Developmental Level of Moral Judgment Influences Behavioral Patterns during Moral Decision-making

We developed and tested a behavioral version of the Defining Issues Test-1 revised (DIT-1r), which is a measure of the development of moral judgment. We conducted a behavioral experiment using the behavioral Defining Issues Test (bDIT) to examine the relationship between participants’ moral developmental status, moral competence, and reaction time when making moral judgments. We found that when the judgments were made based on the preferred moral schema, the reaction time for moral judgments was significantly moderated by the moral developmental status. In addition, as a participant becomes more confident with moral judgment, the participant differentiates the preferred versus other schemas better particularly when the participant’s abilities for moral judgment are more developed

Measuring Moral Reasoning using Moral Dilemmas: Evaluating Reliability, Validity, and Differential Item Functioning of the Behavioral Defining Issues Test (bDIT)

We evaluated the reliability, validity, and differential item functioning (DIF) of a shorter version of the Defining Issues Test-1 (DIT-1), the behavioral DIT (bDIT), measuring the development of moral reasoning. 353 college students (81 males, 271 females, 1 not reported; age M = 18.64 years, SD = 1.20 years) who were taking introductory psychology classes at a public University in a suburb area in the Southern United States participated in the present study. First, we examined the reliability of the bDIT using Cronbach’s α and its concurrent validity with the original DIT-1 using disattenuated correlation. Second, we compared the test duration between the two measures. Third, we tested the DIF of each question between males and females. Findings reported that first, the bDIT showed acceptable reliability and good concurrent validity. Second, the test duration could be significantly shortened by employing the bDIT. Third, DIF results indicated that the bDIT items did not favour any gender. Practical implications of the present study based on the reported findings are discussed

Ward Identities in Non-equilibrium QED

We verify the QED Ward identity for the two- and three -point functions at non-equilibrium in the HTL limit. We use the Keldysh formalism of real time finite temperature field theory. We obtain an identity of the same form as the Ward identity for a set of one loop self-energy and one loop three-point vertex diagrams which are constructed from HTL effective propagators and vertices.Comment: 19 pages, RevTex, 4 PostScript figures, revised version to be published in Phys. Rev.

The Quark-Gluon-Plasma Liquid

The quark-gluon plasma close to the critical temperature is a strongly interacting system. Using strongly coupled, classical, non-relativistic plasmas as an analogy, we argue that the quark-gluon plasma is in the liquid phase. This allows to understand experimental observations in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions and to interpret lattice QCD results. It also supports the indications of the presence of a strongly coupled QGP in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, final version, to bepublished in J. Phys.

Large harmonic softening of the phonon density of states of uranium

Phonon density-of-states curves were obtained from inelastic neutron scattering spectra from the three crystalline phases of uranium at temperatures from 50 to 1213 K. The alpha -phase showed an unusually large thermal softening of phonon frequencies. Analysis of the vibrational power spectrum showed that this phonon softening originates with the softening of a harmonic solid, as opposed to vibrations in anharmonic potentials. It follows that thermal excitations of electronic states are more significant thermodynamically than are the classical volume effects. For the alpha-beta and beta-gamma phase transitions, vibrational and electronic entropies were comparable

Kinetics and Mechanism of the Reaction between Chromium(III) and 3,4-Dihydroxy-Phenyl-Propenoic Acid (Caffeic Acid) in Weak Acidic Aqueous Solutions

Our study of the complexation of 3,4-dihydroxy-phenyl-propenoic acid by chromium(III) could give information on the way that this metal ion is available to plants. The reaction between chromium(III) and 3,4-dihydroxy-phenyl-propenoic acid in weak acidic aqueous solutions has been shown to take place by at least three stages. The first stage corresponds to substitution (Id mechanism) of water molecule from the Cr(H2O)5OH2+ coordination sphere by a ligand molecule. A very rapid protonation equilibrium, which follows, favors the aqua species. The second and the third stages are chromium(III) and ligand concentration independent and are attributed to isomerisation and chelation processes. The corresponding activation parameters are ΔH2(obs)≠ = 28.6 ± 2.9 kJ mol−1, ΔS2(obs)≠ = −220 ± 10 J K−1mol−1, ΔH3(obs)≠ = 62.9 ± 6.7 kJ mol−1 and ΔS3(obs)≠ = −121 ± 22 J K−1mol−1. The kinetic results suggest associative mechanisms for the two steps. The associatively activated substitution processes are accompanied by proton release causing pH decrease

Kinetics and Mechanism of the Reaction between Chromium(III) and 2,3-Dihydroxybenzoic Acid in Weak Acidic Aqueous Solutions

The reaction between chromium(III) and 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid (2,3-DHBA) takes place in at least three stages, involving various intermediates. The ligand (2,3-DHBA)-to-chromium(III) ratio in the final product of the reaction is 1 : 1. The first stage is suggested to be the reaction of [Cr(H2O)5(OH)]2+ with the ligand in weak acidic aqueous solutions that follows an Id mechanism. The second and third stages do not depend on the concentrations of chromium(III), and their activation parameters are ΔH≠2(obs) = 61.2 ± 3.1 kJmol−1, ΔS≠2(obs) = −91.1 ± 11.0 JK−1mol−1, ΔH≠3(obs) = 124.5 ± 8.7 kJmol−1, and ΔS≠3(obs) = 95.1 ± 29.0 JK−1mol−1. These two stages are proposed to proceed via associative mechanisms. The positive value of ΔS≠3(obs) can be explained by the opening of a four-membered ring (positive entropy change) and the breaking of a hydrogen bond (positive entropy change) at the associative step of the replacement of the carboxyl group by the hydroxyl group at the chromium(III) center (negative entropy change in associative mechanisms). The reactions are accompanied by proton release, as shown by the pH decrease

Covariant transport approach for strongly interacting partonic systems

The dynamics of partons, hadrons and strings in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions is analyzed within the novel Parton-Hadron-String Dynamics (PHSD) transport approach, which is based on a dynamical quasiparticle model for partons (DQPM) matched to reproduce recent lattice-QCD results - including the partonic equation of state - in thermodynamic equilibrium. Scalar- and vector-interaction densities are extracted from the DQPM as well as effective scalar- and vector-mean fields for the partons. The transition from partonic to hadronic degrees of freedom is described by covariant transition rates for the fusion of quark-antiquark pairs or three quarks (antiquarks), respectively, obeying flavor current-conservation, color neutrality as well as energy-momentum conservation. Since the dynamical quarks and antiquarks become very massive close to the phase transition, the formed resonant 'pre-hadronic' color-dipole states ($q\bar{q}$ or $qqq$) are of high invariant mass, too, and sequentially decay to the groundstate meson and baryon octets increasing the total entropy. When applying the PHSD approach to Pb+Pb colllisions at 158 A$\cdot$GeV we find a significant effect of the partonic phase on the production of multi-strange antibaryons due to a slightly enhanced $s{\bar s}$ pair production from massive time-like gluon decay and a larger formation of antibaryons in the hadronization process.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, to be published in the Proceedings of the 26th Winter Workshop on `Nuclear Dynamics', Ochto Rios, Jamaica, 2-9 January, 2010

Anti-galectin-3 peptides increase apoptosis in galectin-3 expressing human breast cancer cells

Abstract only availableA critical factor in the proliferation and the metastatic nature of carcinoma cells appears to be their resistance to natural programmed cell death (apoptosis). However, the molecular mechanisms that enable carcinoma cells to become resistant to cell death are unclear. Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is a protein that is found at elevated levels in a variety of primary and metastatic tumor cells that may play a key role in chemo-resistance and proliferation of carcinoma cells. Gal-3 has also been found to play a key role in the regulation of common apoptosis commitment pathways. Therefore, we hypothesize that peptides, which bind to and inhibit Gal-3 functions, could be used to reduce the anti-apoptotic activity of Gal-3 thus increasing the occurrence of cell death in carcinoma cells. Two cell lines were cultured, the human breast cancer cell line BT549 and a Gal-3-transfected derivative of BT549 (BT549/V). After undergoing apoptosis induction with 0.5 M staurosporine, apoptosis markers were detected fluorescently using flow cytometry. Our preliminary data suggests that, in the absence of anti-galectin-3 peptides, the parent BT549 cell line exhibits mitochondrial damage (decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential as detected by using MitoTracker Red fluorescence) by 6 hours of staurosporine treatment, whereas the BT549/V cell line shows little change in MitoTracker Red fluorescence even after 8 hours of apoptosis induction. A similar pattern is observed when changes in MitoTracker Red fluorescence are correlated with changes in phosphatidylserine translocation from the inner to outer surface of the plasma membrane. The current data suggest that cells transfected with Gal-3 have an increased rate of survival after apoptosis induction. In the next phase of this ongoing project, flow cytometric studies of changes in membrane permeability and DNA damage in parent and galectin-3 transfected BT549 cells will be conducted to further define the time-dependent apoptotic response of the BT549 parent versus BT549/V cells. Finally, we will observe and compare the effect of anti-Gal-3 peptides on induction of apoptosis in these two cell lines in order to determine if Gal-3 plays a key role in the anti-apoptotic nature of carcinoma cells and to test if anti-Gal-3 peptides are efficacious in inhibiting the anti-apoptotic functions of Gal-3.Molecular Imaging Progra