Author insights 2015 survey

The annual Author Insights Survey, run by Nature Publishing Group (NPG) and sister company Palgrave Macmillan forms part of a wider research programme which aims to understand general author attitudes and behaviours around publishing, to track any changes over time. The survey is conducted for internal purposes each year to provide longitudinal data and track changes in attitudes and behaviours. This year’s survey included questions on topics as diverse as factors that contribute to a journal’s reputation, the value of services offered by publishers and authors’ ideal audiences for their research. Demographic questions were also included in the survey to enable analysis by fields such as region and discipline

Chemical vapour deposition of nanoparticulate and nanocomposite thin films.

Gold nanoparticle and gold / semiconductor nanocomposite thin films have been deposited using aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition. Two gold precursors have been investigated which would be unsuitable for use with conventional atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition. HAuCU was used in methanol solution to deposit films at substrate temperatures of 350 - 500 °C. Powder X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that these films consisted of metallic gold. The optical properties of these films corresponded to nanoscale gold particles, specifically displaying surface plasmon resonance (SPR) absorption. The wavelength of the SPR absorption maximum varied with precursor concentration and substrate temperature from 1000 - 600 nm. Scanning electron microscopy revealed particles a wide variety of sizes and shapes, as well as regions of island growth morphology. Depositions carried out from solutions of HAuCU and a range of quaternary ammonium ion surfactants led to films of particles with narrow size distributions. The use of tetraoctylammonium bromide (TOAB) led to films of spherical particles, the mean diameter of which could be altered by changing HAuCU : TOAB ratio, deposition temperature and solvent volume. Films with mean particle diameters ranging from 65 nm to 120 nm and arithmetic standard deviations of less than 20% of the mean could be deposited in this way. Toluene solutions of pre-formed gold particles were used to deposit films. These films showed similar optical properties to the original precursor solution. Nanocomposite films were deposited by combining HAuCU or pre-formed gold particles with a conventional CVD precursor in a single precursor solution. W(CO)6 , Mo(CO)6 , W(OPh)6 , TiPrU were combined with a gold precursor to deposit metal oxide films with incorporated gold particles. The concentration of gold within the films could be varied by changing the precursor ratios. These films showed SPR peaks that were redshifted compared to gold particles alone

Cleaning the future

Dr Robert Palgrave has been working on a variety of new photocatalysts, with the goal of reducing water and air pollution and finding new sources of clean energ

African swine fever pathogenesis: comparative analysis of immunoregulatory genes in domestic and wild pigs

African swine fever virus (ASFV) poses one of the greatest threats to pig farming worldwide. It is highly infectious and causes rapid haemorrhagic death of domestic pigs and Eurasian wild boar (Sus scrofa). In contrast, native African pig species (bushpigs and warthogs) suffer only a mild, subclinical form of the infection from which they rapidly recover. It is hypothesised that the striking difference in the pathophysiological consequences of ASFV infection may reflect a variable ability of the virus to modulate the host immune response in these species. Alternatively, it may indicate a fundamental evolutionary distinction between the immune responses of these animals.In common with many other DNA viruses, ASFV has evolved a complex strategy for modulating the host-cell immune response. The ASFV-encoded protein, A238L, targets key sites within both the NFkB and NFAT immune-signalling pathways. Furthermore, the ASFV protein, p54, is involved in attachment of virus particles to the microtubule motor complex, cytoplasmic dynein. This may represent a key stage in the infection process. Six host proteins targeted or mimicked by A238L and p54 (light chain dynein, cyclophilin A, calcineurin A, NFAT, p65 (RelA) and IkΒα) have been sequenced in the susceptible domestic pig, resistant warthog and phenotypically unknown babirusa. In addition, the ~1.6kbp promoter driving expression of the proinflammatory cytokine, tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), has also been studied.Despite identifying high levels of nucleotide sequence conservation in these genes, polymorphisms have been identified in the NFkB subunit p65 (RelA) and the TNFα promoter. These may be of functional significance in determining the immune response characteristic of the different pig species studied. These polymorphisms have been further explored using in vitro expression and luciferase-reporter analysis. Furthermore, the identification of these sites has enabled the commercial sponsor of this project, Sygen International, to screen their domestic pig lines for 'warthog-like' sequence, which may confer some degree of disease resistance.These findings provide a valuable insight into potential mechanisms involved in altered host susceptibility to African swine fever. In addition, this study may have wider-reaching implications for understanding issues of both susceptibility and pathogenesis relating to other infectious diseases of both humans and animals

The Price of Consols

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When is a Lattice Not a Lattice? The changing meaning of the term lattice in crystallography and physics

The concept of the lattice is central to the understanding of crystalline solids. However, usage of this word can very often differ between crystallographers, for whom a lattice is a mathematical object that describes the symmetry of a crystal, and physicists and chemists, for whom lattice is commonly used as a word for a regular array of particles. The similarity between the two definitions means they can easily be confused by students or inexperienced practitioners, but the fundamental differences can make the consequences of such confusion significant, an issue rarely tackled directly in popular textbooks. Here we examine the historical roots of this problem of context, and the changing understanding of the word ‘lattice’ over time. While the origins of the term lattice lie with the 19th century mathematical crystallographers, their usage, both in terms of the words used and their meanings, was fluid, and no strong distinction between the lattice and the physical components of a crystal was made. Leading crystallographers in the early 20th century regularly used the word lattice in a way that is unacceptable to some of their modern counterparts. We identify the decade after 1910 as the start of divergence between the physical and crystallographic meaning, catalysed by the discovery of X-ray diffraction and the development of lattice dynamics, although the current definitions did not become entrenched until the 1940s. While history has shown us that this classificatory issue is not just a matter of scientific disagreement and perhaps at its root is a disagreement in our understanding of classification itself. Lastly, we discuss possible resolutions to the matter

Local Government. On the Distribution of the Licenses Proposed to be Transferred in Aid of Local Expenditure

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Structure and lattice dynamics of the wide band gap semiconductors MgSiN2_{2} and MgGeN2_{2}

We have determined the structural and lattice dynamical properties of the orthorhombic, wide band gap semiconductors MgSiN$_{2}$ and MgGeN$_{2}$ using density functional theory. In addition, we present structural properties and Raman spectra of a MgSiN$_{2}$ powder. The structural properties and lattice dynamics of the orthorhombic systems are compared to wurtzite AlN. We find clear differences in the lattice dynamics between MgSiN$_{2}$, MgGeN$_{2}$ and AlN, for example we find that the highest phonon frequency in MgSiN$_{2}$ is about 100~cm$^{-1}$ higher than the highest frequency in AlN and that MgGeN$_{2}$ is much softer. We also provide the Born effective charge tensors and dielectric tensors of MgSiN$_{2}$, MgGeN$_{2}$ and AlN. Phonon related thermodynamic properties, such as the heat capacity and entropy, are in very good agreement with available experimental results.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, 6 table

Anion Distribution, Structural Distortion, and Symmetry-Driven Optical Band Gap Bowing in Mixed Halide Cs2SnX6 Vacancy Ordered Double Perovskites.

Mixed anion compounds in the Fm3̅m vacancy ordered perovskite structure were synthesized and characterized experimentally and computationally with a focus on compounds where A = Cs+. Pure anion Cs2SnX6 compounds were formed with X = Cl, Br, and I using a room temperature solution phase method. Mixed anion compounds were formed as solid solutions of Cs2SnCl6 and Cs2SnBr6 and a second series from Cs2SnBr6 and Cs2SnI6. Single phase structures formed across the entirety of both composition series with no evidence of long-range anion ordering observed by diffraction. A distortion of the cubic A2BX6 structure was identified in which the spacing of the BX6 octahedra changes to accommodate the A site cation without reduction of overall symmetry. Optical band gap values varied with anion composition between 4.89 eV in Cs2SnCl6 to 1.35 eV in Cs2SnI6 but proved highly nonlinear with changes in composition. In mixed halide compounds, it was found that lower energy optical transitions appeared that were not present in the pure halide compounds, and this was attributed to lowering of the local symmetry within the tin halide octahedra. The electronic structure was characterized by photoemission spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy revealed vibrational modes in the mixed halide compounds that could be assigned to particular mixed halide octahedra. This analysis was used to determine the distribution of octahedra types in mixed anion compounds, which was found to be consistent with a near-random distribution of halide anions throughout the structure, although some deviations from random halide distribution were noted in mixed iodide-bromide compounds, where the larger iodide anions preferentially adopted trans configurations

A List of Words and Phrases in Every-day Use by the Natives of Hetton-Le-Hole in the County of Durham Being Words not Ordinarily Accepted, or But Seldom Found in the Standard English of the Day

Glosario. -- Durham. -- Pertenece a la colección Varia del Salamanca Corpus. -- Rev. F. M. T. Palgrave, 1865-1955. -- A List of Words and Phrases in Every-day Use by the Natives of Hetton-Le-Hole in the County of Durham Being Words not Ordinarily Accepted, or But Seldom Found in the Standard English of the Day. -- 1896.[ES]Glosario de Hetton-le-Hole, Durham. [EN]Glossary of Hetton-le-Hole, Durha