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

Ambivalence of the anisotropy of the vortex lattice in an anisotropic type-II superconductor

We present a geometry-based discussion of possible vortex configurations in the mixed state of anisotropic type-II superconductors. It is shown that, if energy considerations assign six nearest neighbors to each vortex, two distinct modifications of the vortex lattice are possible. It is expected that certain conditions lead to a first order phase transition from one modification of the vortex lattice to the other upon varying the external magnetic field.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figure

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

Instabilities in the Flux Line Lattice of Anisotropic Superconductors

The stability of the flux line lattice has been investigated within anisotropic London theory. This is the first full-scale investigation of instabilities in the `chain' state. It has been found that the lattice is stable at large fields, but that instabilities occur as the field is reduced. The field at which these instabilities first arise, $b^*(\epsilon,\theta)$, depends on the anisotropy $\epsilon$ and the angle $\theta$ at which the lattice is tilted away from the $c$-axis. These instabilities initially occur at wavevector $k^*(\epsilon,\theta)$, and the component of $k^*$ along the average direction of the flux lines, $k_z$, is always finite. As the instability occurs at finite $k_z$ the dependence of the cutoff on $k_z$ is important, and we have used a cutoff suggested by Sudb\ospace and Brandt. The instabilities only occur for values of the anisotropy $\epsilon$ appropriate to a material like BSCCO, and not for anisotropies more appropriate to YBCO. The lower critical field $H_{c_1}(\phi)$ is calculated as a function of the angle $\phi$ at which the applied field is tilted away from the crystal axis. The presence of kinks in $H_{c_1}(\phi)$ is seen to be related to instabilities in the equilibrium flux line structure.Comment: Extensively revised paper, with modified analysis of elastic instabilities. Calculation of the lower critical field is included, and the presence of kinks in $H_{c_1}$ is seen to be related to the elastic instabilities. 29 pages including 16 figures, LaTeX with epsf styl

Regularisation, the BV method, and the antibracket cohomology

We review the Lagrangian Batalin--Vilkovisky method for gauge theories. This includes gauge fixing, quantisation and regularisation. We emphasize the role of cohomology of the antibracket operation. Our main example is $d=2$ gravity, for which we also discuss the solutions for the cohomology in the space of local integrals. This leads to the most general form for the action, for anomalies and for background charges.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX, Preprint-KUL-TF-94/2

Формирование супружеской дезадаптации при сексуальном фобическом неврозе у мужа

Освещены причины, условия формирования и клинические проявления вторичной супружеской дезадаптации при сексуальном фобическом неврозе у мужа. Показана роль биогенных, социогенных и негативных психологических факторов в генезе связанной с рассмотренной формой сексуального расстройства супружеской дезадаптации.The causes, conditions of forming and clinical manifestations of secondary spouse deadaptation in sexual phobic neurosis in the husband are described. The role of biogenic, sociogenic and negative mental factors in the development of spouse deadaptation associated with this form of a sexual disorder is shown

Alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, and endometrial cancer risk: results from the Netherlands Cohort Study

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, and endometrial cancer. METHODS: In 1986, the Netherlands Cohort Study was initiated. A self-administered questionnaire on dietary habits and other cancer risk factors was completed by 62,573 women. Follow-up for cancer was established by record linkage to the Netherlands Cancer Registry. RESULTS: After 11.3-years of follow-up, 280 incident endometrial cancer cases were available for analyses. In multivariate analysis, the rate ratio (RR) for alcohol users versus non-users was 1.06 (95% Confidence Interval (95% CI) = 0.78–1.43). There were neither dose-dependent trends nor associations with different types of beverages. The RR for former and current smokers versus never-smokers was 0.83 (95% CI = 0.58–1.20) and 0.59 (95% CI = 0.40–0.88), respectively. These estimates did not change significantly when body mass index (BMI) and age at menopause were added to the models. CONCLUSIONS: There is no association between alcohol consumption and endometrial cancer. Current smoking is associated with a reduced risk of endometrial cancer. This association is neither mediated by BMI nor by age at menopause

Anthropometry and Pancreatic Cancer Risk: An Illustration of the Importance of Microscopic Verification

Using data collected of a large population-based cohort study, we studied the association between anthropometric factors and the risk of pancreatic cancer. Furthermore, we investigated whether these associations differ among microscopically confirmed pancreatic cancer (MCPC) cases and non-MCPC (NMCPC) cases. The Netherlands Cohort Study on Diet and Cancer started in 1986 (120,852 men and women) and uses the case-cohort methodology. After 13.3 years of follow-up, 446 pancreatic cancer cases (of which 65% was microscopically confirmed) and 4,774 subcohort members were available for analysis. The multivariable incidence rate ratio of MCPC of men was 1.10 per increment of 1 kg·m-2 (95% confidence interval, 1.04-1.18). Women had a rate ratio of MCPC of 1.08 (95% confidence interval, 1.03-1.13). Obese men [body mass index (BMI) ≥30 kg·m-2] had a 2.6-fold increased risk of MCPC compared with men with BMI 23 to 25 kg·m-2. For women, this increase in risk was 1.7-fold. Change in BMI between age 20 years and baseline was also associated with MCPC in both men and women. In men and women, none of these associations were observed for NMCPC, with the exception of the increased risk for pancreatic cancer in obese men. We observed statistically significant associations between both BMI, gain in BMI, and pancreatic cancer risk. These associations are observed only in MCPC and not in NMCPC. If MCPC and NMCPC had been considered as one group, the reported associations would not have been detected. These findings stress the need to evaluate heterogeneity among pancreatic cancer cases in etiologic studies. Copyright © 2007 American Association for Cancer Research