Modus Vivendi Beyond the Social Contract: Peace, Justice, and Survival in Realist Political Theory

This essay examines the promise of the notion of modus vivendi for realist political theory. I interpret recent theories of modus vivendi as affirming the priority of peace over justice, and explore several ways of making sense of this idea. I proceed to identify two key problems for modus vivendi theory, so conceived. Normatively speaking, it remains unclear how this approach can sustain a realist critique of Rawlsian theorizing about justice while avoiding a Hobbesian endorsement of absolutism. And conceptually, the theory remains wedded to a key feature of social contract theory: political order is conceived as based on agreement. This construes the horizontal tensions among individual or group agents in society as prior to the vertical, authoritative relations between authorities and their subjects. Political authority thereby appears from the start as a solution to societal conflict, rather than a problem in itself. I argue that this way of framing the issue abstracts from political experience. Instead I attempt to rethink the notion of modus vivendi from within the lived experience of political conflict, as oriented not primarily toward peace, but political survival. With this shift of perspective, the idea of modus vivendi shows us, pace Bernard Williams, that the “first political question” is not how to achieve order and stability, but rather: what can I live with

Terahertz Conductivity at the Verwey Transition in Magnetite

The complex conductivity at the (Verwey) metal-insulator transition in Fe_3O_4 has been investigated at THz and infrared frequencies. In the insulating state, both the dynamic conductivity and the dielectric constant reveal a power-law frequency dependence, the characteristic feature of hopping conduction of localized charge carriers. The hopping process is limited to low frequencies only, and a cutoff frequency nu_1 ~ 8 meV must be introduced for a self-consistent description. On heating through the Verwey transition the low-frequency dielectric constant abruptly decreases and becomes negative. Together with the conductivity spectra this indicates a formation of a narrow Drude-peak with a characteristic scattering rate of about 5 meV containing only a small fraction of the available charge carriers. The spectra can be explained assuming the transformation of the spectral weight from the hopping process to the free-carrier conductivity. These results support an interpretation of Verwey transition in magnetite as an insulator-semiconductor transition with structure-induced changes in activation energy.Comment: 6 Pages, 3 Figure

Gyroscopic Precession and Inertial Forces in Axially Symmetric Stationary Spacetimes

We study the phenomenon of gyroscopic precession and the analogues of inertial forces within the framework of general relativity. Covariant connections between the two are established for circular orbits in stationary spacetimes with axial symmetry. Specializing to static spacetimes, we prove that gyroscopic precession and centrifugal force both reverse at the photon orbits. Simultaneous non-reversal of these in the case of stationary spacetimes is discussed. Further insight is gained in the case of static spacetime by considering the phenomena in a spacetime conformal to the original one. Gravi-electric and gravi-magnetic fields are studied and their relation to inertial forces is established.Comment: 21 pages, latex, no figures, http://202.41.67.76/~nayak/gpifass.te

Optical Conductivity in Mott-Hubbard Systems

We study the transfer of spectral weight in the optical spectra of a strongly correlated electron system as a function of temperature and interaction strength. Within a dynamical mean field theory of the Hubbard model that becomes exact in the limit of large lattice coordination, we predict an anomalous enhancement of spectral weight as a function of temperature in the correlated metallic state and report on experimental measurements which agree with this prediction in $V_2O_3$. We argue that the optical conductivity anomalies in the metal are connected to the proximity to a crossover region in the phase diagram of the model.Comment: 12 pages and 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett., v 75, p 105 (1995

Revisiting the influence of institutional forces on the written business plan:A replication study

The present paper re-analyzes and extends a study on institutional forces and the written business plan (Honig and Karlsson in J Manag 30(1):29–48, 2004). We attempt to examine to what extent critical decision making is evident in model and variable choice, and whether the implications provided by systematic replication efforts may serve to provide additional and perhaps unrecognized theoretical and/or empirical observations. We find that the key result—formal business planning does not affect performance, does not hold. In fact, we find evidence that formal business planning affects survival but not profitability. The re-analysis also reveals, that institutional antecedents to formal planning appear to be fragile and prone to researcher biases due to different coding and assumptions. Our study underscores the consequences of access to original data and coding material, and to rely upon current methodological explanations for subsequent analyses

MarkUs: a server to navigate sequence–structure–function space

We describe MarkUs, a web server for analysis and comparison of the structural and functional properties of proteins. In contrast to a ‘structure in/function out’ approach to protein function annotation, the server is designed to be highly interactive and to allow flexibility in the examination of possible functions, suggested either automatically by various similarity measures or specified by a user directly. This is combined with tools that allow a user to assess independently whether or not a suggested function is consistent with the bioinformatic and biophysical properties of a given query structure, further allowing the user to generate testable hypotheses. The server is available at http://wiki.c2b2.columbia.edu/honiglab_public/index.php/Software:Mark-Us

Metal-insulator transition in a doubly orbitally degenerate model with correlated hopping

In the present paper we propose a doubly orbitally degenerate narrow-band model with correlated hopping. The peculiarity of the model is taking into account the matrix element of electron-electron interaction which describes intersite hoppings of electrons. In particular, this leads to the concentration dependence of the effective hopping integral. The cases of the strong and weak Hund's coupling are considered. By means of a generalized mean-field approximation the single-particle Green function and quasiparticle energy spectrum are calculated. Metal-insulator transition is studied in the model at different integer values of the electron concentration. With the help of the obtained energy spectrum we find energy gap width and criteria of metal-insulator transition.Comment: minor revisions, published in Phys. Rev.

Unraveling the developmental roadmap toward human brown adipose tissue

Increasing brown adipose tissue (BAT) mass and activation is a therapeutic strategy to treat obesity and complications. Obese and diabetic patients possess low amounts of BAT, so an efficient way to expand their mass is necessary. There is limited knowledge about how human BAT develops, differentiates, and is optimally activated. Accessing human BAT is challenging, given its low volume and anatomical dispersion. These constraints make detailed BAT-related developmental and functional mechanistic studies in humans virtually impossible. We have developed and characterized functionally and molecularly a new chemically defined protocol for the differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into brown adipocytes (BAs) that overcomes current limitations. This protocol recapitulates step by step the physiological developmental path of human BAT. The BAs obtained express BA and thermogenic markers, are insulin sensitive, and responsive to β-adrenergic stimuli. This new protocol is scalable, enabling the study of human BAs at early stages of development

Hydration interactions: aqueous solvent effects in electric double layers

A model for ionic solutions with an attractive short-range pair interaction between the ions is presented. The short-range interaction is accounted for by adding a quadratic non-local term to the Poisson-Boltzmann free energy. The model is used to study solvent effects in a planar electric double layer. The counter-ion density is found to increase near the charged surface, as compared with the Poisson-Boltzmann theory, and to decrease at larger distances. The ion density profile is studied analytically in the case where the ion distribution near the plate is dominated only by counter-ions. Further away from the plate the density distribution can be described using a Poisson-Boltzmann theory with an effective surface charge that is smaller than the actual one.Comment: 11 Figures in 13 files + LaTex file. 20 pages. Accepted to Phys. Rev. E. Corrected typos and reference

Magnetic correlations and quantum criticality in the insulating antiferromagnetic, insulating spin liquid, renormalized Fermi liquid, and metallic antiferromagnetic phases of the Mott system V_2O_3

Magnetic correlations in all four phases of pure and doped vanadium sesquioxide V_2O_3 have been examined by magnetic thermal neutron scattering. While the antiferromagnetic insulator can be accounted for by a Heisenberg localized spin model, the long range order in the antiferromagnetic metal is an incommensurate spin-density-wave, resulting from a Fermi surface nesting instability. Spin dynamics in the strongly correlated metal are dominated by spin fluctuations in the Stoner electron-hole continuum. Furthermore, our results in metallic V_2O_3 represent an unprecedentedly complete characterization of the spin fluctuations near a metallic quantum critical point, and provide quantitative support for the SCR theory for itinerant antiferromagnets in the small moment limit. Dynamic magnetic correlations for energy smaller than k_BT in the paramagnetic insulator carry substantial magnetic spectral weight. However, the correlation length extends only to the nearest neighbor distance. The phase transition to the antiferromagnetic insulator introduces a sudden switching of magnetic correlations to a different spatial periodicity which indicates a sudden change in the underlying spin Hamiltonian. To describe this phase transition and also the unusual short range order in the paramagnetic state, it seems necessary to take into account the orbital degrees of freedom associated with the degenerate d-orbitals at the Fermi level in V_2O_3.Comment: Postscript file, 24 pages, 26 figures, 2 tables, accepted by Phys. Rev.