What a Feeling: The Role of Immediate and Anticipated Emotions in Risky Decisions

The risk‐as‐feelings hypothesis argues that many risky decisions are not only predicted by anticipated emotions, as most consequentialistic decision making theories would presume, but also by immediate emotions. Immediate emotions refer to the “hot” visceral feelings people feel as they contemplate a specific decision option at the cusp of making a decision, whereas anticipated emotions are those emotions that people forecast that they will feel once they experience possible consequences of that decision. Four studies focused on the role of both types of emotions in decisions under risk and uncertainty. Decisions were substantively predicted by immediate emotional states beyond anticipated emotions or the subjective probability attached to outcomes. Thus, risky choices may be prompted, in part, by how people feel about the “riskless” portion of the decision—specifically, the various decision options they are contemplating—rather than the potential outcomes those options may produce. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characteristics and Correlates of Cigarette Use Among Recent U.S. Veterans

Little is known about the smoking habits and cessation efforts of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, many of whom will seek health care services in the public sector. This project documents rates of smoking and quit attempts among veterans receiving Veteran's Health Administration (VHA) health care and describes the relationship between current smoking use/cessation and demographic characteristics, quality of life, and potential alcohol misuse.

A large representative sample of Iraq/Afghanistan era veterans was surveyed using the VA Survey of Healthcare Experiences of Patients (Wright, Craig, Campbell, Schafer, &; Humble, 2006 Wright, S. M., Craig, T., Campbell, S., Schaefer, J. and Humble, C. 2006. Patient satisfaction of female and male users of Veterans Health Administration services. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 21(Suppl. 3): S26–S32. [Crossref], [PubMed] , [Google Scholar]). One third of respondents reported smoking during the past year and 24% reported currently smoking. Current smoking status was more prevalent among those who reported less education and lower household income. Current smoking status was also related to lower mental and physical health quality of life and higher potential alcohol misuse scores. Quit attempts were significantly less common among reserve component veterans and quitters reported higher incomes and were slightly older. The frequency of cigarette smoking among recent veterans underscores the importance of addressing smoking cessation efforts within this population. Individual characteristics associated with current smoking, cessation efforts, and relapse may help tailor cessation treatment for this growing cohort of new veterans.     

Basic number processing in children with specific learning disorders: Comorbidity of reading and mathematics disorders

As well as being the hallmark of mathematics disorders, deficits in number processing have also been reported for individuals with reading disorders. The aim of the present study was to investigate separately the components of numerical processing affected in reading and mathematical disorders within the framework of the Triple Code Model. Children with reading disorders (RD), mathematics disorders (MD), comorbid deficits (RD + MD), and typically developing children (TD) were tested on verbal, visual-verbal, and nonverbal number tasks. As expected, children with MD were impaired across a broad range of numerical tasks. In contrast, children with RD were impaired in (visual-)verbal number tasks but showed age-appropriate performance in nonverbal number skills, suggesting their impairments were domain specific and related to their reading difficulties. The comorbid group showed an additive profile of the impairments of the two single-deficit groups. Performance in speeded verbal number tasks was related to rapid automatized naming, a measure of visual-verbal access in the RD but not in the MD group. The results indicate that deficits in number skills are due to different underlying cognitive deficits in children with RD compared to children with MD: a phonological deficit in RD and a deficit in processing numerosities in MD.     

Individual cognitive patterns and developmental trajectories after preterm birth

Cognitive outcome after preterm birth is heterogeneous, and group level analyses may disguise individual variability in development. Using a person-oriented approach, this study investigated individual cognitive patterns and developmental trajectories from preschool age to late adolescence. As part of a prospective longitudinal study, 118 adolescents born preterm, with a birth weight < 1,500 g, participated in neuropsychological assessments at age 5½ years and at 18 years. At each age, four cognitive indices, two tapping general ability and two tapping executive functions, were formed to reflect each individual’s cognitive profile. Cluster analyses were performed at each age separately, and individual movements between clusters across time were investigated. At both 5½ and 18 years, six distinct, and similar, cognitive patterns were identified. Executive functions were a weakness for some but not all subgroups, and verbal ability was a strength primarily among those whose overall performance fell within the normal range. Overall, cognitive ability at 5½ years was highly predictive of ability at age 18. Those who performed at low levels at 5½ years did not catch up but rather deteriorated in relative performance. Over half of the individuals who performed above the norm at 5½ years improved their relative performance by age 18. Among those performing around the norm at 5½ years, half improved their relative performance over time, whereas the other half faced increased problems, indicating a need for further developmental monitoring. Perinatal factors were not conclusively related to outcome, stressing the need for cognitive follow-up assessment of the preterm-born child before school entry.     

Exact ferromagnetic ground state of pentagon chains

We model conducting pentagon chains with a multi-orbital Hubbard model and prove that well below half filling, exact ferromagnetic ground states appear. The rigorous method we use is based on the transformation of original hamiltonian into positive semidefinite form. This technique is independent of the spatial dimension and does not require integrability of the model. The obtained ferromagnetism is connected to dispersionless bands but in a much broader sense than flat-band ferromagnetism requires, where on every site a Hubbard term is present. In our case, only a small percentage of, even randomly distributed, sites are only interacting.     

Elastic and phonon properties of quaternary Heusler alloys CoFeCrZ (Z = Al,Si, Ga and Ge) from density functional theory

The structural, elastic and phonon properties of the quaternary CoFeCrZ (Z = Al, Si, Ga and Ge) Heusler alloys have been investigated using the generalized gradient approximation method within density functional theory. The ground-state properties, including, lattice constant and bulk modulus are in good agreement with the available theoretical and experimental data. The elastic constants C_ij are computed using the stress–strain technique. The calculated results indicate that CoFeCrZ (Z = Al, Si, Ga and Ge) alloys are ductile materials. Debye temperatures are predicted from calculated elastic constants. The phonon dispersion relations of CoFeCrZ (Z = Al, Si, Ga and Ge) alloys are calculated for the first time using the density functional theory and the direct method with 2 × 2 × 2 supercell.     

Eigensinn und Psychose, Peer-Beratung und Psychotherapie

The narrow concepts of illness insight and compliance in psychiatry and psychotherapy will be discussed, not least because they contradict the dynamics of psychosis. Demands on therapeutic relations will be deduced from the therapeutic relationship between psychosis and ownness as well as of the experiences of untreated patients. The particular prospects of the accompaniment of a trained peer counsellor during convalescence will be represented and explained by the experiences of the Hamburg psychenet project. This new form of treatment in Germany is conceived as a supplement and not as competition to psychotherapy.     

Deformation kinetics in Zr-based bulk metallic glasses and its dependence on temperature and strain-rate sensitivity

Micromechanical analysis of ductile bulk metallic glasses at various temperatures and strain rates revealed accurate information on inhomogeneous flow kinetics. The disappearance of flow instabilities (i.e. serrations) at low temperatures correlates with a change from negative to positive strain-rate sensitivity and exhibits an activation energy of 0.37?eV. Based on these findings, a constitutive deformation model for thermally-activated flow in disordered systems is presented, which accounts for possible structural relaxation processes within the shear bands. Similarities in the flow behaviour of bulk metallic glasses with the Portevin–Le Châtelier effect known for crystalline metals are discussed.     

Microstructural evolutions and hardness during heat treatment of Al64Cu20Fe12Si4 quasicrystal alloy

The microhardness and microstructural characteristics and subsequent heat treatment of conventionally solidified Al₆₄Cu₂₀Fe₁₂Si₄ quasicrystal were investigated by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) together with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), differential thermal analysis (DTA), and Vickers microhardness tester. XRD analysis indicated that the conventionally solidified samples showed a quasicrystalline icosahedral phase (i-phase) together with cubic β-AlFe, tetragonal θ-Al₂Cu, and monoclinic λ-A₁₃Fe₄ crystal phases. However, the i-phase together with cubic β-AlFe and monoclinic λ-A₁₃Fe₄ phases observed heat threaded samples. As-cast and subsequently heat-treated quasicrystal samples were measured using a microhardness test device. Vickers microindentation tests were carried out on the heat-treated quasicrystal samples with the load ranging from 1 to 500?mN at room temperature. The melting point of the i-phase was determined as 900°C by DTA examinations.