The Combined Roles of Moral Emotion and Moral Rules in Explaining Acts of Violence Using a Situational Action Theory Perspective

The roles of shame and guilt, and their relationships to empathy, have not been modeled adequately as key factors in moral decision-making in the study of violence. The role of moral emotion has been neglected in existing criminological research and this study seeks to develop current explanations of the comprehensive myriad of factors that play a role in moral crime decision-making. This research will test the different roles of empathy, shame, and guilt in violence decision-making using a situational action theory (SAT) perspective. Data taken from the Peterborough Adolescent and Young Adult Development Study (PADS+), a longitudinal study with a large representative sample, provide quantitative questionnaire indices to enable comparison of a persistent and frequent violent offender subsample (N = 48) with the remaining PADS+ study sample (N = 607). A striking majority of violent offenders report that they do not think it is wrong to commit violence, and do not care about it, that is, they lack shame and guilt, and report that violence comes as a morally acceptable and natural action alternative. Furthermore, violent offenders do not register the predicament of their victims; there is a distinct lack of empathy. This article demonstrates a key finding which has rarely been explored to date; regression analyses reveal an interaction effect whereby individuals with weak shame and guilt, combined specifically with weak moral rules, are more likely to commit acts of violence. The study findings provide strong support for the SAT of the role of weak morality in violence decision-making. To reduce the possibility of crime being seen as an action alternative, moral development programs should be developed and administered in childhood

Superweakly interacting dark matter from the Minimal Walking Technicolor

We study a superweakly interacting dark matter particle motivated by minimal walking technicolor theories. Our WIMP is a mixture of a sterile state and a state with the charges of a standard model fourth family neutrino. We show that the model can give the right amount of dark matter over a range of the WIMP mass and mixing angle. We compute bounds on the model parameters from the current accelerator data including the oblique corrections to the precision electroweak parameters, as well as from cryogenic experiments, Super-Kamiokande and from the IceCube experiment. We show that consistent dark matter solutions exist which satisfy all current constraints. However, almost the entire parameter range of the model lies within the the combined reach of the next generation experiments.Comment: 29 pages, 6 figure

Victimization, crime propensity and deviance: a multinational test of general strain theory

General Strain Theory (GST) identifies victimization as one of the strains most strongly related to crime which, like other sources of strain, is moderated by individual and social factors. Recently, Agnew (2013) extended the theorization of coping strategies by proposing that the effects of strain on deviance are conditioned by individual and social factors in combination, rather than singly, which he labelled crime propensity. Tests of the propensity hypothesis have so far yielded mixed results, highlighting the value of additional studies. Whereas previous tests have focused on single countries, either in North America or Asia, we test the propensity hypothesis using data on adolescents in 25 countries collected through the International Self-Report Delinquency Study (ISRD3; n= 57,760). A series of OLS regressions show that the relationship between victimization and delinquency/substance use is conditioned by the effects of individuals’ crime propensity, thereby supporting the recent extension to GST

Developing and validating an experience sampling measure of aggression:The Aggression-ES Scale

Experience sampling methodologies are likely to play an important role in advancing our understanding of momentary influences on aggression, including short-term antecedent psychological states and situations. In this study, we evaluate whether a newly developed experiencing sampling measure of aggression, the Aggression Experience Sampler (Aggression-ES), provides a valid and reliable measure of aggression in experience sampling contexts. Participants were a convenience sample of 23 young adults recruited from the local University community. Data were collected using an experience sampling smartphone application over 8 days. They were analyzed using multilevel structural equation modeling. Our results support the within- and between-person reliability and the criterion validity of the Aggression-ES. The Aggression-ES represents a good choice of measure for use in experience sampling studies of aggression. Further work in other samples will help to provide further validity evidence for the measure

Calibration and Characterization of the IceCube Photomultiplier Tube

Over 5,000 PMTs are being deployed at the South Pole to compose the IceCube neutrino observatory. Many are placed deep in the ice to detect Cherenkov light emitted by the products of high-energy neutrino interactions, and others are frozen into tanks on the surface to detect particles from atmospheric cosmic ray showers. IceCube is using the 10-inch diameter R7081-02 made by Hamamatsu Photonics. This paper describes the laboratory characterization and calibration of these PMTs before deployment. PMTs were illuminated with pulses ranging from single photons to saturation level. Parameterizations are given for the single photoelectron charge spectrum and the saturation behavior. Time resolution, late pulses and afterpulses are characterized. Because the PMTs are relatively large, the cathode sensitivity uniformity was measured. The absolute photon detection efficiency was calibrated using Rayleigh-scattered photons from a nitrogen laser. Measured characteristics are discussed in the context of their relevance to IceCube event reconstruction and simulation efforts.Comment: 40 pages, 12 figure

Nanoparticle–membrane interactions

Engineered nanomaterials have a wide range of applications and as a result, are increasingly present in the environment. While they offer new technological opportunities, there is also the potential for adverse impact, in particular through possible toxicity. In this review, we discuss the current state of the art in the experimental characterisation of nanoparticle-membrane interactions relevant to the prediction of toxicity arising from disruption of biological systems. One key point of discussion is the urgent need for more quantitative studies of nano-bio interactions in experimental models of lipid system that mimic in vivo membranes

Detection of Atmospheric Muon Neutrinos with the IceCube 9-String Detector

The IceCube neutrino detector is a cubic kilometer TeV to PeV neutrino detector under construction at the geographic South Pole. The dominant population of neutrinos detected in IceCube is due to meson decay in cosmic-ray air showers. These atmospheric neutrinos are relatively well-understood and serve as a calibration and verification tool for the new detector. In 2006, the detector was approximately 10% completed, and we report on data acquired from the detector in this configuration. We observe an atmospheric neutrino signal consistent with expectations, demonstrating that the IceCube detector is capable of identifying neutrino events. In the first 137.4 days of livetime, 234 neutrino candidates were selected with an expectation of 211 +/- 76.1(syst.) +/- 14.5(stat.) events from atmospheric neutrinos

On the selection of AGN neutrino source candidates for a source stacking analysis with neutrino telescopes

The sensitivity of a search for sources of TeV neutrinos can be improved by grouping potential sources together into generic classes in a procedure that is known as source stacking. In this paper, we define catalogs of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and use them to perform a source stacking analysis. The grouping of AGN into classes is done in two steps: first, AGN classes are defined, then, sources to be stacked are selected assuming that a potential neutrino flux is linearly correlated with the photon luminosity in a certain energy band (radio, IR, optical, keV, GeV, TeV). Lacking any secure detailed knowledge on neutrino production in AGN, this correlation is motivated by hadronic AGN models, as briefly reviewed in this paper. The source stacking search for neutrinos from generic AGN classes is illustrated using the data collected by the AMANDA-II high energy neutrino detector during the year 2000. No significant excess for any of the suggested groups was found.Comment: 43 pages, 12 figures, accepted by Astroparticle Physic