Sweet Fruit

The writing and images in Sweet Fruit are an exploration of my creative works. In the first section, memory, making, and poetics come together to help the reader feel the nuances of my experience. In the exhibition works section, images allow an extended look at the work. Accompanying text describes the relevance of my childhood and my parent\u27s Caribbean upbringing to my creative practice

Strong light-matter coupling in ultrathin double dielectric mirror GaN microcavities

Strong light-matter coupling is demonstrated at low temperature in an ultrathin GaN microcavity fabricated using two silica/zirconia Bragg mirrors, in addition to a three-period epitaxial (Al,Ga)N mirror serving as an etch stop and assuring good quality of the overgrown GaN. The λ/2 cavity is grown by molecular beam epitaxy on a Si substrate. Analysis of angle-resolved data reveal key features of the strong coupling regime in both reflectivity and transmission spectra at 5 K: anticrossing with a normal mode splitting of 43±2 meV and 56±2 meV for reflectivity and transmission, respectively, and narrowing of the lower polariton linewidth near resonance

Mental health, mental illness and psychological help-seeking in St. Lucia: An exploration of young adult men's understanding using thematic analysis

There is a need to understand the psychology of Caribbean people, particularly Afro -Caribbean men, in order to recognise and meet their mental health needs, within both a Caribbean and a non-majority population context. This research adds to the much-needed Caribbean mental health literature pool; using a qualitative methodology to explore how young adult St. Lucian men (age 18-40 years) made sense of the concepts of mental health, mental illness and psychological help seeking. A thematic analysis of the data, found stigma played an important role in participants understanding of mental health and how they relate to people who are deemed as mentally ill. Help-seeking was seen as a feminine behaviour which participants interpreted as weak and therefore did not fit with their ideas of being ‘a man’. Maintaining a favourable image and adhering to masculinity ideals, such as being stoic and strong, was a common thread throughout the participants’ narratives; leading to conflict between their desire to get help and the fear of negative evaluation if they actually seek help. Participants accounts reflected a reluctance to describe any of their experiences as mental health related and also desire to dissociate themselves from anything or anyone associated with the word ‘mental’, due to the influence of stigma. Participants talked about fear of mental health services, with the salient feature of this fear directed towards the perceived mental health treatment of the mentally ill in St. Lucia. This fear was not as a result of the impact of racism or discrimination as have often been found in men from ethnic minority backgrounds in non-majority populations. The need for mental health education to reduce the stigma and mental health promotion to increase awareness of the importance of mental well-being, was clearly evident in participants’ narratives. These findings therefore, have significant implications for policy makers, mental health promoters and practitioners both locally and internationally

Strong light-matter coupling in bulk GaN-microcavities with double dielectric mirrors fabricated by two different methods

Two routes for the fabrication of bulk GaN microcavities embedded between two dielectric mirrors are described, and the optical properties of the microcavities thus obtained are compared. In both cases, the GaN active layer is grown by molecular beam epitaxy on (111) Si, allowing use of selective etching to remove the substrate. In the first case, a three period Al0.2Ga0.8N / AlN Bragg mirror followed by a lambda/2 GaN cavity are grown directly on the Si. In the second case, a crack-free 2,mu m thick GaN layer is grown, and progressively thinned to a final thickness of lambda. Both devices work in the strong coupling regime at low temperature, as evidenced by angle-dependent reflectivity or transmission experiments. However, strong light-matter coupling in emission at room temperature is observed only for the second one. This is related to the poor optoelectronic quality of the active layer of the first device, due to its growth only 250 nm above the Si substrate and its related high defect density. The reflectivity spectra of the microcavities are well accounted for by using transfer matrix calculations. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3477450

Localized states in 2D semiconductors doped with magnetic impurities in quantizing magnetic field

A theory of magnetic impurities in a 2D electron gas quantized by a strong magnetic field is formulated in terms of Friedel-Anderson theory of resonance impurity scattering. It is shown that this scattering results in an appearance of bound Landau states with zero angular moment between the Landau subbands. The resonance scattering is spin selective, and it results in a strong spin polarization of Landau states, as well as in a noticeable magnetic field dependence of the $g$ factor and the crystal field splitting of the impurity $d$ levels.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures Submitted to Physical Review B This version is edited and updated in accordance with recent experimental dat

Impact of Vitamin D Supplementation on Influenza Vaccine Response and Immune Functions in Deficient Elderly Persons: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial

Background: Immunosenescence contributes to reduced vaccine response in elderly persons, and is worsened by deficiencies in nutrients such as Vitamin (Vit-D). The immune system is a well-known target of Vit-D, which can both potentiate the innate immune response and inhibit the adaptive system, and so modulate vaccination response.Objective: This randomized placebo-controlled double-blind trial investigated whether Vit-D supplementation in deficient elderly persons could improve influenza seroprotection and immune response.Design: Deficient volunteers (Vit-D serum <30 ng/mL) were assigned (V1) to receive either 100,000 IU/15 days of cholecalciferol (D, n = 19), or a placebo (P, n = 19), over a 3 month period. Influenza vaccination was performed at the end of this period (V2), and the vaccine response was evaluated 28 days later (V3). At each visit, serum cathelicidin, immune response to vaccination, plasma cytokines, lymphocyte phenotyping, and phagocyte ROS production were assessed.Results: Levels of serum 25-(OH)D increased after supplementation (D group, V1 vs. V2: 20.7 ± 5.7 vs. 44.3 ± 8.6 ng/mL, p < 0.001). No difference was observed for serum cathelicidin levels, antibody titers, and ROS production in D vs. P groups at V3. Lower plasma levels of TNFα (p = 0.040) and IL-6 (p = 0.046), and higher ones for TFGβ (p = 0.0028) were observed at V3. The Th1/Th2 ratio was lower in the D group at V2 (D: 0.12 ± 0.05 vs. P: 0.18 ± 0.05, p = 0.039).Conclusions: Vit-D supplementation promotes a higher TGFβ plasma level in response to influenza vaccination without improving antibody production. This supplementation seems to direct the lymphocyte polarization toward a tolerogenic immune response. A deeper characterization of metabolic and molecular pathways of these observations will aid in the understanding of Vit-D's effects on cell-mediated immunity in aging. This clinical trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01893385

Does aging affect the immune status? A comparative analysis in 300 healthy volunteers from France, Austria and Spain

Background: As the European population is getting older, there is growing need in scientific data on how to achieve healthy and successful aging. A decline in immune function with age is unanimously supported by many epidemiological and clinical observations, with a decrease in T-cell mediated function encompassing a large part of this alteration. In the EU-funded VITAGE project, the effects of aging on biomarkers of immune status are being studied in three European countries. According to strict inclusion/exclusion criteria, a cohort of 300 healthy male non-smoking 20-75 years old volunteers were enrolled in France (n = 99), Spain (n = 100) and Austria (n = 101). In each country, the volunteers were classified as a function of age (one age group per decade). Biomarkers of immune status were determined including delayed-type hypersensitivity tests, measurement of lymphocyte surface markers, and serum determinations of interleukin-2, complement fractions and immunoglobulins. [br/] Results: There were moderate differences in the biomarkers of immune status of the VITAGE study volunteers among the three European centres. The percentage of Natural Killer (NK) cells was 156% and 142% higher in Spain as compared to France and Austria, respectively (p < 0.0001), and this increase was observed at any age group above 30 years. Comparison between age-groups showed that in Spain, but not in France or Austria, older individuals had significantly a lower B lymphocyte distribution and conversely, a higher NK cell distribution. Moreover, the CD4/CD8 ratio was positively correlated with age in Austrian subjects (p < 0.0001). [br/] Conclusion: Our results provide evidence of an increased NK cell distribution in the elderly, especially in the Spanish population. NK cell status may predict morbidity and mortality in the elderly, emphasizing the importance of innate as well as adaptive immunity in ensuring healthy longevity and cancer resistance, possibly in link with the Mediterranean diet