Response to Nauenberg's "Critique of Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness"

Nauenberg's extended critique of Quantum Enigma rests on fundamental misunderstandings.Comment: To be published in Foundations of Physic

Molecular and functional basis of phenotypic convergence in white lizards at White Sands

There are many striking examples of phenotypic convergence in nature, in some cases associated with changes in the same genes. But even mutations in the same gene may have different biochemical properties and thus different evolutionary consequences. Here we dissect the molecular mechanism of convergent evolution in three lizard species with blanched coloration on the gypsum dunes of White Sands, New Mexico. These White Sands forms have rapidly evolved cryptic coloration in the last few thousand years, presumably to avoid predation. We use cell-based assays to demonstrate that independent mutations in the same gene underlie the convergent blanched phenotypes in two of the three species. Although the same gene contributes to light phenotypes in these White Sands populations, the specific molecular mechanisms leading to reduced melanin production are different. In one case, mutations affect receptor signaling and in the other, the ability of the receptor to integrate into the melanocyte membrane. These functional differences have important ramifications at the organismal level. Derived alleles in the two species show opposite dominance patterns, which in turn affect their visibility to selection and the spatial distribution of alleles across habitats. Our results demonstrate that even when the same gene is responsible for phenotypic convergence, differences in molecular mechanism can have dramatic consequences on trait expression and ultimately the adaptive trajectory.Organismic and Evolutionary Biolog

Absolute Present, Zen and Schrödinger’s One Mind

Erwin Schrödinger holds a prominent place in the history of science primarily due to his crucial role in the development of quantum physics. What is perhaps lesser known are his insights into subject-object duality, consciousness and mind. He documented himself that these were influenced by the Upanishads, a collection of ancient Hindu spiritual texts. Central to his thoughts in this area is that Mind is only One and there is no separation between subject and object. This chapter aims to bridge Schrödinger’s view on One Mind with the teachings of Dōgen, a twelfth century Zen master. This bridge is formed by addressing the question of how time relates to One Mind, and subject-object duality. Schrödinger describes the experience of One Mind to be like a timeless now, whereas subject-object duality involves a linear continuum of time. We show how these differing positions are unified in the notion of ‘absolute present’, which was put forward in the philosophy of Nishida Kitarō (1871–1945). In addition, we argue that it is in this notion of absolute present that the views of Schrödinger, Dōgen and Nishida meet

On Hirschman and log-Sobolev inequalities in mu-deformed Segal-Bargmann analysis

We consider a deformation of Segal-Bargmann space and its transform. We study L^p properties of this transform and obtain entropy-entropy inequalities (Hirschman) and entropy-energy inequalities (log-Sobolev) that generalize the corresponding known results in the undeformed theory.Comment: 42 pages, 3 figure

Psychometric Characteristics of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) in Postpartum Mothers with Histories of Childhood Maltreatment

Background: There is increased awareness that resilience serves as a protective factor against adverse psychophysiological sequelae in the context of stress. However, there are few instruments to assess this construct in adult populations. The Connor-Davidson resilience scale (CD-RISC) has been developed to assess adaptation following stress exposure. While this instrument has previously demonstrated impressive reliability and construct validity, prior research has not supported the consistency of the originally described factor structure. There is also limited evidence regarding the measurement of resilience in the context of cumulative stress exposure. Objectives: This research explores the psychometric properties of the CD-RISC in mothers with childhood histories of maltreatment Materials and Methods: Postpartum women who endorsed a history of childhood abuse or neglect (N = 141) completed the CD-RISC, the childhood trauma questionnaire and other surveys measuring positive and negative health and functioning. We calculated descriptive statistics with percentage counts and means as appropriate. Internal reliability was evaluated by Cronbach’s alpha and the calculation of item-to-total score correlations. Parallel analysis (PA) was utilized to derive the number of retained factors. Results: A recent parenting transition concomitant with a history of maltreatment was associated with lower CD-RISC scores. Internal reliability and concurrent validity analyses were satisfactory and consistent with predicted hypotheses. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) supported a four-factor model of resilience with this population. Conclusions: This research offers further evidence of the reliability and validity of the CD-RISC. Further, the results of the EFA with parallel analysis offer an empirically-driven derivation of factors for this population

Inherited electrophoretic variants detected in a Japanese population with two-dimensional gels of erythrocyte lysates

Genetic variation has been studied in erythrocyte lysates from 100 Japanese children and their parents by means of two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Fifty-five polypeptides selected without respect to variability were considered suitable for scoring. Genetic variation was encountered in 14 of these polypeptides. Family data show that the segregation of 13 variants is consistent with an autosomal codominant mode of inheritance; the remaining variant exhibits a sex-linked mode of inheritance. Of 8 presumably identical polypeptides found variable in Japanese and/or Caucasians, differences in the occurrence or allele frequencies of polymorphisms were recognized for four. Contrary to the experience of some investigators, the amount of variation and the ethnic differences we are encountering indicate that two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis is a sensitive tool for the study of genetic events.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65555/1/j.1469-1809.1986.tb01753.x.pd

Chaos induced coherence in two independent food chains

Coherence evolution of two food web models can be obtained under the stirring effect of chaotic advection. Each food web model sustains a three--level trophic system composed of interacting predators, consumers and vegetation. These populations compete for a common limiting resource in open flows with chaotic advection dynamics. Here we show that two species (the top--predators) of different colonies chaotically advected by a jet--like flow can synchronize their evolution even without migration interaction. The evolution is charaterized as a phase synchronization. The phase differences (determined through the Hilbert transform) of the variables representing those species show a coherent evolution.Comment: 5 pages, 5 eps figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Self-adjoint Lyapunov variables, temporal ordering and irreversible representations of Schroedinger evolution

In non relativistic quantum mechanics time enters as a parameter in the Schroedinger equation. However, there are various situations where the need arises to view time as a dynamical variable. In this paper we consider the dynamical role of time through the construction of a Lyapunov variable - i.e., a self-adjoint quantum observable whose expectation value varies monotonically as time increases. It is shown, in a constructive way, that a certain class of models admit a Lyapunov variable and that the existence of a Lyapunov variable implies the existence of a transformation mapping the original quantum mechanical problem to an equivalent irreversible representation. In addition, it is proved that in the irreversible representation there exists a natural time ordering observable splitting the Hilbert space at each t>0 into past and future subspaces.Comment: Accepted for publication in JMP. Supercedes arXiv:0710.3604. Discussion expanded to include the case of Hamiltonians with an infinitely degenerate spectru

Delayed Self-Synchronization in Homoclinic Chaos

The chaotic spike train of a homoclinic dynamical system is self-synchronized by re-inserting a small fraction of the delayed output. Due to the sensitive nature of the homoclinic chaos to external perturbations, stabilization of very long periodic orbits is possible. On these orbits, the dynamics appears chaotic over a finite time, but then it repeats with a recurrence time that is slightly longer than the delay time. The effect, called delayed self-synchronization (DSS), displays analogies with neurodynamic events which occur in the build-up of long term memories.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett., 13 pages, 7 figure

Detecting local synchronization in coupled chaotic systems

We introduce a technique to detect and quantify local functional dependencies between coupled chaotic systems. The method estimates the fraction of locally syncronized configurations, in a pair of signals with an arbitrary state of global syncronization. Application to a pair of interacting Rossler oscillators shows that our method is capable to quantify the number of dynamical configurations where a local prediction task is possible, also in absence of global synchronization features