Electrooptical Properties of Cylindrical Quantum Dots

We show how to compute the optical functions (the complex electrosusceptibility tensor, dielectric tensor, electroreflection spectra) for semiconductor quantum dots exposed to a uniform static electric field in the growth direction, including the excitonic effects. The method uses the microscopic calculation of the quantum dot excitonic wave functions and energy levels, and the macroscopic real density matrix approach to compute the electromagnetic fields and susceptibilities. The electron-hole screened Coulomb potential is adapted and the valence band structure is taken into account in the cylindrical approximation, thus separating light-and heavy-hole motions. In the microscopic calculations, using the effective-mass approximation, we solve the 6-dimensional two-particle Schrödinger equation by transforming it into an infinite set of coupled second order 2-dimensional differential equations with the appropriate boundary conditions. These differential equations are solved numerically giving the eigenfunctions and the energy eigenvalues. Having them, we can compute the quantum dot electrooptical functions. Numerical calculations have been performed for an InGaAs quantum dot with a constant electric field applied in the growth direction. A good agreement with experiment is obtained

The Genetic and Environmental Sources of Resemblance Between Normative Personality and Personality Disorder Traits

Recent work has suggested a high level of congruence between normative personality, most typically represented by the big five factors, and abnormal personality traits. In 2,293 Norwegian adult twins ascertained from a population-based registry, the authors evaluated the degree of sharing of genetic and environmental influences on normative personality, assessed by the Big Five Inventory (BFI), and personality disorder traits (PDTs), assessed by the Personality Inventory for DSM-S-Norwegian Brief Form (PID-5NBF). For four of the five BFI dimensions, the strongest genetic correlation was observed with the expected PID-5-NBF dimension (e.g., neuroticism with negative affectivity [+], conscientiousness with disinhibition [-]). However, neuroticism, conscientiousness, and agreeableness had substantial genetic correlations with other PID-S-NBF dimensions (e.g., neuroticism with compulsivity [+], agreeableness with detachment [-]). Openness had no substantial genetic correlations with any PID-5-NBF dimension. The proportion of genetic risk factors shared in aggregate between the BFI traits and the PID-5-NBF dimensions was quite high for conscientiousness and neuroticism, relatively robust for extraversion and agreeableness, but quite low for openness. Of the six PID-S-NBF dimensions, three (negative affectivity, detachment, and disinhibition) shared, in aggregate, most of their genetic risk factors with normative personality traits. Genetic factors underlying psychoticism, antagonism, and compulsivity were shared to a lesser extent, suggesting that they are influenced by etiological factors not well indexed by the BFI

Classical Proofs for the Quantum Collapsing Property of Classical Hash Functions

Hash functions are of fundamental importance in theoretical and in practical cryptography, and with the threat of quantum computers possibly emerging in the future, it is an urgent objective to understand the security of hash functions in the light of potential future quantum attacks. To this end, we reconsider the collapsing property of hash functions, as introduced by Unruh, which replaces the notion of collision resistance when considering quantum attacks. Our contribution is a formalism and a framework that offers significantly simpler proofs for the collapsing property of hash functions. With our framework, we can prove the collapsing property for hash domain extension constructions entirely by means of decomposing the iteration function into suitable elementary composition operations. In particular, given our framework, one can argue purely classically about the quantum-security of hash functions; this is in contrast to previous proofs which are in terms of sophisticated quantum-information-theoretic and quantum-algorithmic reasoning

The beta-decay of 22Al

In an experiment performed at the LISE3 facility of GANIL, we studied the decay of 22Al produced by the fragmentation of a 36Ar primary beam. A beta-decay half-life of 91.1 +- 0.5 ms was measured. The beta-delayed one- and two-proton emission as well as beta-alpha and beta-delayed gamma decays were measured and allowed us to establish a partial decay scheme for this nucleus. New levels were determined in the daughter nucleus 22Mg. The comparison with model calculations strongly favours a spin-parity of 4+ for the ground state of 22Al

First observation of 55,56Zn

In an experiment at the SISSI/LISE3 facility of GANIL, the most proton-rich zinc isotopes 55,56Zn have been observed for the first time. The experiment was performed using a high-intensity 58Ni beam at 74.5 MeV/nucleon impinging on a nickel target. The identification of 55,56Zn opens the way to 54Zn, a good candidate for two-proton radioactivity according to theoretical predictions.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in Eur. Phys. J.

Decay of proton-rich nuclei between 39Ti and 49Ni

Decay studies of very neutron-deficient nuclei ranging from 39Ti to 49Ni have been performed during a projectile fragmentation experiment at the GANIL/LISE3 separator. For all nuclei studied in this work, 39,40Ti, 42,43Cr, 46Mn, 45,46,47Fe and 49Ni, half-lives and decay spectra have been measured. In a few cases, gamma coincidence measurements helped to successfully identify the initial and final states of transitions. In these cases, partial decay scheme are proposed. For the most exotic isotopes, 39Ti, 42Cr, 45Fe and 49Ni, which are candidates for two-proton radioactivity from the ground state, no clear evidence of this process is seen in our spectra and we conclude rather on a delayed particle decay.Comment: 12 pages, 15 figures, submitted for publication in Eur. Phys. J.

GRIDKIT: Pluggable overlay networks for Grid computing

A `second generation' approach to the provision of Grid middleware is now emerging which is built on service-oriented architecture and web services standards and technologies. However, advanced Grid applications have significant demands that are not addressed by present-day web services platforms. As one prime example, current platforms do not support the rich diversity of communication `interaction types' that are demanded by advanced applications (e.g. publish-subscribe, media streaming, peer-to-peer interaction). In the paper we describe the Gridkit middleware which augments the basic service-oriented architecture to address this particular deficiency. We particularly focus on the communications infrastructure support required to support multiple interaction types in a unified, principled and extensible manner-which we present in terms of the novel concept of pluggable overlay networks

Large area quantitative analysis of nanostructured thin-films

Proposed and verified method offers an unique quantitative large scale nanostructures' evaluation.This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available at http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2015/RA/c4ra16018e#!divAbstract

Summary of failure analysis activities at Brookhaven National Laboratory

Brookhaven National Laboratory has for many years conducted examinations related to the failures of nuclear materials and components. These examinations included the confirmation of root cause analyses, the determination of the causes of failure, identification of the species that accelerate corrosion, and comparison of the results of nondestructive examinations with those obtained by destructive examination. The results of those examinations, which had previously appeared in various formats (formal and informal reports, journal articles, etc.), have been collected together and summarized in the present report. The report is divided into sections according to the general subject matter (for example, corrosion, fatigue, etc.). Each section presents summaries of the information contained in specific reports and publications, all of which are fully identified as to title, authors, report number or journal reference, date of publication, and FIN number under which the work was performed