Multi-wave coherent control of a solid-state single emitter

The authors acknowledge support by the European Research Council Starting Grant 'PICSEN' contract no. 306387.Coherent control of individual two-level systems (TLSs) is at the basis of any implementation of quantum information. An impressive level of control is now achieved using nuclear, vacancies and charge spins. Manipulation of bright exciton transitions in semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) is less advanced, principally due to the sub-nanosecond dephasing. Conversely, owing to their robust coupling to light, one can apply tools of nonlinear spectroscopy to achieve all-optical command. Here, we report on the coherent manipulation of an exciton via multi-wave mixing. Specifically, we employ three resonant pulses driving a single InAs QD. The first two induce a four-wave mixing (FWM) transient, which is projected onto a six-wave mixing (SWM) depending on the delay and area of the third pulse, in agreement with analytical predictions. Such a switch enables to demonstrate the generation of SWM on a single emitter and to engineer the spectro-temporal shape of the coherent response originating from a TLS. These results pave the way toward multi-pulse manipulations of solid state qubits via implementing the NMR-like control schemes in the optical domain.PostprintPeer reviewe

Teachers as Educational Innovators in Inquiry-Based Science Teaching and Learning

This chapter describes inquiry-based science teaching and learning (IBST/L) pilots designed by teachers during a professional development programme. There is research-based evidence that IBSL/T may promote students’ learning and their motivation to learn science, and therefore it is beneficial to familiarise the teachers with this approach. Building on teachers’ existing expertise in designing their teaching, the programme introduced theoretical aspects of the IBST/L approach and its research-based benefits for students’ motivation, interest and science learning. The course aimed to support teachers as educational innovators in the process of designing and testing IBST/L pilots, during which they collaboratively reflected on and revised their existing practices. The data of this piece of research consists of the teachers’ poster presentations of their IBST/L pilots and a video recording of the reflection session. The content analysis revealed that the pilots’ structure seemed traditional but encompassed some IBST/L features. It is concluded that teacher educators need to understand teachers’ views of IBST/L in order to more effectively support planning and reflection.This chapter describes inquiry-based science teaching and learning (IBST/L) pilots designed by teachers during a professional development programme. There is research-based evidence that IBSL/T may promote students’ learning and their motivation to learn science, and therefore it is beneficial to familiarise the teachers with this approach. Building on teachers’ existing expertise in designing their teaching, the programme introduced theoretical aspects of the IBST/L approach and its research-based benefits for students’ motivation, interest and science learning. The course aimed to support teachers as educational innovators in the process of designing and testing IBST/L pilots, during which they collaboratively reflected on and revised their existing practices. The data of this piece of research consists of the teachers’ poster presentations of their IBST/L pilots and a video recording of the reflection session. The content analysis revealed that the pilots’ structure seemed traditional but encompassed some IBST/L features. It is concluded that teacher educators need to understand teachers’ views of IBST/L in order to more effectively support planning and reflection.Peer reviewe

How a Diverse Research Ecosystem Has Generated New Rehabilitation Technologies: Review of NIDILRR’s Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers

Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a “total approach to rehabilitation”, combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970’s, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program

Doctor–patient communication in a Southeast Asian setting: the conflict between ideal and reality

Doctor–patient communication has been extensively studied in non-Western contexts and in relation to patients’ cultural and education backgrounds. This study explores the perceived ideal communication style for doctor–patient consultations and the reality of actual practice in a Southeast Asian context. We conducted the study in a teaching hospital in Indonesia, using a qualitative and a quantitative design. In-depth interviews were conducted with ten internal medicine specialists, ten internal medicine residents, 16 patients in two groups based on education level and ten most senior medical students. The contributions of doctors and patients to the communication during consultations were observed and rated quantitatively by thirty internal medicine residents, 393 patients with different educational backgrounds and ten senior medical students. The ‘informed and shared decision making’ is the central observation in this quantitative study. The results of the interviews showed that Southeast Asian stakeholders are in favor of a partnership style of communication and revealed barriers to achieving this: doctors and patients are not prepared for a participatory style and high patient load due to an inefficient health care system does not allow sufficient time for this type of communication. The results of the quantitative study showed a sharp contrast between observed and ideal communication styles. A paternalistic style seems to prevail, irrespective of patients’ educational background. We found a sharp conflict between ideal and reality concerning doctor–patient communication in a Southeast Asian context. Further studies should examine ways to change the prevailing communication style in the desired direction

Propuesta guía para una planeación y ejecución en proyectos de vivienda unifamiliar con enfoque Lean Construction

Trabajo de investigaciónEste trabajo contempla el desarrollo de una matriz enfocada en la metodología Lean Construction para la planeación y ejecución en proyectos de vivienda unifamiliar. Así mismo se evidencia un análisis de manera cuantitativa y cualitativamente en la adopción de la filosofía Lean Construction en procesos de la gestión de la planeación y ejecución de proyectos, que permite establecer un orden de actividades y sub actividades que componen las fases de un proyecto de vivienda unifamiliar en la relación del alcance exitoso en productividad y rendimiento.INTRODUCCIÓN 1. GENERALIDADES 2. METODOLOGÍAS EN EL MARCO DE LA PLANEACIÓN Y EJECUCIÓN DE PROYECTOS 3. LEAN CONSTRUCTION EN ACTIVIDADES DE CONSTRUCCIÓN 4. IMPLEMENTACIÓN DE LA MATRIZ EN CASO DE ESTUDIO 5. CONCLUSIONES 6. RECOMENDACIONES BIBLIOGRAFÍA ANEXOSPregradoIngeniero Civi

Comparative proteomics using 2-D gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry as tools to dissect stimulons and regulons in bacteria with sequenced or partially sequenced genomes

We propose two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and mass spectrometry to define the protein components of regulons and stimulons in bacteria, including those organisms where genome sequencing is still in progress. The basic 2-DE protocol allows high resolution and reproducibility and enables the direct comparison of hundreds or even thousands of proteins simultaneously. To identify proteins that comprise stimulons and regulons, peptide mass fingerprint (PMF) with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) analysis is the first option and, if results from this tool are insufficient, complementary data obtained with electrospray ionization tandem-MS (ESI-MS/MS) may permit successful protein identification. ESI-MS/MS and MALDI-TOF-MS provide complementary data sets, and so a more comprehensive coverage of a proteome can be obtained using both techniques with the same sample, especially when few sequenced proteins of a particular organism exist or genome sequencing is still in progress

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Unexpected Course of Nonlinear Cardiac Interbeat Interval Dynamics during Childhood and Adolescence

The fluctuations of the cardiac interbeat series contain rich information because they reflect variations of other functions on different time scales (e.g., respiration or blood pressure control). Nonlinear measures such as complexity and fractal scaling properties derived from 24 h heart rate dynamics of healthy subjects vary from childhood to old age. In this study, the age-related variations during childhood and adolescence were addressed. In particular, the cardiac interbeat interval series was quantified with respect to complexity and fractal scaling properties. The R-R interval series of 409 healthy children and adolescents (age range: 1 to 22 years, 220 females) was analyzed with respect to complexity (Approximate Entropy, ApEn) and fractal scaling properties on three time scales: long-term (slope β of the power spectrum, log power vs. log frequency, in the frequency range 10−4 to 10−2 Hz) intermediate-term (DFA, detrended fluctuation analysis, α2) and short-term (DFA α1). Unexpectedly, during age 7 to 13 years β and ApEn were higher compared to the age <7 years and age >13 years (β: −1.06 vs. −1.21; ApEn: 0.88 vs. 0.74). Hence, the heart rate dynamics were closer to a 1/f power law and most complex between 7 and 13 years. However, DFA α1 and α2 increased with progressing age similar to measures reflecting linear properties. In conclusion, the course of long-term fractal scaling properties and complexity of heart rate dynamics during childhood and adolescence indicates that these measures reflect complex changes possibly linked to hormonal changes during pre-puberty and puberty