As the world continues to grapple with dramatically lower oil prices, economic and political implications for certain major oil producers are beginning to materialize. Some countries, like Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest petroleum exporter, were more prepared for the global downturn than others. Unlike many oil producers, the Saudis are...
Innovative companies such as Uber and Airbnb have pioneered a new mode of business: the sharing economy. Uber, a car-sharing service, allows individual car owners to act as taxi drivers, connecting individuals seeking rides with those with cars willing to drive them, through a mobile app. Airbnb is a similar...
Welcome to the inaugural issue of Politica Northwestern . Politica Northwestern is the academic journal of Politics & Policy ( P&P ), a student publication at Northwestern University. P&P looks at the world in terms of what impact events will have. Political events happen all the time, but their impacts...
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a new international financial institution created by China, recently gained media attention following the induction of several new high-profile members. The bank was initially proposed by China and then launched last October with 20 other countries. Since then, many more nations – including some...
On February 13th, US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia passed away, radically altering the makeup of the America’s highest court and raising the stakes for the 2016 presidential election. Mr Scalia leaves behind a Court that would be almost unrecognizable as the one he joined when he was appointed by...
The recent military-style assault on the office of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo , followed by a separate hostage standoff at a Kosher supermarket traumatized Paris and sent shock waves across Europe. The three-day terror spree in Paris ended with the deaths of 17 victims and three gunmen. The...
In February, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that Britain would vote on the continuation of their membership within the EU. This has led to ministers quickly splitting into factions either in support or opposition to British exit from the EU, now often referred to as “Brexit”. Positions have been...
Most people imagine hacking to be an exceedingly complex crime, requiring an understanding of computing systems that goes far beyond that of average, functionally literate PC users. While there are sophisticated hacking techniques which do fit this description, many forms of hacking require little more than the ability to install...
Several phosphonate-functionalized molecular
squares have been successfully synthesized,
and the fabrication of multilayer films
on both conductive and semiconducting
platforms has been demonstrated. These
films were grown using the well-documented
zirconium phosphonate multilayer method.
The layer-by-layer growth rate is uniform.
Experiments suggest, however, that the
molecular squares adopt a semi-collapsed...
The development and applications of
organic/DNA molecules for the use of DNA
detection systems are reported here. In particular,
two different hybrids are synthesized:
DNA/polymer hybrids and small-molecule
DNA hybrids. DNA/polymer hybrids are especially
useful considering that their functionality
may be varied according to the polymer
selected. The hybrids are...
Recent research suggests that ultraviolet
illumination is essential for the creation of
monolayers of Undecylenic Acid Methyl
Ester (UDAME), as it is believed that the
UV illumination initiates the radical-chain
polymerization. Samples created without
UV illumination, however, also show signs
of a monolayer. In this study, samples were
analyzed using...
This research project explores two different
processes that can be used to pattern
organic molecules on silicon. In the first
process, hydrogen-terminated silicon surfaces
were anodized in nanometer scale with
a contact-mode atomic force microscope
(AFM). Anodization was done by applying a
positive bias voltage to the surface with
respect...
Feedback-controlled lithography (FCL)
enables atomically precise patterning of
individual molecules on the technologically
significant Si(100)-2 x 1:H surface. However,
because it is performed in an ultrahigh vacuum
(UHV) environment, FCL has thus far
been restricted to surface chemistries that
can be delivered in the gas phase. The present
research attempts...
Transmission and reflection diffraction
gratings were fabricated by micropatterning
polymers on transparent substrates and
drop-coating polymers onto etched silicon
wafers. Exposure of these gratings to three
nerve toxin mimics at very low concentrations
resulted in mimic sorption by the polymers,
changing the polymer’s refractive
index. As a result, the grating’s...
The effects of 13 nm Au colloid and 10 nm Ag
colloid on the growth of the yeast species
Saccharomyces cerevisiae were compared
to control samples cultured in a growth
media of yeast extract, bacto peptone, and
dextrose (YPD) to determine the toxicity of
nanoparticles. Growth curves were generated
for...
In modern medicine, physicians destroy
otherwise healthy tissues in patients’ bodies
because of the lack of site-target specificity
and sensitivity in detecting and attacking
cancerous cells. Many cancer patients are
left with the difficult task of weighing the
benefits against the harm of undergoing
current cancer treatments. Members of the...
Chemists and physicists have been interested
in the optical properties of metal nanoparticles
since the time of Michael Faraday.1
New approximation techniques for different
sizes and geometries have created renewed
interest in and investigation of these particles.
Many different arrays of particle extinctions
of various shapes and sizes have been...
While nanoscale device prototypes using
carbon nanotubes abound, no mass
production-scale technique exists for examining
properties of a batch of nanotubes.
Dielectrophoresis, on the other hand, has
received much attention in the press as a
method of separating and trapping particles.
In this research, a method of developing
mass production-scale...
Fullerene and inorganic fullerene-like nanotubes
are molecules with the unique geometry
of a single layer or multiple layers of a bulk
material oriented in a tube. These molecules
have novel mechanical properties and great
potential in experimental systems for nanotechnology
and nanodevices. The threedimensional
atom-probe (3DAP) microscope
is an atomic...