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

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. Let

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