975 research outputs found
Corporate Social Responsibility in Canadian Banking a Case Study on the Equator Principles
This thesis considers the role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the Canadian banking sector. Although the relevance of CSR continues to be debated, this analysis starts from the position that CSR is now a fact of life for modern banks and tests whether Canadian banks are demonstrating CSR behavior through their adoption of the Equator Principles: a series of guidelines on the management of social and environmental issues that banks voluntarily commit to follow in their project financing activities. This thesis concludes that examples of CSR behavior can be observed as Canadian banks continue to define the scope of their involvement with the EPs. However, this conclusion is tempered by the finding that self-interested business motivations are also behind EPs adoption. Any expectations that we might arrive at “socially responsible” banks should therefore be tempered by the reality that CSR has yet to gain universal implementation in Canadian banking
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Monolithic optofluidic chips: from optical manipulation of single cells to quantum sensing of fluids
This paper was presented at the 4th Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2014), which was held at University College, London, UK. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Italian Union of Thermofluiddynamics, IPEM, the Process Intensification Network, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Heat Transfer Society, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group, and the Energy Institute, ASME Press, LCN London Centre for Nanotechnology, UCL University College London, UCL Engineering, the International NanoScience Community, www.nanopaprika.eu.We report on a new class of integrated optofluidic devices, fabricated by femtosecond laser
micromachining. The capability to combine optical waveguides with microfluidic channels in the same
glass chip provides a very powerful platform, introducing new tools in the field of optical sensing. Two
recent applications that greatly benefitted from this novel technology are on-chip optical manipulation of
single cells by optical forces and optical sensing of the refractive index of fluids by quantum states of light.
The specific properties of robustness, alignment free and portability of these devices pave the way to the use
of these advanced sensing technologies outside the lab, in a real application environment
Geometrically-controlled polarisation processing in an integrated photonic platform
The polarisation of light is a powerful and widely used degree of freedom to
encode information, both in classical and quantum applications. In particular,
quantum information technologies based on photons are being revolutionised by
the use of integrated photonic circuits. It is therefore very important to be
able to manipulate the polarisation of photons in such circuits. We
experimentally demonstrate the fabrication by femtosecond laser micromachining
of components such as polarisation insensitive or polarising directional
couplers, operating at 1550 nm wavelength, where the two opposite behaviours
are achieved just by controlling the geometric layout of the photonic circuits,
being the waveguides fabricated with the same irradiation recipe. We expect to
employ this approach in complex integrated photonic devices, capable of a full
control of the photons polarisation for quantum cryptography, quantum
computation and quantum teleportation experiments.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
Fast Escape from Quantum Mazes in Integrated Photonics
Escaping from a complex maze, by exploring different paths with several
decision-making branches in order to reach the exit, has always been a very
challenging and fascinating task. Wave field and quantum objects may explore a
complex structure in parallel by interference effects, but without necessarily
leading to more efficient transport. Here, inspired by recent observations in
biological energy transport phenomena, we demonstrate how a quantum walker can
efficiently reach the output of a maze by partially suppressing the presence of
interference. In particular, we show theoretically an unprecedented improvement
in transport efficiency for increasing maze size with respect to purely quantum
and classical approaches. In addition, we investigate experimentally these
hybrid transport phenomena, by mapping the maze problem in an integrated
waveguide array, probed by coherent light, hence successfully testing our
theoretical results. These achievements may lead towards future bio-inspired
photonics technologies for more efficient transport and computation.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figure
Symmetric polarization insensitive directional couplers fabricated by femtosecond laser waveguide writing
We study analytically the polarization behaviour of directional couplers
composed of birefringent waveguides, showing that they can induce polarization
transformations that depend on the specific input-output path considered. On
the basis of this study, we propose and demonstrate experimentally, by
femtosecond laser writing, directional couplers that are free from this problem
and also yield a polarization independent power-splitting ratio. More in
detail, we devise two different approaches to realize such devices: the first
one is based on local birefringence engineering, while the second one exploits
ultra-low birefringence waveguides obtained by thermal annealing
Fractional Bloch oscillations in photonic lattices
Bloch oscillations, the oscillatory motion of a quantum particle in a
periodic potential, are one of the most fascinating effects of coherent quantum
transport. Originally studied in the context of electrons in crystals, Bloch
oscillations manifest the wave nature of matter and are found in a wide variety
of different physical systems. Here we report on the first experimental
observation of fractional Bloch oscillations, using a photonic lattice as a
model system of a two-particle extended Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian. In our
photonic simulator, the dynamics of two correlated particles hopping on a
one-dimensional lattice is mapped into the motion of a single particle in a
two-dimensional lattice with engineered defects and mimicked by light transport
in a square waveguide lattice with a bent axis
Benchmarking integrated photonic architectures
Photonic platforms represent a promising technology for the realization of
several quantum communication protocols and for experiments of quantum
simulation. Moreover, large-scale integrated interferometers have recently
gained a relevant role for restricted models of quantum computing, specifically
with Boson Sampling devices. Indeed, various linear optical schemes have been
proposed for the implementation of unitary transformations, each one suitable
for a specific task. Notwithstanding, so far a comprehensive analysis of the
state of the art under broader and realistic conditions is still lacking. In
the present work we address this gap, providing in a unified framework a
quantitative comparison of the three main photonic architectures, namely the
ones with triangular and square designs and the so-called fast transformations.
All layouts have been analyzed in presence of losses and imperfect control over
the reflectivities and phases of the inner structure. Our results represent a
further step ahead towards the implementation of quantum information protocols
on large-scale integrated photonic devices.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures + 2 pages Supplementary Informatio
Observation of surface states with algebraic localization
We introduce and experimentally demonstrate a class of surface bound states
with algebraic decay in a one-dimensional tight-binding lattice. Such states
have an energy embedded in the spectrum of scattered states and are
structurally stable against perturbations of lattice parameters. Experimental
demonstration of surface states with algebraic localization is presented in an
array of evanescently-coupled optical waveguides with tailored coupling rates.Comment: revised version with Supplemental Material, to appear in Phys. Rev.
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Quality Control Gone Wrong: Mitochondria, Lysosomal Storage Disorders and Neurodegeneration.
The eukaryotic cell possesses specialized pathways to turnover and degrade redundant proteins and organelles. Each pathway is unique and responsible for degradation of distinctive cytosolic material. The ubiquitin-proteasome system and autophagy (chaperone-mediated, macro, micro and organelle specific), act synergistically to maintain proteostasis. Defects in this equilibrium can be deleterious at cellular and organism level, giving rise to various disease states. Dysfunction of quality control pathways are implicated in in neurodegenerative diseases, and appear particularly important in Parkinson's disease and the Lysosomal storage disorders. Neurodegeneration resulting from impaired degradation of ubiquitinated proteins and α-synuclein is often accompanied by mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondria have evolved to control a diverse number of processes including cellular energy production, calcium signaling and apoptosis and like every other organelle within the cell, they must be 'recycled.' Failure to do so is potentially lethal as these once indispensible organelles become destructive, leaking reactive oxygen species and activating the intrinsic cell death pathway. This process is paramount in neurons which have an absolute dependence on mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation as they cannot up-regulate glycolysis. As such mitochondrial bioenergetic failure can underpin neural death and neurodegenerative disease. In this review we discuss the links between cellular quality control and neurodegenerative diseases associated with mitochondrial dysfunction, with particular attention to the emerging links between Parkinson's and Gaucher diseases in which defective quality control is a defining factor
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