303 research outputs found
Is mindfulness Buddhist? (and why it matters).
Modern exponents of mindfulness meditation promote the therapeutic effects of "bare attention"--a sort of non-judgmental, non-discursive attending to the moment-to-moment flow of consciousness. This approach to Buddhist meditation can be traced to Burmese Buddhist reform movements of the first half of the 20th century, and is arguably at odds with more traditional TheravÄda Buddhist doctrine and meditative practices. But the cultivation of present-centered awareness is not without precedent in Buddhist history; similar innovations arose in medieval Chinese Zen (Chan) and Tibetan Dzogchen. These movements have several things in common. In each case the reforms were, in part, attempts to render Buddhist practice and insight accessible to laypersons unfamiliar with Buddhist philosophy and/or unwilling to adopt a renunciatory lifestyle. In addition, these movements all promised astonishingly quick results. And finally, the innovations in practice were met with suspicion and criticism from traditional Buddhist quarters. Those interested in the therapeutic effects of mindfulness and bare attention are often not aware of the existence, much less the content, of the controversies surrounding these practices in Asian Buddhist history
Raman spectra of epitaxial graphene on SiC and of epitaxial graphene transferred to SiO2
Raman spectra were measured for mono-, bi- and trilayer graphene grown on SiC
by solid state graphitization, whereby the number of layers was pre-assigned by
angle-resolved ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy. It was found that the
only unambiguous fingerprint in Raman spectroscopy to identify the number of
layers for graphene on SiC(0001) is the linewidth of the 2D (or D*) peak. The
Raman spectra of epitaxial graphene show significant differences as compared to
micromechanically cleaved graphene obtained from highly oriented pyrolytic
graphite crystals. The G peak is found to be blue-shifted. The 2D peak does not
exhibit any obvious shoulder structures but it is much broader and almost
resembles a single-peak even for multilayers. Flakes of epitaxial graphene were
transferred from SiC onto SiO2 for further Raman studies. A comparison of the
Raman data obtained for graphene on SiC with data for epitaxial graphene
transferred to SiO2 reveals that the G peak blue-shift is clearly due to the
SiC substrate. The broadened 2D peak however stems from the graphene structure
itself and not from the substrate.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figure
A Study of Quantum Error Correction by Geometric Algebra and Liquid-State NMR Spectroscopy
Quantum error correcting codes enable the information contained in a quantum
state to be protected from decoherence due to external perturbations. Applied
to NMR, quantum coding does not alter normal relaxation, but rather converts
the state of a ``data'' spin into multiple quantum coherences involving
additional ancilla spins. These multiple quantum coherences relax at differing
rates, thus permitting the original state of the data to be approximately
reconstructed by mixing them together in an appropriate fashion. This paper
describes the operation of a simple, three-bit quantum code in the product
operator formalism, and uses geometric algebra methods to obtain the
error-corrected decay curve in the presence of arbitrary correlations in the
external random fields. These predictions are confirmed in both the totally
correlated and uncorrelated cases by liquid-state NMR experiments on
13C-labeled alanine, using gradient-diffusion methods to implement these
idealized decoherence models. Quantum error correction in weakly polarized
systems requires that the ancilla spins be prepared in a pseudo-pure state
relative to the data spin, which entails a loss of signal that exceeds any
potential gain through error correction. Nevertheless, this study shows that
quantum coding can be used to validate theoretical decoherence mechanisms, and
to provide detailed information on correlations in the underlying NMR
relaxation dynamics.Comment: 33 pages plus 6 figures, LaTeX article class with amsmath & graphicx
package
Crossover from thermal hopping to quantum tunneling in Mn_{12}Ac
The crossover from thermal hopping to quantum tunneling is studied. We show
that the decay rate with dissipation can accurately be determined near
the crossover temperature. Besides considering the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin
(WKB) exponent, we also calculate contribution of the fluctuation modes around
the saddle point and give an extended account of a previous study of crossover
region. We deal with two dangerous fluctuation modes whose contribution can't
be calculated by the steepest descent method and show that higher order
couplings between the two dangerous modes need to be taken into considerations.
At last the crossover from thermal hopping to quantum tunneling in the
molecular magnet Mn_{12}Ac is studied.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
Orexinergic Input to Dopaminergic Neurons of the Human Ventral Tegmental Area
The mesolimbic reward pathway arising from dopaminergic (DA) neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) has been
strongly implicated in reward processing and drug abuse. In rodents, behaviors associated with this projection are
profoundly influenced by an orexinergic input from the lateral hypothalamus to the VTA. Because the existence and
significance of an analogous orexigenic regulatory mechanism acting in the human VTA have been elusive, here we
addressed the possibility that orexinergic neurons provide direct input to DA neurons of the human VTA. Dual-label
immunohistochemistry was used and orexinergic projections to the VTA and to DA neurons of the neighboring substantia
nigra (SN) were analyzed comparatively in adult male humans and rats. Orexin B-immunoreactive (IR) axons apposed to
tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-IR DA and to non-DA neurons were scarce in the VTA and SN of both species. In the VTA,
15.062.8% of TH-IR perikarya in humans and 3.260.3% in rats received orexin B-IR afferent contacts. On average, 0.2460.05 and 0.0560.005 orexinergic appositions per TH-IR perikaryon were detected in humans and rats, respectively. The majority(86â88%) of randomly encountered orexinergic contacts targeted the dendritic compartment of DA neurons. Finally, DA neurons of the SN also received orexinergic innervation in both species. Based on the observation of five times heavierorexinergic input to TH-IR neurons of the human, compared with the rat, VTA, we propose that orexinergic mechanism acting in the VTA may play just as important roles in reward processing and drug abuse in humans, as already established
well in rodents
Retrospective Denial as A Coping Method
Worldwide, gastric cancer is one of the most common and fatal cancers. The majority of patients present with an advanced stage of disease. Even with use of palliative chemotherapy most patients die within 1Â year after diagnosis. Medical psychological attention after a diagnosis of incurable cancer is focused on end of life support. This paper presents the care of a patient treated with palliative intent with chemotherapy for an irresectable histologically confirmed gastric cancer. When, unexpectedly prolonged symptom free survival followed, the reaction of the patient came as a surprise to the attending medical team. In this case history we urge those who care for incurable cancer patients, that the rare patient who survives against all odds may require special psychological care
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