Valuing Compromise for the Common Good

Pursuing the common good in a pluralist democracy is not possible without making compromises. Yet the spirit of compromise is in short supply in contemporary American politics. The permanent campaign has made compromise more difficult to achieve, as the uncompromising mindset suitable for campaigning has come to dominate the task of governing. To begin to make compromise more feasible and the common good more attainable, we need to appreciate the distinctive value of compromise and recognize the misconceptions that stand in its way. A common mistake is to assume that compromise requires finding the common ground on which all can agree. That undermines more realistic efforts to seek classic compromises, in which each party gains by sacrificing something valuable to the other, and together they serve the common good by improving upon the status quo. Institutional reforms are desirable, but they, too, cannot get off the ground without the support of leaders and citizens who learn how and when to adopt a compromising mindset

Primary cell uses neither liquid nor fused electrolytes

Dry, solid state primary battery cell establishes an electrode reaction by a charge transfer mechanism without liquid phase ionization of electrolyte compounds. The charge transfer complex is sufficiently conductive to permit the passage of useful current

Maintenance electroconvulsive therapy for comorbid pharmacotherapy-refractory obsessive-compulsive and schizoaffective disorder

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>There is a high comorbidity of schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsory disorder (OCD) associated with more severe symptoms. Standard pharmacotherapy achieve symptom improvement in approximately 60% only.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We report about a 48-old women treated for depression which developed successively psychotic symptoms (ideas of reference, psychotic worries), negative symptoms (blunted affect, impoverished thinking, difficulties in planning), and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (mainly repeating rituals, avoidance behaviour, collecting and hoarding). She did not respond to combined treatment with neuroleptics and high dose selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors. She acutely improved during a course of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and was maintained on outpatient ECTs fortnightly together with 12 mg sertindol and 45 mg mirtazapine for 42 weeks.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Maintenance ECT is not an approved therapy in OCD but might be an option in pharmacotherapy refractory cases of comorbid OCD and schizophrenic/schizoaffective disorder.</p

Fermion Production in the Background of Minkowski Space Classical Solutions in Spontaneously Broken Gauge Theory

We investigate fermion production in the background of Minkowski space solutions to the equations of motion of $SU(2)$ gauge theory spontaneously broken via the Higgs mechanism. First, we attempt to evaluate the topological charge $Q$ of the solutions. We find that for solutions $Q$ is not well-defined as an integral over all space-time. Solutions can profitably be characterized by the (integer-valued) change in Higgs winding number $\Delta N_H$. We show that solutions which dissipate at early and late times and which have nonzero $\Delta N_H$ must have at least the sphaleron energy. We show that if we couple a quantized massive chiral fermion to a classical background given by a solution, the number of fermions produced is $\Delta N_H$, and is not related to $Q$.Comment: Version to be published. Argument showing that the topological charge of solutions is undefined has been strengthened and clarified. Conclusions unchange

Neurofibromatosis type 1: Modeling CNS dysfunction

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is the most common monogenic disorder in which individuals manifest central nervous system (CNS) abnormalities. Affected individuals develop glial neoplasms (optic gliomas, malignant astrocytomas) and neuronal dysfunction (learning disabilities, attention deficits). Nf1 genetically-engineered mouse models have revealed the molecular and cellular underpinnings of gliomagenesis, attention deficit, and learning problems with relevance to basic neurobiology. Using NF1 as a model system, these studies have revealed critical roles for the NF1 gene in non-neoplastic cells in the tumor microenvironment, the importance of brain region heterogeneity, novel mechanisms of glial growth regulation, the neurochemical bases for attention deficit and learning abnormalities, and new insights into neural stem cell function. Here we review recent studies, presented at a symposium at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting, that highlight unexpected cell biology insights into RAS and cyclic AMP pathway effects on neural progenitor signaling, neuronal function, and oligodendrocyte lineage differentiation

Cooling atoms into entangled states

We discuss the possibility of preparing highly entangled states by simply cooling atoms into the ground state of an applied interaction Hamiltonian. As in laser sideband cooling, we take advantage of a relatively large detuning of the desired state, while all other qubit states experience resonant laser driving. Once spontaneous emission from excited atomic states prepares the system in its ground state, it remains there with a very high fidelity for a wide range of experimental parameters and all possible initial states. After presenting the general theory, we discuss concrete applications with one and two qubits.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, typos correcte

Generation of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cerebral organoids for cellular and molecular characterization

Human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived cerebral organoids (COs) can serve as a