Reduced leakage current in Josephson tunnel junctions with codeposited barriers

Josephson junctions were fabricated using two different methods of barrier formation. The trilayers employed were Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb on sapphire, where the first two layers were epitaxial. The oxide barrier was formed either by exposing the Al surface to O2 or by codepositing Al in an O2 background. The codeposition process yielded junctions that showed the theoretically predicted subgap current and no measurable shunt conductance. In contrast, devices with barriers formed by thermal oxidation showed a small shunt conductance in addition to the predicted subgap current.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figure

Re-thinking livelihood security: Why addressing the democratic deficit in economic policy-making opens up new pathways to prosperity

Citizen-led research in east London identifies livelihood security as a critical determinant of prosperity for local communities (Moore and Woodcraft, 2019; Woodcraft and Anderson, 2019). Livelihood security depends on more than income and work. Households draw on a range of assets including: secure income and good quality work; affordable, secure and good quality housing; access to key public services (healthcare, education, care, transport, digital communication); and inclusion in the social and economic life of the city. These assets display complex inter-dependencies, intersect with class, race, gender and other identities in multiple ways, and cut across sectors and policy domains that are commonly siloed in economic decision-making. In this paper, we conceptualise these assets as an ‘infrastructure’ for secure livelihoods to draw attention to their over-lapping nature and to demonstrate how knowledge based on lived experience generates fundamentally different ways of understanding the economy. We argue there is a democratic deficit in economic policy-making that must be addressed to better account for context-specific interactions between macro and micro-economic factors and generate more effective policy-making. Taking inclusive growth policies as a case in point, we explore how an expanded concept of ‘inclusion’ that incorporates participatory research, problem framing and policy development opens-up new spaces for action on place-based prosperity

Coulomb Blockade in a Nonthermalized Quantum Dot

We investigate nonequilibrium transport properties of a quantum dot in the Coulomb blockade regime under the condition of negligible inelastic scattering during the dwelling time of the electrons in the dot. Using the quantum kinetic equation we show that the absence of thermalization leads to a double step in the distribution function of electrons on the dot, provided that it is symmetrically coupled to the leads. This drastically changes nonlinear transport through the dot resulting in an additional (compared to the thermalized case) jump in the conductance at voltages close to the charging energy, which could serve as an experimental manifestation of the absence of thermalization.</p

ENVIROSAT-2000 report: Federal agency satellite requirements

The requirement of Federal agencies, other than NOAA, for the data and services of civil operational environmental satellites (both polar orbiting and geostationary) are summarized. Agency plans for taking advantage of proposed future Earth sensing space systems, domestic and foreign, are cited also. Current data uses and future requirements are addressed as identified by each agency

Synthesis of N-[(dialkylamino)methyl)]acrylamides and N-[(dialkylamino)methyl]methacrylamides from Schiff base salts : useful building blocks for smart polymers

The traditional thermal Mannich reaction is unsuitable for preparing polymerizable N-methylene amino substituted acrylamides and methacrylamides. Herein we provide a facile multi-gram high yield synthesis of these monomeric precursors to stimuli-responsive polymers by addition of acrylamide and methacrylamide onto in situ generated or freshly isolated methylene Schiff base (iminium) salts. X-ray crystal structure of the hydrated iminium salt, 1-(hydroxymethyl)azocan-1-ium chloride and monomer.HCl salt, (N-[(azocan-1-yl)methyl]prop-2-enamide hydrochloride) is described

GAP WORK project report: training for youth practitioners on tackling gender-related violence

This project sought to challenge gender-related violence against (and by) children and young people by developing training for practitioners who have everyday contact with general populations of children and young people (‘youth practitioners’). Through improved knowledge and understanding practitioners can better identify and challenge sexist, sexualising, homophobic or controlling language and behaviour, and know when and how to refer children and young people to the most appropriate support services. This summary outlines the Project and our initial findings about the success of the four training programmes developed and piloted.Co-funded by the DAPHNE III programme of the EU

LISREL analysis of twin data with structured means

Introduces a method to test the hypothesis that the phenotypic means and the phenotypic covariances can be modeled with the same common genetic and environmental factors. LISREL can be used to implement the method. An illustration with simulated twin data is provided