Can We Compare Attitudes Towards Crime Around the World? Assessing Measurement Invariance of the Morally Debatable Behavior Scale Across 44 Countries

Objectives: We aim to encourage scholars who conduct cross-national criminological studies to routinely assess measurement invariance (MI), that is, verify if multi-item instruments that capture latent constructs are conceptualized and understood similarily across different populations. To promote the adoption of MI tests, we present an analytical protocol, including an annotated R script and output file. We implement the protocol and, doing so, document the first test of configural, metric, and scalar invariance of the three-factor Morally Debatable Behavior Scale (MDBS). // Methods: We worked with data from wave seven of the World Values Survey (WVS). Applying multi-group confirmatory factor analyses, we, first, explored invariance of the MDBS in 44 countries (N = 59,482). Next, we conducted analyses separately for seven South-american, six South-east Asian, six East-asian, two North American and Australasian, and all four Anglophone countries. // Results: The MDBS displays an overall lack of invariance. However, we confirmed configural invariance of the MDBS for the South-east Asian sample, metric invariance in the sample of Anglophone countries, and scalar invariance for the Australasian and North American countries. // Conclusions: Wave seven of the WVS can be used for latent mean score comparisons of the MDBS between the Australasian and North American countries. Associative relationships can be compared in the larger Anglophone sub-sample. Taken together, MI must be tested, and cannot be assumed, even when analyzing data from countries for which previous research has established cultural similarities. Our protocol and practical recommendations guide researchers in this process

The classical nature of nuclear spin noise near clock transitions of Bi donors in silicon

Whether a quantum bath can be approximated as classical noise is a fundamental issue in central spin decoherence and also of practical importance in designing noise-resilient quantum control. Spin qubits based on bismuth donors in silicon have tunable interactions with nuclear spin baths and are first-order insensitive to magnetic noise at so-called clock-transitions (CTs). This system is therefore ideal for studying the quantum/classical nature of nuclear spin baths since the qubit-bath interaction strength determines the back-action on the baths and hence the adequacy of a classical noise model. We develop a Gaussian noise model with noise correlations determined by quantum calculations and compare the classical noise approximation to the full quantum bath theory. We experimentally test our model through dynamical decoupling sequence of up to 128 pulses, finding good agreement with simulations and measuring electron spin coherence times approaching one second - notably using natural silicon. Our theoretical and experimental study demonstrates that the noise from a nuclear spin bath is analogous to classical Gaussian noise if the back-action of the qubit on the bath is small compared to the internal bath dynamics, as is the case close to CTs. However, far from the CTs, the back-action of the central spin on the bath is such that the quantum model is required to accurately model spin decoherence.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Uncovering many-body correlations in nanoscale nuclear spin baths by central spin decoherence

Many-body correlations can yield key insights into the nature of interacting systems; however, detecting them is often very challenging in many-particle physics, especially in nanoscale systems. Here, taking a phosphorus donor electron spin in a natural-abundance 29Si nuclear spin bath as our model system, we discover both theoretically and experimentally that many-body correlations in nanoscale nuclear spin baths produce identifiable signatures in the decoherence of the central spin under multiple-pulse dynamical decoupling control. We find that when the number of decoupling -pulses is odd, central spin decoherence is primarily driven by second-order nuclear spin correlations (pairwise flip-flop processes). In contrast, when the number of -pulses is even, fourth-order nuclear spin correlations (diagonal interaction renormalized pairwise flip-flop processes) are principally responsible for the central spin decoherence. Many-body correlations of different orders can thus be selectively detected by central spin decoherence under different dynamical decoupling controls, providing a useful approach to probing many-body processes in nanoscale nuclear spin baths

Determining Temperatures of Deformation in Mylonites from the Scandinavian Caledonides, with Implications for the Thermal and Kinematic Evolution of Orogens

The Titanium-in-quartz (TitaniQ) thermobarometer was evaluated in ductilely sheared rocks (mylonites) from the Scandinavian Caledonides in comparison with several other thermometric methods, including: (1) TitaniQ thermometry in cross-cutting quartz veins, (2) garnet-biotite Fe-Mg exchange thermometry, (3) metamorphic phase equilibria, and (4) quartz microstructures as calibrated experimentally and empirically. In all instances, quartz vein temperatures mimic TitaniQ temperatures of the host rocks. Similarly, TitaniQ temperatures of dynamically recrystallized quartz, ranging from ~210°C at the thrust front to 475°C at the deepest structural levels, reflect the best estimate of the final temperature of deformation. Higher temperatures are also preserved locally and more closely reflect peak metamorphic temperatures derived from metamorphic phase equilibria. Of the two samples analyzed for garnet-biotite Fe-Mg exchange thermometry, one gives results consistent with TitaniQ temperatures and the other gives a higher temperature. A larger sample size would be necessary for more confident comparisons. Lastly, TitaniQ temperatures are mostly consistent with temperatures expected from quartz microstructures. However, TitaniQ temperatures reveal grain boundary migration recrystallization (GBM) occurred at temperatures as low as 340°C, which is much lower than previously published temperatures for GBM (Hirth and Tullis, 1992; Stipp et al., 2002). Two competing end-member models for the steady state thermal and kinematic evolution of orogens exist: The critical wedge model and the channel flow-extrusion model. Due to the unusual and consistent exposure of thrust surfaces for ~140 km across the orogen, the Caledonides provide insights into the down-dip behavior of thrusts not determinable in other collisional orogens. Using TitaniQ, in combination with other thermometers and barometers, to obtain precise and accurate pressure-temperature estimates of quartz recrystallization in the Northern Scandinavian Caledonides, we resolve a consistent down-dip thermal gradient along the basal thrust shear zone of 1.43 ± 2°C/km. This low thermal gradient supports the critical wedge model for the evolution of the Caledonides. We suggest that the Caledonides formed from critical wedge mechanics together with general non-coaxial flow and gravitational spreading of the nappes. In addition to resolving a down-dip thermal gradient across the Caledonides basal shear zone, we calculated strain rates for quartz deformation ranging from 1.00E-22 to 1.00E-13 s-1