Effects of Coulomb interactions on the splitting of luminescence lines

We study the splitting between the right-hand and left-hand circularly polarized luminescence lines in a quantum dot under relatively weak confinement regime and resonant high-power excitation. When the dot is populated with an even number of electron-hole pairs (biexciton and higher excitations), the splitting measures basically the Zeeman energy. However, in the odd number of pairs case, we have, in addition to the Zeeman and Overhauser shifts, a contribution to the splitting coming from Coulomb interactions. This contribution is of the order of a few meV, and shows distinct signatures of shell-filling in the quantum dot.Comment: Submitted for publicatio

Regulatory influence in a Honolulu adult education program, 2003-2005: A case study

This study traces how regulatory compliance precipitated an adult education institution’s shift from open to managed enrollment. That shift was prompted by three administrative concerns derived from regulatory mandates: a requirement of data quality, a requirement of population coverage, and strong pressure for student promotion through the observed educational system. Richards and Lockhart (1996, p. 38) wrote: “Any language teaching program reflects both the culture of the institution... as well as collective decisions and beliefs of individual teachers.” Regulatory compliance produced a tension between principles and funding, and this paper examines the impact on institutional culture that resulted at one case

CD44 Staining of Cancer Stem-Like Cells Is Influenced by Down-Regulation of CD44 Variant Isoforms and Up-Regulation of the Standard CD44 Isoform in the Population of Cells That Have Undergone Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition

PMCID: PMC3577706This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Participation and retention within a predominantly Asian adult ESL population in Honolulu, Hawai'i

This study quantifies adult student participation and retention in an English as a Second Language (ESL) program in Honolulu, Hawaii. Within the prior literature, American quantitative participation studies often under-represent non-Spanish or English-speaking populations. The retention literature is commonly qualitative and considers binomial retention. Using data gathered by the institution’s testing system, the discussion in this paper therefore first asks, how does the observed population (N = 918; n = 594), which is largely Asian, compare to the national population? Second, what predictors can be identified relevant to multinomial retention? In brief, the population is younger and better educated, but less often employed than the national population. Logistic regression analyses indicate that class type and prior diploma predict withdrawal within two weeks with 68.60% accuracy. However despite significant model fits (p < .005), overall predictive ability ranged between 51.30% and 66.00% for assessed models

Hole Spin Mixing in InAs Quantum Dot Molecules

Holes confined in single InAs quantum dots have recently emerged as a promising system for the storage or manipulation of quantum information. These holes are often assumed to have only heavy-hole character and further assumed to have no mixing between orthogonal heavy hole spin projections (in the absence of a transverse magnetic field). The same assumption has been applied to InAs quantum dot molecules formed by two stacked InAs quantum dots that are coupled by coherent tunneling of the hole between the two dots. We present experimental evidence of the existence of a hole spin mixing term obtained with magneto-photoluminescence spectroscopy on such InAs quantum dot molecules. We use a Luttinger spinor model to explain the physical origin of this hole spin mixing term: misalignment of the dots along the stacking direction breaks the angular symmetry and allows mixing through the light-hole component of the spinor. We discuss how this novel spin mixing mechanism may offer new spin manipulation opportunities that are unique to holes.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figure

Movement orientation switching with the eyes and lower limb in Parkinson disease

Difficulty switching between motor programs is a proposed cause of motor blocks in Parkinson disease (PD). Switching from one movement to another has been studied in the upper extremity and during postural control tasks, but not yetin the eyes and lower limb in PD. The purpose of this study was to compare movement orientation switching ability between people with PD and age-matched controls (CON) and to determine if switching ability is correlated between the eyes and lower limb. Twenty-six persons with PD and 19 age-matched controls participated. Movement orientation switching was studied in a seated position with the head fixed in a chinrest. In response to a randomly generated tone, participants switched from a continuous back-and-forth movement in either the horizontal or vertical orientation to the opposite orientation as quickly as possible. Lower limb movements were performed with the great toe pointing back and forth between targets positioned on a 45° angled floor platform. Eye movements were back and forth between the same targets. Eye and lower limb switch time was reduced in PD (p<0.01), but after normalizing switch time to movement velocity, no differences existed between PD and CON. Eye and lower limb switch times were correlated in PD (r=0.513, p<0.01) but not in CON. In PD, switch time and movement velocity of the lower limb, but not the eyes, correlated with bradykinesia and postural instability/gait. Our results suggest that individuals with PD experience movement switching deficits with both the eyes and lower limb, perhaps driven by overall bradykinesia

Saccadic eye movements are related to turning performance in Parkinson disease

BACKGROUND: Persons with Parkinson disease (PD) experience difficulty turning, leading to freezing of gait and falls. We hypothesized that saccade dysfunction may relate to turning impairments, as turns are normally initiated with a saccade. OBJECTIVE: Determine whether saccades are impaired during turns in PD and if characteristics of the turn-initiating saccade are predictive of ensuing turn performance. METHODS: 23 persons with PD off medication and 19 controls performed 90 and 180 degree in-place turns to the right and left. Body segment rotations were measured using 3-D motion capture and oculomotor data were captured using a head-mounted eye tracking system and electrooculography. Total number of saccades and the amplitude, velocity, and timing of the first saccade were determined. RESULTS: Turn performance (turn duration, number of steps to turn) was impaired in PD (p<0.05). PD performed more saccades, and the velocity and timing of the first saccade was impaired for both turn amplitudes (p<0.05). Amplitude of the first saccade was decreased in PD during 180 degree turns. Turn duration correlated with oculomotor function. Characteristics of the first saccade explained 48% and 58% of the variance in turn duration for 90 and 180 degree turns, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Turning performance is impaired in PD and may be influenced by saccade dysfunction. An association between saccade function and turning performance may be indicative of the key role of saccades in initiating proper turning kinematics. Future work should focus on improving saccade performance during functional tasks and testing the effects of therapeutic interventions on related outcomes

Fine structure and optical pumping of spins in individual semiconductor quantum dots

We review spin properties of semiconductor quantum dots and their effect on optical spectra. Photoluminescence and other types of spectroscopy are used to probe neutral and charged excitons in individual quantum dots with high spectral and spatial resolution. Spectral fine structure and polarization reveal how quantum dot spins interact with each other and with their environment. By taking advantage of the selectivity of optical selection rules and spin relaxation, optical spin pumping of the ground state electron and nuclear spins is achieved. Through such mechanisms, light can be used to process spins for use as a carrier of information