[Review of] David Mason, ed. Explaining Ethnic Differences: Changing Patterns of Disadvantage in Britain

A series of communal disturbances took place in several north of England towns during the spring and summer of 2001. They were notable for the participation of young, male Asians, a significant proportion of them Muslims...as against African-Caribbeans (21)

How and Why lslamophobia is tied to English Nationalism but not to Scottish Nationalism

Muslim minorities throughout Europe are under threat of collateral damage from the Blair/Bush \u27War on Terror.\u27 In Scotland they also have to cope with the added possibility that Scottish nationalism might develop an \u27ethnic\u27 as well as a \u27civic\u27 dimension. But is Scottish nationalism part of the problem or part of the solution? Paradoxically, Muslims are under less pressure in Scotland than in England, despite Scotland\u27s move over recent decades--psychologically as well as institutionally--towards nationalism

Crystallization of hard aspherical particles

We use numerical simulations to study the crystallization of monodisperse systems of hard aspherical particles. We find that particle shape and crystallizability can be easily related to each other when particles are characterized in terms of two simple and experimentally accessible order parameters: one based on the particle surface-to-volume ratio, and the other on the angular distribution of the perturbations away from the ideal spherical shape. We present a phase diagram obtained by exploring the crystallizability of 487 different particle shapes across the two-order-parameter spectrum. Finally, we consider the physical properties of the crystalline structures accessible to aspherical particles, and discuss limits and relevance of our results.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Published in the Journal of Chemical Physics

Exploiting classical nucleation theory for reverse self-assembly

In this paper we introduce a new method to design interparticle interactions to target arbitrary crystal structures via the process of self-assembly. We show that it is possible to exploit the curvature of the crystal nucleation free-energy barrier to sample and select optimal interparticle interactions for self-assembly into a desired structure. We apply this method to find interactions to target two simple crystal structures: a crystal with simple cubic symmetry and a two-dimensional plane with square symmetry embedded in a three-dimensional space. Finally, we discuss the potential and limits of our method and propose a general model by which a functionally infinite number of different interaction geometries may be constructed and to which our reverse self-assembly method could in principle be applied.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures. Published in the Journal of Chemical Physic

Single-molecule spectroscopic studies of conjugated polymers

A semiconductor is a type of material which has electrical properties in between an insulator and a conductor. A conductor can be thought of as a group of atoms surrounded by a sea of free electrons, which are free to move throughout the material; in contrast, the electrons in an insulator are tightly localized on a specific atom or molecule. In a semiconductor, the electrons are localized as in insulators; however, with the addition of energy, the electrons in semiconductors are easily excited into a state where they are free to move throughout the material as in a conductor. Thus, with the proper combination of materials, electrons can flow from the semiconductor into a circuit when light strikes it. This is the basis behind solar energy, in which a current is generated when sunlight hits silicon-based panels known as photovoltaic cells. Materials known as conjugated organic polymers are semiconductors made up of elements like carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen. A polymer is a chain of small repeated units known as monomers. In a conjugated polymer, the electrons of the molecule are shared across several atoms in the polymer; when these electrons are excited, they are then free to move essentially along the entire length of the polymer. Theoretically, then, conjugated polymers could be used for applications like solar energy, as well. In order to study single conjugated polymer molecules, a technique known as singlemolecule spectroscopy (SMS) was used. In SMS, light from a laser is focused to a very small spot ( 10 nm) on a sample composed of individual, isolated single molecules. This laser light excites electrons in the molecules; when the electrons relax back to their ground (lowest-energy) state, they re-release the energy as a characteristic group of wavelengths of light known as a spectrum. I studied the spectroscopy of the conjugated polymers F8BT and MEH-PPV. For F8BT, I studied the effect of polymer size and temperature on the fluorescence of the polymer. The spectrum of F8BT displays a bimodal distribution: some molecules have a peak in their emission spectrum at approximately 570 nm (“red”), while some have it at 530 nm (“blue”). This bimodal distribution collapses at low temperatures to a single emission peak. Furthermore, small F8BT molecules emit almost entirely in the blue, while many more large F8BT molecules emit in the red form. This indicates that there is some type of low-energy electron “trap” that becomes more abundant as the polymer gets larger. The most commonly-proposed mechanism for this trap is contact between different parts of the polymer chain. For MEH-PPV, I studied 100-molecule aggregates of MEH-PPV polymers. These aggregates contain enough molecules to display characteristics of bulk MEH-PPV with on the order of 1023 molecules, but are small enough to be essentially homogeneous – that is, all of the molecules within a single aggregate have identical environments. MEHPPV shows a similar bimodal emission distribution to that of F8BT; the aggregates emit almost exclusively in the “red” form of MEH-PPV. This further supports the hypothesis that chain-chain contact makes a large contribution to the formation of low-energy traps. Solar energy production is just one of many areas where conjugated polymers such as F8BT and MEH-PPV could have a huge impact on the world. If good efficiencies can be achieved in converting sunlight into electrical current, things like photovoltaic cells could be much cheaper, easier to produce, and more environmentally friendly.Chemistr

Results of the 2001 Becoming an Outdoor-Woman Survey

INHS Human Dimensions Research Program and Illinois Department of Natural Resourcesunpublishednot peer reviewedOpe

LESS FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENT IN SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Results of the 2003-2004 Illinois Youth Hunter Survey

Federal Aid Project Number W-112-R-13, Job Number 103.1, Wildlife Restoration Fund, July 1, 2003 - Sept. 30, 2004Report issued on: December 22, 200