Nano-cathodoluminescence reveals the effect of electron damage on the optical properties of nitride optoelectronics and the damage threshold

Nano-cathodoluminescence (Nano-CL) reveals optical emission from individual InGaN quantum wells for applications in optoelectronic devices. We show the luminescent intensity decays over time with exposure to the electron beam for energies between 80 and 200 keV. Measurements of the CL intensity over time show an exponential decline in intensity, which we propose is due to the formation of nitrogen Frenkel defects. The measured CL damage decreases with reductions in the electron accelerating voltage and we suggest that the electron induced structural damage may be suppressed below the proposed damage threshold. The electron beam induced damage leads to a non-radiative region that extends over the measured minority carrier diffusion length. Nano-CL may thus serve as a powerful technique to study III-nitride optoelectronics.This work was carried out with the support of the United Kingdom Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council under Grant Nos. EP/NO17927/1 and EP/J003603/1. R. Oliver acknowledges funding from the European Research Council under the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) ERC grant agreement number 279361 (MACONS) and the from the Royal Academy of Engineers/Leverhulme Trust senior research fellowship

Exclusive Photoproduction of the Cascade (Xi) Hyperons

We report on the first measurement of exclusive Xi-(1321) hyperon photoproduction in gamma p --> K+ K+ Xi- for 3.2 < E(gamma) < 3.9 GeV. The final state is identified by the missing mass in p(gamma,K+ K+)X measured with the CLAS detector at Jefferson Laboratory. We have detected a significant number of the ground-state Xi-(1321)1/2+, and have estimated the total cross section for its production. We have also observed the first excited state Xi-(1530)3/2+. Photoproduction provides a copious source of Xi's. We discuss the possibilities of a search for the recently proposed Xi5-- and Xi5+ pentaquarks.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev.

Aging enhances serum cytokine response but not task-induced grip strength declines in a rat model of work-related musculoskeletal disorders

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We previously reported early tissue injury, increased serum and tissue inflammatory cytokines and decreased grip in young rats performing a moderate demand repetitive task. The tissue cytokine response was transient, the serum response and decreased grip were still evident by 8 weeks. Thus, here, we examined their levels at 12 weeks in young rats. Since aging is known to enhance serum cytokine levels, we also examined aged rats.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Aged and young rats, 14 mo and 2.5 mo of age at onset, respectfully, were trained 15 min/day for 4 weeks, and then performed a high repetition, low force (HRLF) reaching and grasping task for 2 hours/day, for 12 weeks. Serum was assayed for 6 cytokines: IL-1alpha, IL-6, IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, MIP2, IL-10. Grip strength was assayed, since we have previously shown an inverse correlation between grip strength and serum inflammatory cytokines. Results were compared to naïve (grip), and normal, food-restricted and trained-only controls.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Serum cytokines were higher overall in aged than young rats, with increases in IL-1alpha, IFN-gamma and IL-6 in aged Trained and 12-week HRLF rats, compared to young Trained and HRLF rats (p < 0.05 and p < 0.001, respectively, each). IL-6 was also increased in aged 12-week HRLF versus aged normal controls (p < 0.05). Serum IFN-gamma and MIP2 levels were also increased in young 6-week HRLF rats, but no cytokines were above baseline levels in young 12-week HRLF rats. Grip strength declined in both young and aged 12-week HRLF rats, compared to naïve and normal controls (p < 0.05 each), but these declines correlated only with IL-6 levels in aged rats (r = -0.39).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Aging enhanced a serum cytokine response in general, a response that was even greater with repetitive task performance. Grip strength was adversely affected by task performance in both age groups, but was apparently influenced by factors other than serum cytokine levels in young rats.</p

Collecting Psycholinguistic Response Time Data Using Amazon Mechanical Turk

Researchers in linguistics and related fields have recently begun exploiting online crowd-sourcing tools, like Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT), to gather behavioral data. While this method has been successfully validated for various offline measures--grammaticality judgment or other forced-choice tasks--its use for mainstream psycholinguistic research remains limited. This is because psycholinguistic effects are often dependent on relatively small differences in response times, and there remains some doubt as to whether precise timing measurements can be gathered over the web. Here we show that three classic psycholinguistic effects can in fact be replicated using AMT in combination with open-source software for gathering response times client-side. Specifically, we find reliable effects of subject definiteness, filler-gap dependency processing, and agreement attraction in self-paced reading tasks using approximately the same numbers of participants and/or trials as similar laboratory studies. Our results suggest that psycholinguists can and should be taking advantage of AMT and similar online crowd-sourcing marketplaces as a fast, low-resource alternative to traditional laboratory research

“Es fundamental que la información que se transmita sea confiable”

El flamante Doctor Honoris Causa de la UNLP, Emilio Luque Fadón, de la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, fue uno de los conferencistas de CACIC 2017. Durante su estadía por la ciudad de La Plata, el español habló acerca de las nuevas tecnologías, su tolerancia a los fallos y el consumo energético.Facultad de Informátic

Can We Dissociate Contingency Learning from Social Learning in Word Acquisition by 24-Month-Olds?

Colin Bannard is with UT Austin; Michael Tomasello is with Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.We compared 24-month-old children’s learning when their exposure to words came either in an interactive (coupled) context or in a nonsocial (decoupled) context. We measured the children’s learning with two different methods: one in which they were asked to point to the referent for the experimenter, and the other a preferential looking task in which they were encouraged to look to the referent. In the pointing test, children chose the correct referents for words encountered in the coupled condition but not in the decoupled condition. In the looking time test, however, they looked to the targets regardless of condition. We explore the explanations for this and propose that the different response measures are reflecting two different kinds of learning.Linguistic