embarrassment, and these were linked to lower momentary well-being. However, the negative effect of these emotions on well-being was partially compensated by a positive indirect pathway via heightened feelings of moral self-worth. Implications of the present field data for moral punishment research and the connection between morality and well-being are discussed. Keywords: Morality, Moral Punishment, Experience Sampling, Social Closenes

Orbital Kondo behavior from dynamical structural defects

The interaction between an atom moving in a model double-well potential and the conduction electrons is treated using renormalization group methods in next-to-leading logarithmic order. A large number of excited states is taken into account and the Kondo temperature $T_K$ is computed as a function of barrier parameters. We find that for special parameters $T_K$ can be close to $1 {\rm K}$ and it can be of the same order of magnitude as the renormalized splitting $\Delta$. However, in the perturbative regime we always find that T_K \alt \Delta with a T_K \alt 1 {\rm K} [Aleiner {\em et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 86}, 2629 (2001)]. We also find that $\Delta$ remains unrenormalized at energies above the Debye frequency, $\omega_{\rm Debye}$.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, RevTe

Enhancement of long-range magnetic order by magnetic field in superconducting La2CuO(4+y)

We report a detailed study, using neutron scattering, transport and magnetization measurements, of the interplay between superconducting (SC) and spin density wave (SDW) order in La2CuO(4+y). Both kinds of order set in below the same critical temperature. However, the SDW order grows with applied magnetic field, whereas SC order is suppressed. Most importantly, the field dependence of the SDW Bragg peak intensity has a cusp at zero field, as predicted by a recent theory of competing SDW and SC order. This leads us to conclude that there is a repulsive coupling between the two order parameters. The question of whether the two kinds of order coexist or microscopically phase separate is discussed.Comment: Version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B. Improved discussion in connection with the muSR result

Lymphovascular and perineural invasion as selection criteria for adjuvant therapy in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: a multi-institution analysis

AbstractObjectivesCriteria for the selection of patients for adjuvant chemotherapy in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (IHCC) are lacking. Some authors advocate treating patients with lymph node (LN) involvement; however, nodal assessment is often inadequate or not performed. This study aimed to identify surrogate criteria based on characteristics of the primary tumour.MethodsA total of 58 patients who underwent resection for IHCC between January 2000 and January 2010 at any of three institutions were identified. Primary outcome was overall survival (OS).ResultsMedian OS was 23.0months. Median tumour size was 6.5cm and the median number of lesions was one. Overall, 16% of patients had positive margins, 38% had perineural invasion (PNI), 40% had lymphovascular invasion (LVI) and 22% had LN involvement. A median of two LNs were removed and a median of zero were positive. Lymph nodes were not sampled in 34% of patients. Lymphovascular and perineural invasion were associated with reduced OS [9.6months vs. 32.7months (P= 0.020) and 10.7months vs. 32.7months (P= 0.008), respectively]. Lymph node involvement indicated a trend towards reduced OS (10.7months vs. 30.0months; P= 0.063). The presence of either LVI or PNI in node-negative patients was associated with a reduction in OS similar to that in node-positive patients (12.1months vs. 10.7months; P= 0.541). After accounting for adverse tumour factors, only LVI and PNI remained associated with decreased OS on multivariate analysis (hazard ratio4.07, 95% confidence interval 1.60–10.40; P= 0.003).ConclusionsLymphovascular and perineural invasion are separately associated with a reduction in OS similar to that in patients with LN-positive disease. As nodal dissection is often not performed and the number of nodes retrieved is frequently inadequate, these tumour-specific factors should be considered as criteria for selection for adjuvant chemotherapy

N-body simulations of gravitational dynamics

We describe the astrophysical and numerical basis of N-body simulations, both of collisional stellar systems (dense star clusters and galactic centres) and collisionless stellar dynamics (galaxies and large-scale structure). We explain and discuss the state-of-the-art algorithms used for these quite different regimes, attempt to give a fair critique, and point out possible directions of future improvement and development. We briefly touch upon the history of N-body simulations and their most important results.Comment: invited review (28 pages), to appear in European Physics Journal Plu

Putting context to numbers : a geotechnical risk trajectory to cost overrun extremism

The study investigates the cause of the unusually high cost overruns experienced in highway project delivery in the tropical wetland setting of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. This is in view of the extensive literature supporting the link between geology, the lack of geotechnical best practices and cost overruns. An empirical profiling of cost overrun research further reveals the predominance of mono-method studies based on survey methods, correlative analysis and archival data modelling techniques, all of which are underlain by positivism. The study argues that such positivist philosophies, although methodologically valid, cannot adequately explain and provide in-depth understanding of the contextual cost overrun drivers in highway organisations., Using a robust and thoughtfully designed mix of methods, the paper examines the contribution of geotechnical risks to cost overruns experienced in highway project, and demonstrates the relevance of context in cost overrun research. Cost overrun data from documentary sources for 61 completed highway projects in the Niger Delta are gathered and analysed, revealing an average value of 216%, with extreme cases, ranging up to 1925% of budgeted cost. To uncover the intrinsic contextual drivers, 16 interviews were conducted with participants from the three highway agencies in the region, responsible for the execution of the sampled highway projects. Adopting a geotechnical narrative, the data is thematically analysed, deductively and inductively. The results of the analysis identified that poor project governance, management and procurement practices, have inhibited the competent management of geotechnical risk, creating a propensity for extreme cost overruns on the highway projects. The study submits the phenomenon of cost overruns in public infrastructure projects is underlain by a complexity of contextual social constructs, which would have been overlooked in positivists studies. Cost overrun research therefore, needs to be contextually and numerically anchored. Keywords: Context, Cost overruns, Highway projects, Mixed methods, Social Construct

A Full-Depth Amalgamated Parallel 3D Geometric Multigrid Solver for GPU Clusters

Numerical computations of incompressible flow equations with pressure-based algorithms necessitate the solution of an elliptic Poisson equation, for which multigrid methods are known to be very efficient. In our previous work we presented a dual-level (MPI-CUDA) parallel implementation of the Navier-Stokes equations to simulate buoyancy-driven incompressible fluid flows on GPU clusters with simple iterative methods while focusing on the scalability of the overall solver. In the present study we describe the implementation and performance of a multigrid method to solve the pressure Poisson equation within our MPI-CUDA parallel incompressible flow solver. Various design decisions and algorithmic choices for multigrid methods are explored in light of NVIDIA’s recent Fermi architecture. We discuss how unique aspects of an MPI-CUDA implementation for GPU clusters is related to the software choices made to implement the multigrid method. We propose a new coarse grid solution method of embedded multigrid with amalgamation and show that the parallel implementation retains the numerical efficiency of the multigrid method. Performance measurements on the NCSA Lincoln and TACC Longhorn clusters are presented for up to 64 GPUs