Electron microscopic and X-ray diffraction investigations of nanostructured thin films of ZnO
ZnO films prepared by sol-gel technique using zinc nitrate and zinc acetate as precursor material have been studied using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. The results show the formation of zinc oxide phase. The nanostructure of the films was studied by transmission electron microscopy. Nano-structured fine grains of size ranging from 20-60 nm were observed with zinc nitrate precursor film. Individual grains show a sharp contrast with different facets and boundaries. Films prepared by zinc acetate precursor show ultra-fine nano-grains in the shape of dendrites as seen by the TEM. XRD shows a larger size of crystallites with the zinc acetate precursor. Crystal planes and lattice parameters calculated by both electron diffraction and X-ray diffraction are quite close and in agreement with the reported values in literature.
NANOSTRUCTURES IN THIN FILMS OF ZnO
Structure property co-relationship of thin films of ZnO grown by sol-gel spin process using zinc 
acetate and RF magnetron sputtering method has been studied. The films were crystalline in 
nature. The crystallite size for the film grown by sol-gel spin method was found to be of the 
order of 20 nm and that of RF sputtered film was about 30 nm in the c-axis direction of the 
growth. TEM exhibited that the film with uniform microstructure consisted of distribution of 
nanosized grains of the order of 25 nm. Selected area electron diffraction patterns have shown 
the presence of different rings corresponding to different planes of hexagonal ZnO crystal 
structure. The RF sputtered films have shown the formation of nanorods of ZnO which were 
found to have uniform distribution of crystallites of the size ~10 nm.The results would find 
application in nanoelectronic piezoelectric sensors.
ASSESSING AGE AND GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PERCEIVED RISK AND FEAR OF CRIME
Much of the research on fear of crime indicates that women and older persons are highly afraid of crime. These findings, especially older persons' fear of crime, are widely communicated in the scientific and popular media. This study examines age and gender differences in perceived risk and fear of crime. The data are from telephone interviews of 320 randomly selected residents in a southeastern metropolitan area of the United States. The relationships of age and gender to fear of crime are compared using a National Crime Survey (NCS) measure of fear of crime and 11 alternative indicators of fear of specific offenses. Women reported signifcantly greater perceived risk and fear of crime than men regardless of how fear of crime was measured and older adults reported the greatest fear of crime when the NCS measure was used. but not when the alternative individual measures of fear of crime were used. A LISREL model with latent constructs for fear of personal crime and fear of property crime also indicates that older adults do not have higher levels of fear of crime. In short, the extent of fear in the everyday lives of most older persons has been overestimated in many previous studies because of measurement problems.