Voices from the Field: Exploring Partnerships with the African American Library at Gregory School in Houston, Texas

Dr. Bernardo Pohl conducted an interview with Ms. Valerie Wade, the library’s historian and oral archivist, to discuss the library’s history, partnerships, and vital role in the community

Dynamical Crystallization in the Dipole Blockade of Ultracold Atoms

We describe a method for controlling many-body states in extended ensembles of Rydberg atoms, forming crystalline structures during laser excitation of a frozen atomic gas. Specifically, we predict the existence of an excitation number staircase in laser excitation of atomic ensembles into Rydberg states. Each step corresponds to a crystalline state with a well-defined of regularly spaced Rydberg atoms. We show that such states can be selectively excited by chirped laser pulses. Finally, we demonstarte that, sing quantum state transfer from atoms to light, such crystals can be used to create crystalline photonic states and can be probed via photon correlation measurements

Two-step rocket engine bipropellant valve concept

Initiating combustion of altitude control rocket engines in a precombustion chamber of ductile material reduces high pressure surges generated by hypergolic propellants. Two-step bipropellant valve concepts control initial propellant flow into precombustion chamber and subsequent full flow into main chamber

A Moral Debate at the Invisible Rainbow: Thoughts about Best Practices in Servicing LGBTQ Students in Special Education

Instead of occupying a marginal space within teacher preparation programs, special education courses and training should promote diversity in servicing marginalized groups such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) students. Within these programs, issues related to LGBTQ students should occupy a meaningful and formative space in the training of future teachers in special education. Often, special education teachers are at a loss about how to educate LGBTQ students with disabilities. Rethinking the role of special education and LGBTQ students with special needs within teacher education programs enables pre-service teachers to cultivate new values and attitudes that can enrich the student/teacher relationship within public schools. As such, this article proposes to explore best practices for servicing LGTBQ students in special education by promoting better ways to train future teachers

Two-step rocket engine bipropellant valve Patent

Solenoid two-step valve for bipropellant flow rate control to rocket engin

Charged Current Neutrino Nucleus Interactions at Intermediate Energies

We have developed a model to describe the interactions of neutrinos with nucleons and nuclei, focusing on the region of the quasielastic and Delta(1232) peaks. We describe neutrino nucleon collisions with a fully relativistic formalism which incorporates state-of-the-art parametrizations of the form factors for both the nucleon and the N-Delta transition. The model has then been extended to finite nuclei, taking into account nuclear effects such as Fermi motion, Pauli blocking (both within the local density approximation), nuclear binding and final state interactions. The in-medium modification of the Delta resonance due to Pauli blocking and collisional broadening have also been included. Final state interactions are implemented by means of the Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (BUU) coupled-channel transport model. Results for charged current inclusive cross sections and exclusive channels as pion production and nucleon knockout are presented and discussed.Comment: 26 pages, 24 figures; v2: 2 figures and discussion added, version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Critical Literacy in the Social Studies Classroom: A Case for the 21st Century

This article considers the potential of integrating critical literacy into approaches to teaching and learning social studies as an indispensable tool for building better communities (Agbaria, 2011). It begins with an overview of the authors’ experiences and perspectives related to social studies and critical literacy. It then proceeds to consider current perceptions and practices regarding literacy in U.S. classrooms and the trend towards teaching and learning literacy and a distinct set of technical and functional knowledge and skills that are often taught in isolation. The article then examines conceptions of critical literacy and considers connections to social studies education. Finally, it considers how critical approaches to teaching and learning literacy and social studies might be united to promote and support the development of critical thinking skills necessary for today’s students to successfully address issues in an increasingly complex and interconnected global society

Three-dimensional Roton-Excitations and Supersolid formation in Rydberg-excited Bose-Einstein Condensates

We study the behavior of a Bose-Einstein condensate in which atoms are weakly coupled to a highly excited Rydberg state. Since the latter have very strong van der Waals interactions, this coupling induces effective, nonlocal interactions between the dressed ground state atoms, which, opposed to dipolar interactions, are isotropically repulsive. Yet, one finds partial attraction in momentum space, giving rise to a roton-maxon excitation spectrum and a transition to a supersolid state in three-dimensional condensates. A detailed analysis of decoherence and loss mechanisms suggests that these phenomena are observable with current experimental capabilities.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

The effect of the displacement damage on the Charge Collection Efficiency in Silicon Drift Detectors for the LOFT satellite

The technology of Silicon Drift Detectors (SDDs) has been selected for the two instruments aboard the Large Observatory For X-ray Timing (LOFT) space mission. LOFT underwent a three year long assessment phase as candidate for the M3 launch opportunity within the "Cosmic Vision 2015 -- 2025" long-term science plan of the European Space Agency. During the LOFT assessment phase, we studied the displacement damage produced in the SDDs by the protons trapped in the Earth's magnetosphere. In a previous paper we discussed the effects of the Non Ionising Energy Losses from protons on the SDD leakage current. In this paper we report the measurement of the variation of Charge Collection Efficiency produced by displacement damage caused by protons and the comparison with the expected damage in orbit.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication by Journal of Instrumentatio