Mixtures of Bose gases confined in concentrically coupled annular traps

A two-component Bose-Einstein condensate confined in an axially-symmetric potential with two local minima, resembling two concentric annular traps, is investigated. The system shows a number of quantum phase transitions that result from the competition between phase coexistence, and radial/azimuthal phase separation. The ground-state phase diagram, as well as the rotational properties, including the (meta)stability of currents in this system, are analysed.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, minor revision

Southern Europe perspectives on international student mobility

During the last four decades, higher education institutions (hereafter, HEIs) have experienced an unprecedented level of internationalization, closely linked to pressures induced by economic globalization (Kehm and Teichler 2007). The dominance of post-industrial capitalism, a revolution brought about by new information technologies and the postcolonial scenario of emerging countries demanding access to higher education are at the core of a worldwide engagement with internationalization (Lumby and Foskett 2016). The demand for status-generating tertiary education from middle class and elite families in countries such as China, India, South Korea, Brazil and Nigeria has stimulated the struggle between nations that seek to dominate the global education market (Waters and Leung 2013). The most prominent universities in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Germany have begun offering distance education courses, joint programmes and academic partnerships, opening campus branches overseas and, of course, recruiting as many mobile students as possible (Walker 2014). In this sense, internationalization might rather be labelled ‘transnationalization’ as its principal feature is not the expansion of HEIs on an international scale but rather the commercialization of educational goods and services worldwide (Verger et al. 2016). In fact, educational goods are now included in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) of the World Trade Organization (WTO).info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Isospin phases of vertically coupled double quantum rings under the influence of perpendicular magnetic fields

Vertically coupled double quantum rings submitted to a perpendicular magnetic field $B$ are addressed within the local spin-density functional theory. We describe the structure of quantum ring molecules containing up to 40 electrons considering different inter-ring distances and intensities of the applied magnetic field. When the rings are quantum mechanically strongly coupled, only bonding states are occupied and the addition spectrum of the artificial molecules resembles that of a single quantum ring, with some small differences appearing as an effect of the magnetic field. Despite the latter has the tendency to flatten the spectra, in the strong coupling limit some clear peaks are still found even when $B\neq 0$ that can be interpretated from the single-particle energy levels analogously as at zero applied field, namely in terms of closed-shell and Hund's-rule configurations. Increasing the inter-ring distance, the occupation of the first antibonding orbitals washes out such structures and the addition spectra become flatter and irregular. In the weak coupling regime, numerous isospin oscillations are found as a function of $B$.Comment: 27 pages, 11 figures. To be published in Phys. Rev.

‘There was no freedom to leave’: Global South international students in Portugal during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This article looks at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on international students, focusing on Portuguese-speaking African and Brazilian students during the lockdown of spring 2020. Using evidence from interviews conducted with 27 students domiciled in Portugal, we illustrate some of the challenges faced by students when coping with the pandemic, including difficulties in meeting the cost of tertiary education and the centrality of working to sustain their stays abroad, alongside the emotional impact of prolonged domestic confinement and separation from families. We also consider the paradoxes of online teaching, which have made visible the digital gap between local and international Global South students in the context of their stays. In this sense, pre-existing inequalities are more at the centre of students’ concerns than new issues raised by COVID-19, a pandemic that served to reveal former injustice in the context of global capitalism. In our conclusion, we argue that there is a need for greater recognition of the vulnerabilities facing certain African and Brazilian students at Global North universities in the context of contemporary neoliberalism, including their dependence upon precarious work. Policy responses include the need for a more serious involvement and responsibility by both home and host higher education institutions in the lives of their students abroad.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Lisbon, the Portuguese Erasmus city? Mis-match between representation in urban policies and international student experiences

This article looks at the mis-match between official discursive representations aimed at promoting Lisbon, the Portuguese capital city, as an international student hub and international students’ experiences. At a theoretical level, our work builds on the idea that re-branding a city’s image in terms of creativity, innovation and new technologies with a view to attract international students can foster less positive urban changes linked to gentrification, pushing overseas students away rather than attracting greater numbers. Discussion includes consideration of the success of policies at the municipal level that have aimed to use international students as a means to re-brand the city as a center for creativity and innovation, a part of the wider strategy of putting Lisbon on the map as a global learning destination. Analysis includes assessment of publicity materials advertising the city’s appeal to international students, juxtaposed with findings from interviews conducted with incoming students at the city’s universities during 2020. This material illustrates some of the most prominent contradictions, and arguably, a number of shortcomings, in the city’s imagological strategy, particularly in regard to concerns with Lisbon’s housing market.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Conclusion: Youth migration in the age of pandemic immobility

This concluding chapter takes account of recent developments in the field of public health. Had it not been for the global spread of Covid-19 in 2020, youth mobility might well have continued along its decades long course of global expansion and diversification, spreading into different forms of education, work and training, with the dividing line between mobility for these purposes and tourism continuing to blur. These concerns are no longer as pressing as they once were, and may not return to being high priorities for a very long time. Right now, writing in the middle of what has come to feel like an open-ended pandemic, all we can do is look at what has happened in the last few months and attempt to grasp some of the main consequences for young people who still wish or need to be mobile, in addition to engaging with the pressing problem of how to re-orient mobility practices that have stalled or never got off the ground, literally and figuratively. Additional concerns are evident in regard to how to maintain mobility systems at a time when institutions have closed their doors, again literally and figuratively, and are struggling to re-open in any meaningful sense of the word.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Rotational properties of dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates confined in anisotropic harmonic potentials

We study the rotational properties of a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a quasi-two- dimensional anisotropic trap, for an arbitrary orientation of the dipoles with respect to their plane of motion. Within the mean-field approximation we find that the lowest-energy state of the system depends strongly on the relative strength between the dipolar and the contact interactions, as well as on the size and the orientation of the dipoles, and the size and the orientation of the deformation of the trapping potential.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Transcript expression of vesicular glutamate transporters in lumbar dorsal root ganglia and the spinal cord of mice – Effects of peripheral axotomy or hindpaw inflammation

Using specific riboprobes, we characterized the expression of vesicular glutamate transporter (VGLUT)1–VGLUT3 transcripts in lumbar 4–5 (L4–5) dorsal root ganglions (DRGs) and the thoracolumbar to lumbosacral spinal cord in male BALB/c mice after a 1- or 3-day hindpaw inflammation, or a 7-day sciatic nerve axotomy. Sham animals were also included. In sham and contralateral L4–5 DRGs of injured mice, VGLUT1-, VGLUT2- and VGLUT3 mRNAs were expressed in ∼45%, ∼69% or ∼17% of neuron profiles (NPs), respectively. VGLUT1 was expressed in large and medium-sized NPs, VGLUT2 in NPs of all sizes, and VGLUT3 in small and medium-sized NPs. In the spinal cord, VGLUT1 was restricted to a number of NPs at thoracolumbar and lumbar segments, in what appears to be the dorsal nucleus of Clarke, and in mid laminae III–IV. In contrast, VGLUT2 was present in numerous NPs at all analyzed spinal segments, except the lateral aspects of the ventral horns, especially at the lumbar enlargement, where it was virtually absent. VGLUT3 was detected in a discrete number of NPs in laminae III–IV of the dorsal horn. Axotomy resulted in a moderate decrease in the number of DRG NPs expressing VGLUT3, whereas VGLUT1 and VGLUT2 were unaffected. Likewise, the percentage of NPs expressing VGLUT transcripts remained unaltered after hindpaw inflammation, both in DRGs and the spinal cord. Altogether, these results confirm previous descriptions on VGLUTs expression in adult mice DRGs, with the exception of VGLUT1, whose protein expression was detected in a lower percentage of mouse DRG NPs. A detailed account on the location of neurons expressing VGLUTs transcripts in the adult mouse spinal cord is also presented. Finally, the lack of change in the number of neurons expressing VGLUT1 and VGLUT2 transcripts after axotomy, as compared to data on protein expression, suggests translational rather than transcriptional regulation of VGLUTs after injury.Fil: Malet, Mariana. Universidad Austral. Facultad de Ciencias Biomédicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Vieytes, C. A.. Universidad Austral. Facultad de Ciencias Biomédicas; ArgentinaFil: Lundgren, K. H.. University of Cincinnati; Estados UnidosFil: Seal, R. P.. University of Pittsburgh; Estados UnidosFil: Tomasella, María Eugenia. Universidad Austral. Facultad de Ciencias Biomédicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Seroogy, K. B.. University of Cincinnati; Estados UnidosFil: Hökfelt, T.. Karolinska Huddinge Hospital. Karolinska Institutet; SueciaFil: Gebhart, G. F.. University of Pittsburgh; Estados UnidosFil: Brumovsky, Pablo Rodolfo. Universidad Austral. Facultad de Ciencias Biomédicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. University of Pittsburgh; Estados Unido