The feasibility of making short-term migration estimates

Short-term migration, that is stays of less than 12 months, has received particular attention recently from both national and local level users of population statistics. This interest is part of the wider interest shown in increasing levels of long-term migration statistics in recent years. This article is an initial assessment by ONS of the potential to produce short-term migration estimates for England and Wales, and the challenges faced in doing so. Central to these challenges is the question of how short-term migration should be defined. In addition, illustrative estimates of short-term migration based on the International Passenger Survey (IPS) are provided. These illustrative estimates, along with associated standard errors, are provided at both national and regional levels using a number of definitional bases.     

技术转移:企业资助的学术发明对创新的促进

<正>一般认为企业资助的学术研究对其他人来说是不太容易获取且用处不大的,布莱恩D.怀特及其同事提出的数据对这个看法提出了挑战。政府长期以来一直鼓励大学—企业之间的合作,以期对可以带来工作机会、强化投资并生产出改善生活质量产品的创新进行激励。同时,政府在科学上预算的收缩迫使大学通过其他途径寻求经费支持。根据美国国家科学基金会的统计,2012年由企业提供的科研经费只占到美国研究型大学年度科研经费的5%(大约32亿美元)。     

转移过程对CVD生长的石墨烯质量的影响

利用化学气象沉淀法(CVD)在金属衬底上生长的石墨烯制备电子器件需要先把石墨烯转移到绝缘基底上,转移过程对器件制备的成功率和性能的均匀性有重要影响.转移过程中导致的石墨烯破损和金属生长基底残余颗粒污染受到普遍重视,然而由金属基底腐蚀液导致的石墨烯表面污染还没有引起足够的重视.本文利用拉曼光谱和X射线光电子能谱(XPS)证明了转移过程中金属基底腐蚀液会在石墨烯表面引入污染,利用我们发展的"改良的RCA(radio corporation of America)清洗(modified RCA clean)"转移工艺能够有效地去除这种污染.这对提高后续制备的电子器件的性能有重要意义.     

Giant magneto resistance and temperature coefficient of resistance in Sm0.55Sr0.30Ag0.15MnO3 perovskite

Silver ions substituted samarium strontium manganite (Sm0.55Sr0.30Ag0.15MnO3) pervoskite was synthesized by using respective oxides in stoichiometric ratio through solid state reaction. The as-prepared sample was characterized by various analytical techniques to confirm its formation and understand the effect of monovalent silver ions in pervoskite lattice. X-ray diffraction pattern confirms the single phase formation while grain morphology in SEM image indicates good connectivity among the grains. The enhancement in metal to insulator transition temperature shows quenched disorder and magnetoresistance phenomena. The magnetoresistance (MR) and temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) emerge from grain growth factor and homogeneity induced by Ag+ ions in the lattice. The reduction in hysteresis loss resulted from antiferromagnetic - ferromagnetic (TN) and ferromagnetic - paramagnetic (Tc) transitions reveals the removal of disorder in perovskite lattice by Ag+ ions substitution. This increases the magnetic moment across distinct ions on the applying magnetic field. The rise in MR% (~99%) with silver doping emerging from smooth spin tunneling of the grains across the boundary and suppression of the disordered magnetic fluctuations with increase in magnetic field has been reported. The present compound exhibits the first order nature of magnetism and observed first time the highest value of TCR ~ 95%.     

A very faint core-collapse supernova in M85

An anomalous transient in the early Hubble-type (S0) galaxy Messier 85 (M85) in the Virgo cluster was discovered by Kulkarni et al. on 7 January 2006 that had very low luminosity (peak absolute R-band magnitude M(R) of about -12) that was constant over more than 80 days, red colour and narrow spectral lines, which seem inconsistent with those observed in any known class of transient events. Kulkarni et al. suggest an exotic stellar merger as the possible origin. An alternative explanation is that the transient in M85 was a type II-plateau supernova of extremely low luminosity, exploding in a lenticular galaxy with residual star-forming activity. This intriguing transient might be the faintest supernova that has ever been discovered.     

Bypassing genomic imprinting allows seed development

In developing progeny of mammals the two parental genomes are differentially expressed according to imprinting marks, and embryos with only a uniparental genetic contribution die. Gene expression that is dependent on the parent of origin has also been observed in the offspring of flowering plants, and mutations in the imprinting machinery lead to embryonic lethality, primarily affecting the development of the endosperm-a structure in the seed that nourishes the embryo, analogous to the function of the mammalian placenta. Here we have generated Arabidopsis thaliana seeds in which the endosperm is of uniparental, that is, maternal, origin. We demonstrate that imprinting in developing seeds can be bypassed and viable albeit smaller seedlings can develop from seeds lacking a paternal contribution to the endosperm. Bypassing is only possible if the mother is mutant for any of the FIS-class genes, which encode Polycomb group chromatin-modifying factors. Thus, these data provide functional evidence that the action of the FIS complex balances the contribution of the paternal genome. As flowering plants have evolved a special reproduction system with a parallel fusion of two female with two male gametes, our findings support the hypothesis that only with the evolution of double fertilization did the action of the FIS genes become a requirement for seed development. Furthermore, our data argue for a gametophytic origin of endosperm in flowering plants, thereby supporting a hypothesis raised in 1900 by Eduard Strasburger.     

Chiral magnetic order at surfaces driven by inversion asymmetry

Chirality is a fascinating phenomenon that can manifest itself in subtle ways, for example in biochemistry (in the observed single-handedness of biomolecules) and in particle physics (in the charge-parity violation of electroweak interactions). In condensed matter, magnetic materials can also display single-handed, or homochiral, spin structures. This may be caused by the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, which arises from spin-orbit scattering of electrons in an inversion-asymmetric crystal field. This effect is typically irrelevant in bulk metals as their crystals are inversion symmetric. However, low-dimensional systems lack structural inversion symmetry, so that homochiral spin structures may occur. Here we report the observation of magnetic order of a specific chirality in a single atomic layer of manganese on a tungsten (110) substrate. Spin-polarized scanning tunnelling microscopy reveals that adjacent spins are not perfectly antiferromagnetic but slightly canted, resulting in a spin spiral structure with a period of about 12 nm. We show by quantitative theory that this chiral order is caused by the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and leads to a left-rotating spin cycloid. Our findings confirm the significance of this interaction for magnets in reduced dimensions. Chirality in nanoscale magnets may play a crucial role in spintronic devices, where the spin rather than the charge of an electron is used for data transmission and manipulation. For instance, a spin-polarized current flowing through chiral magnetic structures will exert a spin-torque on the magnetic structure, causing a variety of excitations or manipulations of the magnetization and giving rise to microwave emission, magnetization switching, or magnetic motors.