Interpreting Bernard Lonergan’s General Theory of Economic Dynamics: Does it Complete Hayek, Keynes and Schumpeter?

The paper reviews links between Bernard Lonergan's theory of innovative economic growth and cycles, and the ideas of Friedrich Hayek, John Maynard Keynes, and Joseph Schumpeter. They were contemporary economists, who remain influential today. For Lonergan, although markets define what is bought and sold in an exchange economy, production decisions are more fundamental. These decisions are choices about the direction of development, the standard of living, and variations in the distribution of wealth in a modern society. The paper shows how Lonergan's pure cycle theory extends mainstream theory to include a broader view of human behaviour and choice

Larson\u27s Musical Forces in Schlenker\u27s Music Semantics

Larson’s musical forces of gravity, magnetism and inertia link music to metaphors of physical motion. Schlenker’s music semantics is based on similar physical world associations. Because Larson’s forces are about note movements towards harmonic stability, his framework implies note groupings at stable boundaries, given common cadential harmony. These groupings with forces assignments can then be viewed as musical events in Schlenker’s approach, and mapped to structure-preserving external (world) events as required for this author’s semantics. To this end, Schlenker’s truth definition, specifying when an event is ‘true of’ a musical expression, will be adapted. The synthesis amounts to what Schlenker argues for: a formal semantics of music, albeit limited to melodic lines confined to a single key

Low-excitation transport and separation of high-mass-ratio mixed-species ion chains

We demonstrate low-excitation transport and separation of two-ion crystals consisting of one 9Be+ and one 40Ca+ ion, with a high mass ratio of 4.4. The full separation involves transport of the mixed-species chain, splitting each ion into separate potential wells, and then transport of each ion prior to detection. We find the high mass ratio makes the protocol sensitive to mode crossings between axial and radial modes, as well as to uncontrolled radial electric fields that induce mass-dependent twists of the ion chain, which initially gave excitations n ̄ ≫ 10. By controlling these stages, we achieve excitation as low as n ̄ = 1.40 ± 0.08 phonons for the calcium ion and n ̄ = 1.44 ± 0.09 phonons for the beryllium ion. Separation and transport of mixed-species chains are key elements of the quantum charge-coupled device architecture and may also be applicable to quantum-logic-based spectroscopy of exotic species

Phonon Laser in the Quantum Regime

We demonstrate a trapped-ion system with two competing dissipation channels, implemented independently on two ion species cotrapped in a Paul trap. By controlling coherent spin-oscillator couplings and optical pumping rates we explore the phase diagram of this system, which exhibits a regime analogous to that of a (phonon) laser but operates close to the quantum ground state with an average phonon number of ̄n<10. We demonstrate phase locking of the oscillator to an additional resonant drive, and also observe the phase diffusion of the resulting state under dissipation by reconstructing the quantum state from a measurement of the characteristic function

A phonon laser in the quantum regime

We demonstrate a trapped-ion system with two competing dissipation channels, implemented independently on two ion species co-trapped in a Paul trap. By controlling coherent spin-oscillator couplings and optical pumping rates we explore the phase diagram of this system, which exhibits a regime analogous to that of a (phonon) laser but operates close to the quantum ground state with an average phonon number of $\bar{n}<10$. We demonstrate phase locking of the oscillator to an additional resonant drive, and also observe the phase diffusion of the resulting state under dissipation by reconstructing the quantum state from a measurement of the characteristic function

What is influencing the phenotype of the common homozygous polymerase-γ mutation p.Ala467Thr?

Polymerase-γ (POLG) is a major human disease gene and may account for up to 25% of all mitochondrial diseases in the UK and in Italy. To date, >150 different pathogenic mutations have been described in POLG. Some mutations behave as both dominant and recessive alleles, but an autosomal recessive inheritance pattern is much more common. The most frequently detected pathogenic POLG mutation in the Caucasian population is c.1399G>A leading to a p.Ala467Thr missense mutation in the linker domain of the protein. Although many patients are homozygous for this mutation, clinical presentation is highly variable, ranging from childhood-onset Alpers-Huttenlocher syndrome to adult-onset sensory ataxic neuropathy dysarthria and ophthalmoparesis. The reasons for this are not clear, but familial clustering of phenotypes suggests that modifying factors may influence the clinical manifestation. In this study, we collected clinical, histological and biochemical data from 68 patients carrying the homozygous p.Ala467Thr mutation from eight diagnostic centres in Europe and the USA. We performed DNA analysis in 44 of these patients to search for a genetic modifier within POLG and flanking regions potentially involved in the regulation of gene expression, and extended our analysis to other genes affecting mitochondrial DNA maintenance (POLG2, PEO1 and ANT1). The clinical presentation included almost the entire phenotypic spectrum of all known POLG mutations. Interestingly, the clinical presentation was similar in siblings, implying a genetic basis for the phenotypic variability amongst homozygotes. However, the p.Ala467Thr allele was present on a shared haplotype in each affected individual, and there was no correlation between the clinical presentation and genetic variants in any of the analysed nuclear genes. Patients with mitochondrial DNA haplogroup U developed epilepsy significantly less frequently than patients with any other mitochondrial DNA haplotype. Epilepsy was reported significantly more frequently in females than in males, and also showed an association with one of the chromosomal markers defining the POLG haplotype. In conclusion, our clinical results show that the homozygous p.Ala467Thr POLG mutation does not cause discrete phenotypes, as previously suggested, but rather there is a continuum of clinical symptoms. Our results suggest that the mitochondrial DNA background plays an important role in modifying the disease phenotype but nuclear modifiers, epigenetic and environmental factors may also influence the severity of disease

Photo-induced thiolate catalytic activation of inert Caryl-hetero bonds for radical borylation

Substantial effort is currently being devoted to obtaining photoredox catalysts with high redox power. Yet, it remains challenging to apply the currently established methods to the activation of bonds with high bond dissociation energy and to substrates with high reduction potentials. Herein, we introduce a novel photocatalytic strategy for the activation of inert substituted arenes for aryl borylation by using thiolate as a catalyst. This catalytic system exhibits strong reducing ability and engages non-activated Caryl–F, Caryl–X, Caryl–O, Caryl–N, and Caryl–S bonds in productive radical borylation reactions, thus expanding the available aryl radical precursor scope. Despite its high reducing power, the method has a broad substrate scope and good functional-group tolerance. Spectroscopic investigations and control experiments suggest the formation of a charge-transfer complex as the key step to activate the substrates