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This article takes a critical look at the relationship between subnational struggles, tribal politics and political aspirations in Mizoram, North‐east India. It examines how community dynamics and relationships shape the demand for autonomy in a diverse and complex region like North‐east India. Looking at communities registered as tribes in the government scheme of classification, it underlies how autonomy becomes an arena where communities mobilise both against the central state and within themselves. The paper examines the formation of Lushai Hills District Council and the Pawi–Lakher Regional Council (PLRC) in Mizoram, their subsequent development as in the case of the Mizo Hill District Council to Union Territory and statehood and the split in the case of the PLRC into three distinct autonomous councils. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, it notes that while territorial autonomy requires recognition and legitimation from the state, the way ethnic groups deploy demands for autonomy is inspired, if not instigated, by the nature of the relationship and interface within and across communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of the Look East Policy (LEP) ─ now the Act East Policy ─ in the 1990s signaled a marked shift in India's economic policy aimed at transforming its northeastern region from a peripheral frontier to an economic corridor. The regional focus of the policy commonly appears in references to the northeast region as a whole and the policy suggestions are centered on ending the region's isolation and underdevelopment. This paper looks at how the inhabitants of a borderland village on the Mizoram-Myanmar border maneuvered themselves in response to the economic drive for the border opening intertwined with the extension of state rule and control. The paper shows how the agenda of the state and the local communities, rather than being in opposition, often converged with local community interests when it came to enhancing trade and liberalizing movement. These factors further served to re-shape ways of identification and belonging as well as everyday trade, commercial transactions, and nationhood. Against this backdrop, the paper engages with everyday borderland lives to examine how change through the policy was mediated upon the interface of competing state and non-state agents as well as local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper looks at how media engages with the issue of framing movements in the northeastern state of Manipur. The focus of the paper is on the demand for Inner Line Permit in Manipur that landed the state into conflict between the communities of the state. The passing of the three bills, as discussed in the paper, by the state government has snowballed into ethnic tensions and re-opened the hill–valley divide in this northeastern state. By using frame analysis, the paper intends to explicate the issue of media framing within the socio-political context of the state. The paper then engages with the process in which local media frames movements that are diametrically opposed to one another. The study further reveals that the local media in Manipur are greatly influenced by the local politics and remain integral to it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Radio frequency (RF) sputtering to demonstrate epitaxial growth of Gadolinia on Si (111). • Crystal quality examination using high resolution x-ray diffraction. • Electrical quality assessment using capacitance-voltage measurement. • Crystal phase transfer with RF power tuning. • Potential low cost solution for buried oxide layer in silicon-on-insulator technology. Rare earth oxides such as Gadolinia ( Gd 2 O 3) are extensively explored for buried oxide (BOX) application as a replacement for silicon dioxide (SiO 2) in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates. Of all the proposed methods, molecular-beam-epitaxy-based techniques have shown perfectly single-crystalline growth of Gd 2 O 3. We present a radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputter based low-cost technique to grow single-crystalline Gd 2 O 3 on Si (111) substrate. We show a gradual phase transition of the Gd 2 O 3 layer from monoclinic to cubic by engineering the Gd 2 O 3 deposition rate–i.e., tuning the RF power. We present a comparison amongst three samples as follows: (a) monoclinic ; (b) monoclinic+cubic ; (c) cubic at three different RF powers keeping the rest of the process conditions such as chamber pressure, Argon flow rate, etc., fixed. Further, we present a detailed structural characterization of all the three samples using a high-resolution X-ray diffraction system. Using the ω − 2 θ and pole-figure measurements we show a highly textured monoclinic Gd 2 O 3 layer formation with (-402) crystal orientation in experiment (a). In experiment (c) we show phase transition of Gd 2 O 3 from monoclinic to cubic by tuning the RF power. Finally, with experiment (b), we demonstrate that the aforementioned phase transition is a gradual phenomenon by highlighting a coexistence of both the monoclinic and cubic phases at an intermediate RF power. To ensure the electrical characteristics of the grown dielectric we present a metal oxide semiconductor capacitor structure fabrication for the monoclinic and the cubic Gd 2 O 3 layers and benchmark the interface trap density, and dielectric constant against state-of-the-art literature. We show an improvement in the interface trap density, and reduction in the hysteresis from monoclinic to cubic phase transition due to an improved epitaxial relation between cubic Gd 2 O 3 and Si(111) substrate. Such low-cost methods of growing single-crystalline Gd 2 O 3 layer has the potential to replace the SiO 2 BOX layer, and significantly bring down the manufacturing cost of the existing SOI wafer technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Sputtering technique is used to grow crystalline Gd2O3 on silicon (111). • Solid phase epitaxy is performed further to grow single crystalline Ge on Gd2O3. • Crystallisation occurs during the Gd2O3 cap layer growth. • Crystal quality of the grown layers are equivalent molecular beam epitaxy system. • Methodology has potential for high volume manufacturing Ge-on-insulator wafer technology. Germanium-on-insulator (GeOI) technology is a potential-alternative to the bulk-silicon based devices for radio-frequency (RF), and complementary metal oxide semiconductor applications at advanced technology nodes. A thin germanium channel is the key enabler of high mobility transistors and group-IV photonic devices. A prohibitive cost of GeOI wafers may discourage high volume manufacturing (HVM) despite promising performance. Here, we demonstrate epitaxial Gd 2 O 3 -Ge-Gd 2 O 3 thin film growth on Si(111) substrate in an HVM platform - RF magnetron sputter system , where, the first Gd 2 O 3 layer acts as buried-oxide (BOX) in the GeOI wafer. The second Gd 2 O 3 layer is used as a cap-layer to be removed later using wet etching. Both the Gd 2 O 3 layer is grown epitaxially at 750 ∘ C , while the germanium layer is grown at room temperature and crystallised later by solid phase epitaxy (SPE) technique. The entire growth is performed without vacuum-break, to enable high throughput and excellent interface control. To compare the quality of the heterostructure, this sputter based SPE is performed on: (1) in-situ sputter grown, versus (2) ex-situ molecular-beam-epitaxy (MBE) grown epitaxial Gd 2 O 3 BOX layer. The x-ray diffraction analysis confirms the formation of twin-free epitaxial Ge layer in the case of in-situ sputtered Gd 2 O 3 while twinned Ge layer is observed in the case of ex-situ MBE grown Gd 2 O 3. The twinning of the Ge layer in the ex-situ process is further supported by transmission electron microscopy analysis. Finally, we have performed an experiment to study the impact of Gd 2 O 3 BOX layer thickness on the crystal quality of Ge layer and show that the Ge layer crystal quality remains intact irrespective of BOX layer thickness. Therefore, we have achieved twin free Ge epitaxy in RF magnetron sputter system, equivalent to in-situ All-MBE SPE process. Such a process enables low-cost GeOI wafer manufacturing for cost-effective RF transistors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The structural transformation and light absorption in the TiO 2 play an important role for its reliable applications in dye based solar cells, optoelectronic devices, photochemical and photocatalytic activities. The aim of this report is to investigate the influence of low concentration cobalt doping in TiO 2 nanoparticles on their structural transition and optical properties. The undoped and Co doped TiO 2 nanoparticles were synthesized by sol-gel method and studied by XRD, UV–Vis, FTIR, EDX, TEM and Raman spectroscopy. The Co doped TiO 2 nanomaterials have lower band gap than the undoped TiO 2. To get deep insight into the structural properties, Raman measurements were performed with laser light at different powers under ambient conditions. The lattice expansion plays an important role in Co doped TiO 2 system for optically controlled laser power dependent structural transformation. The Raman active vibrational modes shows reversible behavior for undoped TiO 2 lattice, whereas the Co doped TiO 2 lattice shows irreversible response for the anatase to rutile phase transformation as the function of incident laser power. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • Laser light induces lattice expansion in undoped TiO 2. • Laser induces permanent localized phase transition in Co doped TiO 2 nanoparticles. • Low concentration of Co doping partially substitute the Ti ions in the TiO 2 lattice. • Raman and elemental mapping confirms the non-uniform distribution of Co atoms. • The presence of defects levels decreases the bandgap of bare and doped TiO 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]