Grain Boundary Loops in Graphene

Topological defects can affect the physical properties of graphene in unexpected ways. Harnessing their influence may lead to enhanced control of both material strength and electrical properties. Here we present a new class of topological defects in graphene composed of a rotating sequence of dislocations that close on themselves, forming grain boundary loops that either conserve the number of atoms in the hexagonal lattice or accommodate vacancy/interstitial reconstruction, while leaving no unsatisfied bonds. One grain boundary loop is observed as a "flower" pattern in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies of epitaxial graphene grown on SiC(0001). We show that the flower defect has the lowest energy per dislocation core of any known topological defect in graphene, providing a natural explanation for its growth via the coalescence of mobile dislocations.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures. Revised title; expanded; updated reference

Standard evaluation framework for weight management interventions

This document builds on the ‘Standard Evaluation Framework (SEF) for weight management interventions’, published by NOO in April 2009.1 It takes the principles described in the original SEF and applies them to dietary interventions. It contains a list of ‘essential’ and ‘desirable’ criteria for data required for a comprehensive and robust evaluation. Essential criteria are the minimum data and information recommended to perform a basic evaluation of an intervention that sets out to improve diet. Desirable criteria are additional data that would improve the quality of an evaluation, and enhance understanding about what has been achieved, and the processes that have taken place during the intervention. A glossary of terms is available on page 35

National child measurement programme: detailed analysis of the 2007/08 national dataset

This report presents detailed secondary analyses to further our understanding of the epidemiology of child height, weight and Body Mass Index (BMI) across England. It attempts to explain some of the findings presented in the NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care 2007/08 NCMP report. The report provides analysis of PCT participation levels and investigates data quality issues in the collection of the 2007/08 NCMP dataset. Data on prevalence of underweight, healthy weight, overweight and obesity are analysed, comparing the 2007/08 data to the 2006/07, and the 1990 baseline. Analyses by deprivation and ethnic group are also included. The report further examines how the distribution of BMI differs by age and sex of the child sample population, and investigates changes since the 1990 baseline. It looks at the association between obesity prevalence and characteristics of the individual children and the PCTs in which they were measured using regression analysis

Political brands: can parties be distinguished by their online brand personality?

This paper investigates whether or not five English political parties are differentiating themselves based on the brand personality they are communicating through their websites. The relative brand positions of five English political parties are analysed using Aaker’s brand personality scale. The text from each party website is analysed using content analysis and a dictionary-based tool. The results are plotted in relation to one another on a correspondence analysis map. We find that the two main dimensions on which parties' brand personalities differ relate to the trade-offs between communicating Competence and communicating Sincerity, and between communicating Sophistication and communicating Ruggedness. We find that parties' brand personalities are distinctive, with the exception of the Green party, and that the position of one party, the United Kingdom Independence Party, is particularly distinctive. Our research uses Aaker’s existing framework for thinking about brand personalities, rather than creating a new framework for politics. By using an existing framework, we are able to use tools developed in other disciplines, and show their usefulness for the study of political marketing

Health economic assessment tools (HEAT) for walking and for cycling

Physical inactivity is a significant public health problem in most regions of the world, which is unlikely to be solved by classical health promotion approaches alone. The promotion of active transport (cycling and walking) for everyday physical activity is a win-win approach; it not only promotes health but can also lead to positive environmental effects, especially if cycling and walking replace short car trips. Cycling and walking can also be more readily integrated into people’s busy schedules than, for example, leisure-time exercise. These forms of physical activity are also more practicable for groups of the population for which sport is either not feasible because of physical limitations or is not an accessible leisure activity for economic, social or cultural reasons. There is a large potential for active travel in European urban transport, as many trips are short and would be amenable to being undertaken on foot or by bicycle. This, however, requires effective partnerships with the transport and urban planning sectors, whose policies are key driving forces in providing appropriate conditions for such behavioural changes to take place. This has been recognized by a number of international policy frameworks, such as the Action Plan for implementation of the European Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases 2012–2016, adopted by the WHO Regional Committee for Europe (1). The strategy identifies the promotion of active mobility as one of the supporting interventions endorsed by WHO Member States to address this highpriority topic in the European Region, as do other international policy frameworks such as the Toronto Charter for Physical Activity launched in May 2010 as a global call for action (2)

Fourier Transform Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy: the possibility to obtain constant energy maps and the band dispersion using a local measurement

We present here an overview of the Fourier Transform Scanning Tunneling spectroscopy technique (FT-STS). This technique allows one to probe the electronic properties of a two-dimensional system by analyzing the standing waves formed in the vicinity of defects. We review both the experimental and theoretical aspects of this approach, basing our analysis on some of our previous results, as well as on other results described in the literature. We explain how the topology of the constant energy maps can be deduced from the FT of dI/dV map images which exhibit standing waves patterns. We show that not only the position of the features observed in the FT maps, but also their shape can be explained using different theoretical models of different levels of approximation. Thus, starting with the classical and well known expression of the Lindhard susceptibility which describes the screening of electron in a free electron gas, we show that from the momentum dependence of the susceptibility we can deduce the topology of the constant energy maps in a joint density of states approximation (JDOS). We describe how some of the specific features predicted by the JDOS are (or are not) observed experimentally in the FT maps. The role of the phase factors which are neglected in the rough JDOS approximation is described using the stationary phase conditions. We present also the technique of the T-matrix approximation, which takes into account accurately these phase factors. This technique has been successfully applied to normal metals, as well as to systems with more complicated constant energy contours. We present results recently obtained on graphene systems which demonstrate the power of this technique, and the usefulness of local measurements for determining the band structure, the map of the Fermi energy and the constant-energy maps.Comment: 33 pages, 15 figures; invited review article, to appear in Journal of Physics D: Applied Physic