The snomipede : a parallel platform for scanning near-field photolithography.

Using scanning near-field lithography (SNP), it is possible to pattern molecules at surfaces with a resolution as good as 9 nm [M. Montague, R. E. Ducker, K. S. L. Chong, R. J. Manning, F. J. M. Rutten, M. C. Davies and G. J. Leggett, Langmuir 23 (13), 7328–7337 (2007)]. However, in common with other scanning probe techniques, SNP has previously been considered a serial process, hindering its use in many applications. IBM’s “Millipede” addresses this problem by utilizing an array of local probes operating in parallel. Here, we describe the construction of two instruments (Snomipedes) that integrate near-field optical methods into the parallel probe paradigm and promise the integration of top–down and bottom–up fabrication methods over macroscopic areas. Both are capable of performing near-field lithography with 16 probes in parallel spanning approximately 2 mm. The instruments can work in both ambient and liquid environments, key to many applications in nanobiology. In both, separate control of writing is possible for each probe. We demonstrate the deprotection of self-assembled monolayers of alkylsilanes with photocleavable protecting groups and subsequent growth of nanostructured polymer brushes from these nanopatterned surfaces by atom-transfer radical polymerization

Music analysis and the computer: developing a computer operating system to analyse music, using Johann Sebastian Bach's "well tempered clavier" book 51 to test the methodology

"Most computerised and computer-aided musicological projects are written to achieve specific goals. Once achieved or not achieved as the case may be, the projects and their tools are frequently discarded because their dependency upon specific computer hardware and software prevents them from being utilised by other researchers for other projects. What is needed is a system that, using small tools to accomplish small tasks, can be expanded and customized to suit specific needs. This thesis proposes the creation of a music-analysis computer operating system that contains simple commands to perform simple musicological tasks such as the removal of repeated notes from a score or the audible rendition of a melodic line. The tools can be bolted together to form larger tools that perform larger tasks. New tools can be created and added to the operating system with relative ease, and these in turn can be bolted onto old tools. The thesis suggests a basic set of tools derived from old and new analytical methods, proposes a standard for their implementation based on the UNIX computer operating system, and discusses the benefits of using the system and its tools in an analysis of the twenty-four fugues of Johann Sebastian Bach from the "Well Tempered Clavier", Book II.

A novel apparatus and methodology for the high frequency mechanical characterisation of ultrasoft materials

Characterising the mechanical response of ultra-soft materials is challenging, particularly at high strain rates and frequencies [1]. Time Temperature Superposition (TTS) can sometimes be used to mitigate these limitations [2], however not all materials are suitable for TTS. Biological tissues are particularly difficult to test: in addition to the extreme softness, challenges arise due to specimen inhomogeneity, sensitivity to boundary conditions, natural biological variability, and complex post-mortem changes. In the current study, a novel experimental apparatus and methodology was developed and validated using low modulus silicone elastomers as model materials. The full field visco-elastic shear response was characterised over a wide range of deformation frequencies (100-1000+ Hz) and amplitudes using Digital Image Correlation (DIC) and the Virtual Fields Method (VFM). This methodology allows for the extraction of fullfield material properties that would be difficult or impossible to obtain using traditional engineering techniques

Influence of surface preparation and polymer backing properties on the quasi-static and impact response of ceramic faced 1d armour systems

Ballistic impact is a highly complex environment, the understanding of which is compounded by the advanced materials used for ceramic-polymer composite armours. In this study, the influence of surface preparation and polymer backing properties on the energy absorptive capabilities and ballistic performance of simplified model armours was approached via a methodical investigation using simplified materials and geometries. Quasi-1D (beam) specimens consisting of polyurethane-backed alumina were loaded under three-point bend quasi-statically and at impact speeds. The specimen geometries allowed for the fracture pathways to be observed. To produce the specimens, two polyurethanes with different glass transition temperatures were cured onto alumina strips, eliminating the requirement for a dedicated adhesive and thus simplifying the interfacial dynamics. Further modifications were made by applying a primer surface treatment, by using unbonded polyurethane and adhered polyurethane, and by replacing the polyurethane with glass-reinforced polycarbonate. The beam specimens were loaded quasi-statically at 0.05 mm s-1 at ambient and sub-ambient temperatures, and at 50-300 m s-1 at ambient temperatures. The quasi-static specimens were found to fail by one of two failure modes with approximately a 3x energy absorption difference; the failure was highly dependent upon the interface and polymer characteristics. Under impact, a significant proportion of the energy absorption was provided by the kinetic energy of the fragments. Although, the polymer backing and interfacial properties were found to influence fracture paths during loading. FEA simulations were used to model the behaviours using characterisation data from a previous study; these were found to predict the experimental response well

The missing link: Tracing molecular gas in the outer filament of Centaurus A

We report the detection, using observations of the CO(2−1) line performed with the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment (APEX), of molecular gas in the region of the outer filament of Centaurus A, a complex region known to show various signatures of an interaction between the radio jet, an H i cloud, and ionised gas filaments. We detect CO(2−1) at all observed locations, which were selected to represent regions with very different physical conditions. The H2 masses of the detections range between 0.2 × 106 and 1.1 × 106M⊙, for conservative choices of the CO to H2 conversion factor. Surprisingly, the stronger detections are not coincident with the H i cloud, but instead are in the region of the ionised filaments. We also find variations in the widths of the CO(2−1) lines throughout the region, with broader lines in the region of the ionised gas, i.e. where the jet-cloud interaction is strongest, and with narrow profiles in the H i cloud. This may indicate that the molecular gas in the region of the ionised gas has the momentum of the jet-cloud interaction encoded in it, in the same way as the ionised gas does. These molecular clouds may therefore be the result of very efficient cooling of the down-stream gas photo- or shock-ionised by the interaction. On the other hand, the molecular clouds with narrower profiles, which are closer to or inside the H i cloud, could be pre-existing cold H2 cores which manage to survive the effects of the passing jet

Supplemental Income: British newspaper colour supplements in the 1960s

The introduction of colour supplements by three ‘quality’ newspapers during the 1960s was a key development in the British press during the decade, and was described by the editor of the Sunday Times as ‘perhaps the most successful single innovation in post-war journalism’. This article provides an overview of the advent of the colour supplements, explaining why they emerged when they did and developed in the manner they did, and exploring some of the difficulties and issues that attended their arrival. The article also demonstrates that sections of the British press were capable of taking advantage of changes in print and advertising culture brought about by the arrival of the post-war consumer society. However, the term ‘colour supplement’ became pejorative shorthand for the perceived vacuity of this new society, in part because of the tension that existed between the editorial and advertising content of these modish new publications. Consequently, the success of the colour supplement experiment was not universally celebrated

Museums and the ‘new museology’ : theory, practice and organisational change

The widening of roles and expectations within cultural policy discourses has been a challenge to museum workers throughout Great Britain. There has been an expectation that museums are changing from an ‘old’ to a ‘new museology’ that has shaped museum functions and roles. This paper outlines the limitations of this perceived transition as museum services confront multiple exogenous and endogenous expectations, opportunities, pressures and threats. Findings from 23 publically funded museum services across England, Scotland and Wales are presented to explore the roles of professional and hierarchical differentiation, and how there were organisational and managerial limitations to the practical application of the ‘new museology’. The ambiguity surrounding policy, roles and practice also highlighted that museum workers were key agents in interpreting, using and understanding wide-ranging policy expectations. The practical implementation of the ‘new museology’ is linked to the values held by museum workers themselves and how they relate it to their activities at the ground level

Thermomechanical coupling during large strain deformation of polycarbonate: experimental study

Polycarbonate is a widely used ductile glassy polymer that can undergo large strain deformation before failure. During the plastic deformation process, some mechanical energy is converted to heat, which, if the specimen is loaded at rates sufficient that the heat cannot conduct out of the material, can result in significant temperature rises that affect the mechanical response. Typically, this is expected to result in a reduction in stress at large strain, compared to the behaviour under isothermal conditions; however, compared to other glassy polymers, it has been observed that less softening than expected is experienced in polycarbonate at high strain rates. The current paper describes a thorough investigation of temperature rises in polycarbonate. Compression experiments are performed using a screwdriven machine, a hydraulic machine, and a long split Hopkinson bar, all instrumented with a high-speed infrared camera to measure temperature rises at strain rates between 0.01 and 2600 s-1 at a starting temperature around 20 °C. Further, temperature rises in compression experiments at 0.5 s-1 and starting temperatures between -80 to 150 °C are measured using embedded thermocouples. These span the range of the secondary- to glass-transitions of polycarbonate, allowing investigation of the effect of these transitions. These experiments are supported by finite element simulations, which use a phenomenological viscoplastic model, to ensure the thermal boundary conditions are adiabatic. Temperature rises are observed in both temperature and rate-dependent tests: experiments at higher strain rates and lower temperatures experience a greater temperature rise because of the higher yield stress; however, there are differences in the conversion ratio between plastic work and heat (Taylor Quinney coefficient), which is both temperature and rate dependent, and strongly affected by both the secondary and glass transitions

Funny walking : the rise, fall and rise of the Anglo-American comic eccentric dancer

This article will attempt to reposition comic eccentric dance as a metamorphic form that still, surprisingly, exists, and is to be found with reasonable ubiquity, in renewed incarna-tions within twenty first century media. Tracing the origins of comic eccentric dance through examples of earlier comedy performance, and drawing from Bergson’s comic theory of body misalliance, this article will dis-cuss this particularly ludic fusion of music and comedy. Further changes to the form affected by modernist preoccupations during the new Jazz Age at the turn of the twentieth century will be suggested. Finally, ways in which the formulation lives on in twenty-first century in-carnations in the comedy work of, for instance, Jimmy Fallon and Ricky Gervase, and in popular television shows such as Strictly Come Dancing (BBC 2004 - ) and Britain’s Got Talent (ITV 2006 - ) will be posited