How should discrepancy be assessed in perfectionism research? A psychometric analysis and proposed refinement of the Almost Perfect Scale–Revised

Research on perfectionism with the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised (APS-R) distinguishes adaptive perfectionists versus maladaptive perfectionists based primarily on their responses to the 12-item unidimensional APS-R discrepancy subscale, which assesses the sense of falling short of standards. People described as adaptive perfectionists have high standards but low levels of discrepancy (i.e., relatively close to attaining these standards). Maladaptive perfectionists have perfectionistic high standards and high levels of discrepancy. In the current work, we re-examine the psychometric properties of the APS-R discrepancy subscale and illustrate that this supposedly unidimensional discrepancy measure may actually consists of more than one factor. Psychometric analyses of data from student and community samples distinguished a pure fiveitem discrepancy factor and a second four-item factor measuring dissatisfaction. The five-item factor is recommended as a brief measure of discrepancy from perfection and the four-item factor is recommended as a measure of dissatisfaction with being imperfect. Overall, our results confirm past suggestions that most people with maladaptive perfectionism are characterized jointly by chronic dissatisfaction as well as a sense of being discrepant due to having fallen short of expectations. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the assessment of perfectionism, as well as the implications for research and practice

Report of the GDR working group on the R-parity violation

This report summarizes the work of the "R-parity violation group" of the French Research Network (GDR) in Supersymmetry, concerning the physics of supersymmetric models without conservation of R-parity at HERA, LEP, Tevatron and LHC and limits on R-parity violating couplings from various processes. The report includes a discussion of the recent searches at the HERA experiment, prospects for new experiments, a review of the existing limits, and also theoretically motivated alternatives to R-parity and a brief discussion on the implications of R-parity violation on the neutrino masses.Comment: 60 pages, LaTeX, 22 figures, 2 table

Shielding efficiency and E(J) characteristics measured on large melt cast Bi-2212 hollow cylinders in axial magnetic fields

We show that tubes of melt cast Bi-2212 used as current leads for LTS magnets can also act as efficient magnetic shields. The magnetic screening properties under an axial DC magnetic field are characterized at several temperatures below the liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K). Two main shielding properties are studied and compared with those of Bi-2223, a material that has been considered in the past for bulk magnetic shields. The first property is related to the maximum magnetic flux density that can be screened, Blim; it is defined as the applied magnetic flux density below which the field attenuation measured at the centre of the shield exceeds 1000. For a cylinder of Bi-2212 with a wall thickness of 5 mm and a large ratio of length over radius, Blim is evaluated to 1 T at T = 10 K. This value largely exceeds the Blim value measured at the same temperature on similar tubes of Bi-2223. The second shielding property that is characterized is the dependence of Blim with respect to variations of the sweep rate of the applied field, dBapp/dt. This dependence is interpreted in terms of the power law E = Ec(J/Jc)^n and allows us to determine the exponent n of this E(J) characteristics for Bi-2212. The characterization of the magnetic field relaxation involves very small values of the electric field. This gives us the opportunity to experimentally determine the E(J) law in an unexplored region of small electric fields. Combining these results with transport and AC shielding measurements, we construct a piecewise E(J) law that spans over 8 orders of magnitude of the electric field.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure