Finite geometry models of electric field noise from patch potentials in ion traps

We model electric field noise from fluctuating patch potentials on conducting surfaces by taking into account the finite geometry of the ion trap electrodes to gain insight into the origin of anomalous heating in ion traps. The scaling of anomalous heating rates with surface distance, $d$, is obtained for several generic geometries of relevance to current ion trap designs, ranging from planar to spheroidal electrodes. The influence of patch size is studied both by solving Laplace's equation in terms of the appropriate Green's function as well as through an eigenfunction expansion. Scaling with surface distance is found to be highly dependent on the choice of geometry and the relative scale between the spatial extent of the electrode, the ion-electrode distance, and the patch size. Our model generally supports the $d^{-4}$ dependence currently found by most experiments and models, but also predicts geometry-driven deviations from this trend

The Role of Deubiquitinating Enzymes in the Various Forms of Autophagy

Deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) have an essential role in several cell biological processes via removing the various ubiquitin patterns as posttranslational modification forms from the target proteins. These enzymes also contribute to the normal cytoplasmic ubiquitin pool during the recycling of this molecule. Autophagy, a summary name of the lysosome dependent self-degradative processes, is necessary for maintaining normal cellular homeostatic equilibrium. Numerous forms of autophagy are known depending on how the cellular self-material is delivered into the lysosomal lumen. In this review we focus on the colorful role of DUBs in autophagic processes and discuss the mechanistic contribution of these molecules to normal cellular homeostasis via the possible regulation forms of autophagic mechanisms

Increasing Life Effectiveness

The iPod, more than any other device, is indicative of the times in which we live. It provides entertainment and information at the click of a wheel, whenever, and wherever we want it. The iPod is tool of choice for many of the current generation of youth who fill their days with electronic devices, computer games, Youtube, Myspace, Facebook and talking to friends on MSN. These youth have been referred to as the iGeneration, or Google Generation; whatever you choose to call them, they are the young people in our schools. Life is not simple for many of these students. They are growing up in a world vastly different to that of their parents. Today’s world features “cultural pluralism, increased anxiety about personal and environmental risks, precarious employment, rampant consumerism, the information deluge, greater individualisation and increased instability in families” (Hughes, 2007). Within this quickly changing world, there is a need for students to develop the capacity to cope with their ever-changing environment. They need to be resilient. Outdoor education activities have been proposed as one way of increasing a person’s resilience through increasing ‘Life Effectiveness’ skills. These skills equip students to handle the demands of life and impact a person’s capacity to adapt, survive, and thrive (Neill, 2008). They will enhance a person’s resilience and their sense of wellbeing

Laser-induced charging of microfabricated ion traps

Electrical charging of metal surfaces due to photoelectric generation of carriers is of concern in trapped ion quantum computation systems, due to the high sensitivity of the ions' motional quantum states to deformation of the trapping potential. The charging induced by typical laser frequencies involved in doppler cooling and quantum control is studied here, with microfabricated surface electrode traps made of aluminum, copper, and gold, operated at 6 K with a single Sr$^+$ ion trapped 100 $\mu$m above the trap surface. The lasers used are at 370, 405, 460, and 674 nm, and the typical photon flux at the trap is 10$^{14}$ photons/cm$^2$/sec. Charging is detected by monitoring the ion's micromotion signal, which is related to the number of charges created on the trap. A wavelength and material dependence of the charging behavior is observed: lasers at lower wavelengths cause more charging, and aluminum exhibits more charging than copper or gold. We describe the charging dynamic based on a rate equation approach.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

Climate of change – or confusion?

There is widespread, although not universal, agreement that sustainability and climate change constitute major challenges with real effects (Peattie & Peattie, 2009). Human activity has disrupted ecological systems; continued pursuit of economic growth based on exploiting finite resources is unsustainable and 'avoiding dangerous climate change will require lifestyle changes'(Gowdy, 2008: 64), yet there is a lack of clarity and clear communication of what action should be taken and by whom. Policy makers assume, without evidence, 'spillover effects', i.e., small behaviour changes will lead to larger change and catalysts for other changes, but doing one pro-environmental behaviour may be seen as compensating for other environmentally detrimental behaviours (Corner & Randall, 2011). These authors note the expectation that social marketing interventions will be employed to address climate change challenges. We discuss the factors that should be taken into account in designing effective sustainability and climate change adaptation interventions

Aggregating Elasticities: Intensive and Extensive Margins of Women's Labour Supply

We show that there is substantial heterogeneity in women's labour supply elasticities at the micro level and highlight the implications for aggregate behaviour. We consider both intertemporal and intratemporal choices, and identify intensive and extensive responses in a consistent life-cycle framework, using US CEX data. Heterogeneity is due to observables, such as age, wealth, hours worked and the wage level as well as to unobservable tastes for leisure: the median Marshallian elasticity for hours worked is 0.18, with corresponding Hicksian elasticity of 0.54 and Frisch elasticity of 0.87. At the 90th percentile, these values are 0.79, 1.16, and 1.92. Responses at the extensive margin explain about 54% of the total labour supply response for women under 30, although this declines with age. Aggregate elasticities are higher in recessions, and increase with the length of the recession. The heterogeneity at the micro level means that the aggregate labour supply elasticity is not a structural parameter: any aggregate elasticity will depend on the demographic structure of the economy as well as the distribution of wealth and the particular point in the business cycle.MCYT. Grant Number: ECO2009‐0961

Nihilation of femininity in the battle of looks: a Sartrean reading of Jhumpa Lahiri’s “A temporary matter”

The panoptic gaze is vested in with a constitutive impact upon the subjectivity of individuals. Feminist scholars like Luce Irigaray have charged that the metaphor of vision is intimately connected with the construction of gender and sexual difference. By pointing to the masculine logic of Western thought, Irigaray confirms that a woman’s entry into a dominant scopic economy signifies her inevitable confinement to passivity. This essay aims to examine the sexual politics of metaphors of vision in a literary text that is controversially argued to be a voice for the subordinated Indian immigrant women in the US. As one of the most influential schools of thought in Western philosophy, the Sartrean paradigm of sexual difference is employed to investigate this allegation by identifying the latent binary system at work in the fiction of Jhumpa Lahiri, who has garnered substantial yet controversial critical attention over her representations of gender. Specifically, this essay focuses on Lahiri’s prefatory story to her Pulitzer Prize-winning short story collection, Interpreter of Maladies (2000), to unravel the manner her exercise of vision in this narrative perpetuates the dichotomies of a male subject and a female object pre-established in the traditional hierarchies of gender in the West. In this story, Lahiri (un)wittingly privileges masculinity over femininity and reduces the latter to a typically disgusting Sartrean female body of holes and slime. Hence, notwithstanding infrequent emasculated images of the male subject, it is ultimately the masculine that, in the battle of looks between male and female, nihilates the Other to the state of “being-in-itself” and enjoys supremacy over the feminine