Optical imaging of resonant electrical carrier injection into individual quantum dots

We image the micro-electroluminescence (EL) spectra of self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs) embedded in the intrinsic region of a GaAs p-i-n diode and demonstrate optical detection of resonant carrier injection into a single QD. Resonant tunneling of electrons and holes into the QDs at bias voltages below the flat-band condition leads to sharp EL lines characteristic of individual QDs, accompanied by a spatial fragmentation of the surface EL emission into small and discrete light- emitting areas, each with its own spectral fingerprint and Stark shift. We explain this behavior in terms of Coulomb interaction effects and the selective excitation of a small number of QDs within the ensemble due to preferential resonant tunneling paths for carriers.Comment: 4 page

Modeling Quantum Optical Components, Pulses and Fiber Channels Using OMNeT++

Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) is an innovative technology which exploits the laws of quantum mechanics to generate and distribute unconditionally secure cryptographic keys. While QKD offers the promise of unconditionally secure key distribution, real world systems are built from non-ideal components which necessitates the need to model and understand the impact these non-idealities have on system performance and security. OMNeT++ has been used as a basis to develop a simulation framework to support this endeavor. This framework, referred to as "qkdX" extends OMNeT++'s module and message abstractions to efficiently model optical components, optical pulses, operating protocols and processes. This paper presents the design of this framework including how OMNeT++'s abstractions have been utilized to model quantum optical components, optical pulses, fiber and free space channels. Furthermore, from our toolbox of created components, we present various notional and real QKD systems, which have been studied and analyzed.Comment: Published in: A. F\"orster, C. Minkenberg, G. R. Herrera, M. Kirsche (Eds.), Proc. of the 2nd OMNeT++ Community Summit, IBM Research - Zurich, Switzerland, September 3-4, 201

Rapid, Precise, and High-Sensitivity Acquisition of Paleomagnetic and Rock-Magnetic Data: Development of a Low-Noise Automatic Sample Changing System for Superconducting Rock Magnetometers

Among Earth sciences, paleomagnetism is particularly linked to the statistics of large sample sets as a matter of historical development and logistical necessity. Because the geomagnetic field varies over timescales relevant to sedimentary deposition and igneous intrusion, while the fidelity of recorded magnetization is modulated by original properties of rock units and by alteration histories, "ideal" paleomagnetic results measure remanent magnetizations of hundreds of samples at dozens of progressive demagnetization levels, accompanied by tests of magnetic composition on representative sister specimens. We present an inexpensive, open source system for automating paleomagnetic and rock magnetic measurements. Using vacuum pick-and-place technology and a quartz-glass sample holder, the system can in one hour measure remanent magnetizations, as weak as a few pAm2, of ~30 specimens in two vertical orientations with measurement errors comparable to those of the best manual systems. The system reduces the number of manual manipulations required per specimen ~8 fold

Modeling the Local Warm/Hot Bubble

In this paper we review the modeling of the Local Bubble (LB) with special emphasis on the progress we have made since the last major conference "The Local Bubble and Beyond (I)" held in Garching in 1997. Since then new insight was gained into the possible origin of the LB, with a moving group crossing its volume during the last 10 - 15 Myr being most likely responsible for creating a local cavity filled with hot recombining gas. Numerical high resolution 3D simulations of a supernova driven inhomogeneous interstellar medium show that we can reproduce both the extension of the LB and the OVI column density in absorption measured with FUSE for a LB age of 13.5 - 14.5 Myr. We further demonstrate that the LB evolves like an ordinary superbubble expanding into a density stratified medium by comparing analytical 2D Kompaneets solutions to NaI contours, representing the extension of the local cavity. These results suggest that LB blow-out into the Milky Way halo has occurred roughly 5 Myr ago.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, to appear in the proceedings of "The Local Bubble and Beyond II", Philadelphia, USA, April 21-24, 200

Measuring cosmological bulk flows via the kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect in the upcoming cosmic microwave background maps

We propose a new method to measure the possible large-scale bulk flows in the Universe from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) maps from the upcoming missions, MAP and Planck. This can be done by studying the statistical properties of the CMB temperature field at many X-ray cluster positions. At each cluster position, the CMB temperature fluctuation will be a combination of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) kinematic and thermal components, the cosmological fluctuations and the instrument noise term. When averaged over many such clusters the last three will integrate down, whereas the first one will be dominated by a possible bulk flow component. In particular, we propose to use all-sky X-ray cluster catalogs that should (or could) be available soon from X-ray satellites, and then to evaluate the dipole component of the CMB field at the cluster positions. We show that for the MAP and Planck mission parameters the dominant contributions to the dipole will be from the terms due to the SZ kinematic effect produced by the bulk flow (the signal we seek) and the instrument noise (the noise in our signal). Computing then the expected signal-to-noise ratio for such measurement, we get that at the 95 % confidence level the bulk flows on scales >100h^{-1} Mpc can be probed down to the amplitude of $< 200$ km/sec with the MAP data and down to only 30 km/sec with the Planck mission.Comment: Astrophysical Journal Letters, in pres

Contrasting motivation and learning strategies of ex-mathematics and ex-mathematical literacy students

Abstract: This inquiry contrasts motivation and learning strategies of ex-Mathematics (Maths) and ex-Mathematical Literacy (ML) students. ML ideally delivers candidates who can make sense of and actively participate in a world of numbers and numerical arguments, but ex-ML students are excluded from many undergraduate studies at most South African higher education institutions (HEIs). Institutions employ various strategies in enhancing student transition to higher education (HE), however, such options are rare for ex-ML students. A year-long foundation programme offered by a private HEI is one exception. This inquiry employed the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire and t-test, detecting significant differences in motivation and learning strategies between 111 ex-Maths and 81 ex-ML students. The intrinsic goal orientation, task value, self-efficacy, effort regulation and test anxiety-handling abilities of ex-Maths students were significantly superior. An integrated solution process addressing academic content and social-psychological attributes to improve the motivation of ex-ML students in support of their academic development is proffered

Progress on the hybrid gun project at UCLA

UCLA/INFN-LNF/Univ. Rome has been developing the hybrid gun which has an RF gun and a short linac for velocity bunching in one structure. After the cavity was manufactured at INFN-LNF in 2012, tests of the gun was carried out at UCLA. The field in the standing wave part was 20 % smaller than the simulation but the phase advance was fine. The cavity was commissioned successfully up to 13 MW. The beam test was performed at 11.5 MW and demonstrated the bunch compression

Spacings of Quarkonium Levels with the Same Principal Quantum Number

The spacings between bound-state levels of the Schr\"odinger equation with the same principal quantum number $N$ but orbital angular momenta $\ell$ differing by unity are found to be nearly equal for a wide range of power potentials $V = \lambda r^\nu$, with $E_{N \ell} \approx F(\nu, N) - G(\nu,N) \ell$. Semiclassical approximations are in accord with this behavior. The result is applied to estimates of masses for quarkonium levels which have not yet been observed, including the 2P $c \bar c$ states and the 1D $b \bar b$ states.Comment: 20 pages, latex, 3 uuencoded figures submitted separately (process using psfig.sty

Independent Assessment of the 2018–19 fish deaths in the lower Darling

Three significant fish death events occurred in the Darling River near Menindee between December 2018 and January 2019. The three events took place within two adjacent weir pools in a 30 km reach of river between Texas Downs Station and Weir 32 (DPI NSW Fisheries, 2019). The main native fish species involved included Murray Cod, Silver Perch, Golden Perch, Bony Herring, with mortality estimates in the range of hundreds of thousands to over a million fish. Though post-event fish population sampling is yet to be conducted, we expect that these mortalities will impact populations in the lower Darling River, and perhaps beyond, for many years. These events constitute a serious ecological shock to the lower Darling and reverse positive ecological outcomes that had accrued from environmental watering programs. We have determined that fish deaths events were primarily caused by local hydrological and climatic conditions (Figure 1-1). The extreme hot and dry climate during 2018, extending into 2019, shaped the conditions that saw a large fish biomass, which had flourished since favourable spawning conditions in 2016, isolated in the weir pools around Menindee, with no means of escaping upstream or downstream. Those adverse climate conditions also shaped the subsequent algal bloom development and the strong and persistent thermal stratification of the weir pools, which created hypoxic conditions in the bottom waters of the pools. All that was needed for this to have a fatal impact on the fish was a trigger for the weir pool waters to become destratified and deprive the fish of oxygen. That trigger duly arrived with a series of sudden cool changes in the weather, with temperature drops and wind action initiating the turnover of the weir pool waters. This sudden depletion of oxygen, combined with the already high water and air temperatures, would have offered the large biomass of stressed fish no means of escape. For each fish death event, the weir pool in which the fish were trapped was bordered downstream by an impenetrable barrier (a weir) and upstream by a dry channel. Ultimately, it was the rapid transition from very favourable conditions to very adverse ones that resulted in such high numbers of fish deaths. We have also determined that the fish death events were shaped by a broader climatic, hydrologic and basin management context that placed the lower Darling River at risk of such fish deaths. The preceding six years (since 2012) had seen two high flow events that had delivered water into Menindee Lakes (2012 and 2016) and offered opportunities for substantial fish breeding and recruitment. Fish populations were further enhanced by the judicious use of environmental water. The end result was a considerable biomass of fish within the Menindee Lakes, post 2016. Outside of these high flow events there were minimal flows in the Darling River below Bourke. This period was preceded by the Millennium drought (2000-2010), during which time flows across the entire northern Murray– Darling Basin were reduced. All of the hydroclimatic evidence available indicates that the years since 2000 have been some of the driest on record, in terms of inflows into major upstream storages, combined with an increased number of extreme heat days, which would have had a major impact on water quality in remnant pools. Soon after the events, Basin government officials met and developed an action plan to respond to the crisis. Immediate actions underway include additional water quality monitoring in the lower Darling, the use of aerators and targeted fish relocations. These immediate actions are welcomed, however, the current situation remains critical – without significant inflows, further deaths of surviving fish may be expected. We consider that priorities and actions in the short-term should focus on anticipating a repeat of ‘worst-case scenario’ outcomes with responses focussed at the site scale. In addition, the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources announced a Native Fish Management and Recovery Strategy to help manage and recover fish populations across the Basin. We consider that this provides a good opportunity to enhance native fish management and support native fish population recovery and should be developed and implemented through a genuine collaboration between governments, communities, and Traditional Owners. The strategy needs to build on existing and lapsed native fish programs across the Basin. Through our investigations, it became evident to us that, over the long-term, the extant water access arrangements in the northern Basin, as well as limitations in the river models used to plan water sharing, place the lower Darling River at a higher risk of conditions that can lead to fish deaths during droughts than has previously been anticipated. Given that we are witnessing an increasing frequency of low inflow sequences in the northern Basin, this presents a serious problem for safeguarding fish populations, and populations of other resident biota, during drought in the lower Darling. We have identified that changes to Barwon–Darling water access arrangements made by NSW just prior to the commencement of the Basin Plan in 2012 have enhanced the ability of irrigators to access water during low flow periods and during the first flow event immediately after a cease-to-flow period. Further, it appears that the river models used to develop water sharing arrangements have a tendency to overestimate streamflows during dry sequences, and hence underestimate the impacts of extractions during dry times

A native promoter and inclusion of an intron is necessary for efficient expression of GFP or mRFP in Armillaria mellea

Armillaria mellea is a significant pathogen that causes Armillaria root disease on numerous hosts in forests, gardens and agricultural environments worldwide. Using a yeast-adapted pCAMBIA0380 Agrobacterium vector, we have constructed a series of vectors for transformation of A. mellea, assembled using yeast-based recombination methods. These have been designed to allow easy exchange of promoters and inclusion of introns. The vectors were first tested by transformation into basidiomycete Clitopilus passeckerianus to ascertain vector functionality then used to transform A. mellea. We show that heterologous promoters from the basidiomycetes Agaricus bisporus and Phanerochaete chrysosporium that were used successfully to control the hygromycin resistance cassette were not able to support expression of mRFP or GFP in A. mellea. The endogenous A. mellea gpd promoter delivered efficient expression, and we show that inclusion of an intron was also required for transgene expression. GFP and mRFP expression was stable in mycelia and fluorescence was visible in transgenic fruiting bodies and GFP was detectable in planta. Use of these vectors has been successful in giving expression of the fluorescent proteins GFP and mRFP in A. mellea, providing an additional molecular tool for this pathogen