Fabrication of three-dimensional suspended, interlayered and hierarchical nanostructures by accuracy-improved electron beam lithography overlay

Nanofabrication techniques are essential for exploring nanoscience and many closely related research fields such as materials, electronics, optics and photonics. Recently, three-dimensional (3D) nanofabrication techniques have been actively investigated through many different ways, however, it is still challenging to make elaborate and complex 3D nanostructures that many researchers want to realize for further interesting physics studies and device applications. Electron beam lithography, one of the two-dimensional (2D) nanofabrication techniques, is also feasible to realize elaborate 3D nanostructures by stacking each 2D nanostructures. However, alignment errors among the individual 2D nanostructures have been difficult to control due to some practical issues. In this work, we introduce a straightforward approach to drastically increase the overlay accuracy of sub-20 nm based on carefully designed alignmarks and calibrators. Three different types of 3D nanostructures whose designs are motivated from metamaterials and plasmonic structures have been demonstrated to verify the feasibility of the method, and the desired result has been achieved. We believe our work can provide a useful approach for building more advanced and complex 3D nanostructures.114sciescopu

Multifaceted Exploration of Disability Support Offices in Higher Education Institutions: Analyzing Websites, Staff Members’ Autism Attitudes and Knowledge, and Perspectives of Autistic Students

Thesis advisor: Kristen Bottema-BeutelMany autistic students enrolled in colleges/universities, who are academically qualified for admission, experience difficulties adjusting to their college life. Disability support offices (DSOs) of higher education institutions (HEIs) assume the responsibility of providing supports to autistic students, but many DSOs lack the resources to cater to the varied needs of these students. To gain a nuanced understanding, this set of three studies explores contextual factors around DSOs that may influence autistic students’ experiences with DSOs and their perspectives about available DSO support. In Study 1, DSO websites of 12 US HEIs were examined using multimodal discourse analysis, and the study revealed that DSO websites share genre features with advertisements. DSO websites advertised the services they provide in efforts to ‘brand’ their institution. This commodification of DSO supports raises concerns because accommodations given to students with disabilities should be understood as their legal rights rather than sellable products. In Study 2, a nationwide sample of 153 DSO staff members completed a battery of online surveys to determine significant predictors of their attitudes and knowledge about autism. The quality of previous contact was shown to be associated with social distance, openness, and knowledge about autism, and several institutional variables significantly predicted staff members’ attitudes and knowledge about autism. Lastly, in Study 3, 27 autistic undergraduate students were interviewed about their experiences with DSOs, and their responses were qualitatively analyzed using a generic inductive approach. Students reported on their general perceptions of DSOs, decisions about not receiving DSO supports, and their perception of ways that DSOs could support them better. Together, the findings of the three studies inform the work of DSOs in developing appropriate systems that support autistic students to successfully navigate college. Developing service provision systems that comprehensively address these issues reported by autistic students should be a collective institutional responsibility to increase autism awareness and acceptance on college campuses and make online and physical space accessible for autistic students.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020.Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education.Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction

THE ANALYSIS OF OCULAR MOVEMENT FOR THE DYNAMIC POSTURAL CONTROL OF TURN MOTION ON THE BALANCE BEAM

This study demonstrated the importance of dynamic postural balancing and ocular movement in a turn motion on the balance beam using a manufactured wireless EOG measuring system with three female gymnasts. This study found that among the dynamic postural control variables, angular displacement and ocular movement were closely related. During a turn motion, the ocular movement was in opposite direction of the angular displacement of head and trunk along the medio-lateral axis. This resulted from the gymnast’s effort to stare at the end of the balance beam or the front in order to keep balance. The change of angular displacement of head around the medio-lateral axis and vertical axis was in opposite direction of the ocular movement. When the motion was successful, the gymnasts performed a spotting motion

Nonlocal Dispersion Cancellation using Entangled Photons

A pair of optical pulses traveling through two dispersive media will become broadened and, as a result, the degree of coincidence between the optical pulses will be reduced. For a pair of entangled photons, however, nonlocal dispersion cancellation in which the dispersion experienced by one photon cancels the dispersion experienced by the other photon is possible. In this paper, we report an experimental demonstration of nonlocal dispersion cancellation using entangled photons. The degree of two-photon coincidence is shown to increase beyond the limit attainable without entanglement. Our results have important applications in fiber-based quantum communication and quantum metrology.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Preliminary evidence for the psychophysiological effects of technologic feature in e-commerce

As information and communication technologies are advanced, consumers are now able to enhance their e-commerce experiences regardless the channel, and it leads fashion retailers to develop better innovative experiential strategy to secure sustainable competency. The purpose of this study is to focus on apparel website to investigate the effect of branded contents on consumer\u27s pleasure and arousal that in turn may influence consumer\u27s response behaviors. This study employed S-O-R paradigm which explains that consumers\u27 inner organisms change according to the exposed external stimulation, and the changes antedate behavioral responses. Pleasure and arousal were measured with BioPAC MP150, which indicates the changes of electromyogram (EMG: pleasure), galvanic skin reflex (GSR: arousal), and heart rate (HR: pleasure) follow by the self-reported survey about behavioral responses. This study found that the effect for e-commerce\u27s branded content video on consumer\u27s response is indirect, and change of arousal is an indicator of hedonic shopping behavior

Autosomal dominant transmission of complicated hereditary spastic paraplegia due to a dominant negative mutation of KIF1A, SPG30 gene.

KIF1A is a brain-specific anterograde motor protein that transports cargoes towards the plus-ends of microtubules. Many variants of the KIF1A gene have been associated with neurodegenerative diseases and developmental delay. Homozygous mutations of KIF1A have been identified in a recessive subtype of hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), SPG30. In addition, KIF1A mutations have been found in pure HSP with autosomal dominant inheritance. Here we report the first case of familial complicated HSP with a KIF1A mutation transmitted in autosomal dominant inheritance. A heterozygous p.T258M mutation in KIF1A was found in a Korean family through targeted exome sequencing. They displayed phenotypes of mild intellectual disability with language delay, epilepsy, optic nerve atrophy, thinning of corpus callosum, periventricular white matter lesion, and microcephaly. A structural modeling revealed that the p.T258M mutation disrupted the binding of KIF1A motor domain to microtubules and its movement along microtubules. Assays of peripheral accumulation and proximal distribution of KIF1A motor indicated that the KIF1A motor domain with p.T258M mutation has reduced motor activity and exerts a dominant negative effect on wild-type KIF1A. These results suggest that the p.T258M mutation suppresses KIF1A motor activity and induces complicated HSP accompanying intellectual disability transmitted in autosomal dominant inheritance. © The Author(s) 20171