Anderson localisation in steady states of microcavity polaritons

We present an experimental signature of the Anderson localisation of microcavity polaritons, and provide a systematic study of the dependence on disorder strength. We reveal a controllable degree of localisation, as characterised by the inverse-participation ratio, by tuning the positional disorder of arrays of interacting mesas. This constitutes the realisation of disorder-induced localisation in a driven-dissipative system. In addition to being an ideal candidate for investigating localisation in this regime, microcavity polaritons hold promise for low-power, ultra-small devices and their localisation could be used as a resource in quantum memory and quantum information processing.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Shear Investigation of Polypropylene Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Beams

This study investigates the effect of macro-synthetic polypropylene fibers on the shear strength and failure behavior of longitudinally reinforced concrete beams with and/ or without transverse reinforcement. Eight large-scale were constructed, cured and tested at Civil Engineering Laboratory Building (CELB). This includes flexural reinforced concrete beams without transverse reinforcement (RC), reinforced concrete beam with minimum transverse reinforcement (RCS), 0.5% volume macro-synthetic polypropylene fiber-reinforced concrete beams without stirrups (SNFRC 0.5%), and 0.75% macro-synthetic polypropylene-fiber reinforced concrete beams without stirrups (SNFRC 0.75%). During production of large-scale beams, 19 Cylinders and 9 small-scale beams were produced from the same mix-design and cured for testing. Cylinders of 4 inch diameter and 8 inch height, were tested after 28 days curing using ASTM C496 and ASTM C39 standards. Likewise, small-scale beams of 6 inch by 6 inch by 20 inch were produced and tested using ASTM C1609. This study reports on the increased shear strength performance of large-scale beams due to the application of 0.5% and 0.75% macro-synthetic polypropylene fibers into the concrete matrix

A GIS-based Spatiotemporal Study of the Variability of Water Quality Parameters in the Dubai Creek

High concentrations of nutrients canincrease algal growth in coastal marine systems. The growth of harmful algal blooms (HAB’s) has become common in UAE, especially in late 2008 and early 2009 when a huge HAB event devastated the coasts of the whole country and a significant portion of Arabian Gulf. Nutrient enrichment in Dubai coast has been one of the primary environmental concerns for eutrophication. Increased algal growth normally leads to oxygen depletion by bacteria to decompose the dead algal cells in the bottom leading to low-oxygen water. Such situation normally leads to the killing of different types of fish; lowering the biotic diversity. Dubai Creek, a saltwater lake connected to the coast of Dubai has similar characteristics as the coast and suffers from similar water quality concerns. The paper presents the outcomes of a comprehensive study of the spatiotemporal variability of major water quality parameters in the creek. In-situ water quality data from 10 monitoring stations along the Dubai creek have been used in the study. The results showed unique trends of spatiotemporal variability of chlorophyll-a and nutrients over the creek in the period of study. This result was attributed to the increasing anthropogenic activity in Dubai due to the rapid urban development, shallow water depth in the creek, poor flushing and irregular circulations and wave patterns in the area

Dynamics of transversally vibrating non-prismatic Timoshenko cantilever beams

TurkAz Enerji Lt

Cross Feshbach resonance

Feshbach resonance occurs when a pair of free particles is resonantly coupled to a molecular bound state. In the field of ultracold quantum gases, atomic Feshbach resonances became a usual tool for tailoring atomic interactions opening up many new applications in this field. In a semiconductor microcavity, the Feshbach resonance appears when two lower polaritons are coupled to the molecular biexciton state. Here, we demonstrate the existence of a cross Feshbach resonance for which a pair of polaritons, lower together with upper, effectively couples to the biexciton state. This demonstration is a crucial step towards the efficient generation of entangled photon pairs in a semiconductor microcavity. The existence of a Cross Feshbach resonance establishes the condition to convert a pair of upper and lower polaritons via the biexciton state into two lower polaritons, paving the way for the generation of momentum and polarization entangled photons.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

A study of frequency band structure in two-dimensional homogeneous anisotropic phononic K 3 -metamaterials

British council - Kiev under the Academic Partnership/Mobility Grant scheme grant No. UKR16EG/3/19.01.16

HIV prevalence and related risk behaviours among female sex workers in Iran: results of the national biobehavioural survey, 2010

Objectives To determine the prevalence of HIV and related behavioural risks among Iranian female sex workers (FSW) via the first national biobehavioural surveillance survey. Methods In 2010, 1005 FSW were approached and 872 recruited using facility-based sampling from 21 sites in 14 cities in Iran. We collected dried blood samples and conducted face-to-face interviews using a standardised questionnaire. Data were weighted based on the response rate and adjusted for the clustering effect of the sampling site. Adjustment was performed by weighting based on the sampling fraction of each site using a prior estimate of its total size of the FSW population. Results The prevalence of HIV infection (95% CI) was 4.5% (2.4 to 8.3) overall, 4.8% (2.2 to 9.8) among those who had reported a history of drug use and 11.2% (5.4 to 21.5) among those who had a history of injection drug use. The frequencies of condom use in the last sexual act with paying clients and non-paying partners were 57.1% and 36.3%, respectively. Any drug use was reported by 73.8% of participants, and among this subgroup, 20.5% had a history of injection drug use. Conclusions The prevalence of HIV was considerable among FSW particularly those who had a history of drug injection. A combination of prevention efforts addressing unsafe sex and injection are needed to prevent further transmission of HIV infection

Status of HIV and hepatitis C virus infections among prisoners in the Middle East and North Africa: review and synthesis.

INTRODUCTION: The status of HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections among incarcerated populations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and the links between prisons and the HIV epidemic are poorly understood. This review synthesized available HIV and HCV data in prisons in MENA and highlighted opportunities for action. METHODS: The review was based on data generated through the systematic searches of the MENA HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Synthesis Project (2003 to December 15, 2015) and the MENA HCV Epidemiology Synthesis Project (2011 to December 15, 2015). Sources of data included peer-reviewed publications and country-level reports and databases. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: We estimated a population of 496,000 prisoners in MENA, with drug-related offences being a major cause for incarceration. Twenty countries had data on HIV among incarcerated populations with a median prevalence of 0.6% in Afghanistan, 6.1% in Djibouti, 0.01% in Egypt, 2.5% in Iran, 0% in Iraq, 0.1% in Jordan, 0.05% in Kuwait, 0.7% in Lebanon, 18.0% in Libya, 0.7% in Morocco, 0.3% in Oman, 1.1% in Pakistan, 0% in Palestine, 1.2% in Saudi Arabia, 0% in Somalia, 5.3% in Sudan and South Sudan, 0.04% in Syria, 0.05% in Tunisia, and 3.5% in Yemen. Seven countries had data on HCV, with a median prevalence of 1.7% in Afghanistan, 23.6% in Egypt, 28.1% in Lebanon, 15.6% in Pakistan, and 37.8% in Iran. Syria and Libya had only one HCV prevalence measure each at 1.5% and 23.7%, respectively. There was strong evidence for injecting drug use and the use of non-sterile injecting-equipment in prisons. Incarceration and injecting drugs, use of non-sterile injecting-equipment, and tattooing in prisons were found to be independent risk factors for HIV or HCV infections. High levels of sexual risk behaviour, tattooing and use of non-sterile razors among prisoners were documented. CONCLUSIONS: Prisons play an important role in HIV and HCV dynamics in MENA and have facilitated the emergence of large HIV epidemics in at least two countries, Iran and Pakistan. There is evidence for substantial but variable HIV and HCV prevalence, as well as risk behaviour including injecting drug use and unprotected sex among prisoners across countries. These findings highlight the need for comprehensive harm-reduction strategies in prisons

Prevalence of Active and Passive Smoking among Adult Population: Findings ‎of a Population-Based Survey in Kerman (KERCADR), Iran

Background: Smoking is one of the major modifiable non-communicable disease risk factors. Our aim was to report the pattern of active and passive smoking using the data collected through a population base household survey in Kerman, Iran. Methods: Given a cluster random sampling design, we recruited 5900 adult populations (15-75 years old) into a survey. After consenting, every participant was interviewed by a trained interviewer. The section for smoking had questions about daily (smoking at least one cigarette/day), non-daily, past and passive cigarette smoking as well as the time of exposure to cigarette’s smoke. We used Kerman population distribution (as the target population) to adjust our estimates using direct standardization method. Findings: Overall, 8.3% of study participants (15.5% in men vs. 0.8% in women, P = 0.010) reported themselves as daily smokers and 1.7% (2.9% in men vs. 0.4% in women, P = 0.010) as non-daily smokers. The passive smoking was common in total (27.5%), while women experienced more exposure than men (30.1% vs. 25.0%, P = 0.010). 3.2% of daily smokers smoked more than 20 cigarettes/day. Among passive smokers, 62.6% were exposed to cigarette smoke more than 6 days/week. Conclusion: Smoking is pretty common among adult populations, particularly men. A majority of tobacco-free young adult women are exposed to passive smoking. Age and gender oriented interventions are required to change this risk pattern in our community to prevent from further smoking related morbidities and mortalities