Is Hanukkah responsive to Christmas?

We study the extent to which religious activity responds to the presence and activity of other religions. Specifcally, we employ individual-level survey data and county-level expenditure data to examine the extent to which Hanukkah celebration among U.S. Jews is driven by the presence of Christmas. We find that: (1) Jews with children at home are more likely to celebrate Hanukkah than Jews without children. (2) The effect of having children on Hanukkah celebrations is higher for reform Jews than for orthodox Jews; and, it is higher for Jews who feel a stronger sense of belonging to Judaism. (3) Jewish-related expenditures in Hanukkah are higher in counties with lower share of Jews. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that Jews increase religious activity during Hanukkah because of the presence of Christmas, and this response is primarily driven by the presence of children at home. One underlying motivator might be that Jewish parents in the U.S. celebrate Hanukkah more intensively so heir children do not feel left out, and/or because they are concerned that their children will convert or intermarry.Religions, Hanukkah, Identity

Eigenvalue crossing as a phase transition in relaxation dynamics

When a system's parameter is abruptly changed, a relaxation towards the new equilibrium of the system follows. We show that a crossing between the second and third eigenvalues of the relaxation matrix results in a relaxation trajectory singularity, which is analogous to a first-order equilibrium phase transition. We demonstrate this in a minimal 4-state system and in the thermodynamic limit of the 1D Ising model

Atomically wired molecular junctions: Connecting a single organic molecule by chains of metal atoms

Using a break junction technique, we find a clear signature for the formation of conducting hybrid junctions composed of a single organic molecule (benzene, naphthalene or anthracene) connected to chains of platinum atoms. The hybrid junctions exhibit metallic-like conductance (~0.1-1G0), which is rather insensitive to further elongation by additional atoms. At low bias voltage the hybrid junctions can be elongated significantly beyond the length of the bare atomic chains. Ab initio calculations reveal that benzene based hybrid junctions have a significant binding energy and high structural flexibility that may contribute to the survival of the hybrid junction during the elongation process. The fabrication of hybrid junctions opens the way for combining the different properties of atomic chains and organic molecules to realize a new class of atomic scale interfaces

Spatiotemporal Organization of Neuronal Activity in the Cervical Cord of Behaving Primates

Spinal neurons operate as a processing link that integrates descending and peripheral information and in turn, generates a specific yet complex muscle command. The functional organization of spinal circuitry during normal motor behavior dictates the way in which this translation process is achieved. Nonetheless, little is known about this organization during normal motor behavior. We examined the spatial organization of neural activity in the cervical spinal cord of behaving primates performing an isometric wrist task by estimating the averaged intraspinal activity of neuronal populations. We measured population response profiles and frequency content around torque onset and tested the tendency of these profiles to exhibit a specific organization within the spinal volume. We found that the spatial distribution of characteristic response profiles was non-uniform; namely, sites with a specific response profile tended to have a preferred spatial localization. Physiologically, this finding suggests that specific spinal circuitry that controls a unique feature of motor actions (with a particular task-related response pattern) may have a segregated spinal organization. Second, attempts to restore motor function via intraspinal stimulation may be more successful when the spatial distribution of these task-related profiles is taken into account