Soft diamond-like carbon coatings with superior biocompatibility for medical applications

Biomedical applications of diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings are continuously increasing due to their superior mechanical properties, low friction coefficient, antiwear characteristics, and biocompatibility. The mechanical and tribological characteristics of DLC coatings have been comprehensively investigated on various substrate systems as a function of their deposition parameter dependant features for various biomaterial applications. However, the relationship between biocompatibility and resulting hardness of DLC coatings as a function of their bias voltage driven intrinsic features like sp2 and sp3 bonds remains largely unexplored. In this work, a series of DLC coatings are prepared as a function of varying bias voltage from 0 to −120 V, and characterised for their atomic structure, physical, and mechanical properties, and biocompatibility. The contact angle and surface roughness of the DLC coatings reduce while hardness increases from 7.8 to 20.3 GPa with increasing bias voltage from 0 to −120 V. A relatively soft DLC coating is shown to retain excellent biocompatibility which is approximately 38% higher than the harder DLC coatings following exposure of their leached extracts to L929 mouse fibroblast cells. This work demonstrates the complex interdependence of biocompatibility and hardness of DLC coatings and the outcomes will support correct material selection with an appropriate balance of these key properties for specific biomedical applications such as load-carrying and non-load carrying devices

Connecting and reconnecting: a phenomenological study of the meanings that extra care tenants attribute to using the internet for social contact

Purpose – This paper explores the perceptions and experiences of a group of extra care tenants, who, as novice internet users, began to maintain their social relationships online. Housing transitions in later life may jeopardise existing social relationships, leading to loneliness and social isolation. More recently, Covid-19 restrictions have limited familial face-to-face contact and wider social interactions. Thus extra care tenants, who are not already online, may benefit from acquiring internet skills. This paper aims to enhance understanding of the participants’ transition from novices to experienced internet users and the impact on their social relationships and sense of self.Design/methodology/approach – A longitudinal, hermeneutic phenomenological study was conducted over eight months in two extra care housing schemes in north east England. Ten participants (56-98 years) with age-related physical, sensory and cognitive losses were recruited to the study. A series of semi structured interviews and participant diaries captured. the participants’ experience as they developed internet skills and communicated online.Findings - All participants, including a blind individual, learned to communicate online. Personalised adaptive strategies, peer support, training and management involvement. facilitated internet uptake. Participants felt their social relationships were supported and they regained biographical continuity, through being and feeling they belonged in the modern digital world.Originality/value – The online experiences of extra care tenants are rarely voiced. Their perceptions may assist others to engage online, maintaining social connections which could otherwise be lost

High-performance flexible all-solid-state asymmetric supercapacitors based on binder-free MXene/cellulose nanofiber anode and carbon cloth/polyaniline cathode

The search for wearable electronics has been attracted great efforts, and there is an ever-growing demand for all-solid-state flexible energy storage devices. However, it is a challenge to obtain both positive and negative electrodes with excellent mechanical strength and matching positive and negative charges to achieve high energy densities and operating voltages to satisfy practical application requirements. Here, flexible MXene (Ti3C2Tx)/cellulose nanofiber (CNF) composite film negative electrodes (MCNF) were fabricated with a vacuum filtration method, as well as positive electrodes (CP) by combining polyaniline (PANI) with carbon cloth (CC) using an in-situ polymerization method. Both positive and negative free-standing electrodes exhibited excellent electrochemical behavior and bendable/foldable flexibility. As a result, the all-pseudocapacitance asymmetric device of MCNF//CP assembled with charge-matched between anode and cathode achieves an extended voltage window of 1.5 V, high energy density of 30.6 WhKg-1 (1211 WKg-1), and 86 capacitance retention after 5000 cycles, and the device maintains excellent bendability, simultaneously. This work will pave the way for the development of all-pseudocapacitive asymmetric supercapacitors (ASC) with simultaneously preeminent mechanical properties, high energy density, and wide operating voltage window

Job satisfaction and public service motivation in Australian nurses: the effects of abusive supervision and workplace bullying

Workplace mistreatment is common in healthcare, especially among nurses, who may experience mistreatment from different sources, yet must carry out essential, public-facing duties. However, researchers have typically studied forms of mistreatment in isolation. This paper investigates the combined relationship between abusive supervision (i.e., vertical mistreatment) and workplace bullying (i.e., horizontal mistreatment) on job satisfaction and public service motivation among nurses. Drawing from self-determination theory, we examine how experiencing workplace mistreatment can thwart the fulfilment of psychological needs, operationalised as job satisfaction. Experiencing workplace bullying alongside abusive supervision is predicted to worsen this relationship. In turn, nurses are less likely to internalise their organisation’s values, leading to less public service motivation. We tested our hypotheses on 219 Australian public sector nurses via an online survey, with a temporal separation of six weeks. Results suggest that abusive supervision has an indirect negative association with public service motivation, via job satisfaction. Workplace bullying moderated the indirect relationship at high and low levels, though the indirect relationship was stronger at low levels. Our study contributes to a well-rounded understanding of workplace mistreatment, particularly within the context of self-determination theory, and to our understanding of how public service motivation is affected by employees’ social environment

The challenge of establishing the impact of terrorist organisations: development of a database on ETA’s activities

This article presents a new account of the size and scale of ETA’s activities. Highlighting a range of political considerations that shape existing records of impact, the article traces deployment of a range of distinct methods of data collection and evidence verification in creation of the most comprehensive database of ETA’s activities produced to date. The resulting database suggests that ETA’s impact is significantly greater than previously recognized, with a total of 1,047 attacks from 1959 to 2010. Within those attacks, 66 people were kidnapped (32 of whom were killed), 956 people were killed, there were 1949 injuries and 3 post-incident deaths via suicide and cancer that was attributed to trauma. Of the attacks, 503 were bombings, 456 were shootings and 66 were kidnappings. The remaining attacks used other forms of violence (Molotov cocktails, arson, electrocution or being thrown from moving vehicles). This comprehensive account suggests that previous records underestimate the total number of people killed by over 100, with injuries often not even recorded formally. As more murders are detected and attributed to ETA, the methods deployed within this new database will ensure that the impact continues to be tracked. Those methods enable scholars of terrorism to track the impact of organisations more broadly. As such, this article serves as a means of fostering real discussion on methods more broadly, particularly in terms of criteria adopted for a range of political reasons

Becoming a Smuggler: Migration and Violence at EU External Borders

Migrants’ involvement in smuggling increases alongside restricted cross-border movement and violent borders, yet this dynamic is usually examined from migrants’ position as clients. In this article, we move away from migrants and smugglers as two separate roles and question migrants’ aspirations to and experiences of resorting to smuggling networks as workers in the context of EU land borders, where direct violence is used daily to fight cross-border crime. By doing so, we move further the examination of fluid relations in smuggling provisions and the way they are intertwined with care and exploitation, as shaped and circumscribed by violent borders. The article illustrates the intersections between border violence and migrants’ active involvement in smuggling by drawing on the case study of an anonymised Border Town and multi-site, multi-author fieldwork from Serbia and Bosnia. By questioning migrants’ experiences of shifting roles from clients to service providers, and by taking into account their work in smuggling provision, we show that, in a situation of protracted vulnerability orchestrated by border violence, state and law enforcement, the categories – “migrant” and “smugglers” – can blur

Trifunctional Cu-Mesh/Cu2O@FeO-nanoarrays for highly efficient degradation of antibiotic, inactivation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and damage of antibiotics resistance genes

Trifunctional Cu-mesh/Cu2O@FeO-nanoarrays heterostructure is designed and fabricated by integrating Cu2O@FeO-nanoarrays onto Cu-mesh (CM) via an in situ growth and phase-transformation process. It is successfully applied to efficiently mitigate the antibiotic pollution, including degradation of antibiotics, inactivation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and damage of antibiotics resistance genes (ARGs). Under visible-light irradiation, CM/Cu2O@FeO-nanoarrays exhibits a superior degradation efficiency on antibiotics (e.g., up to 99% in 25 min for tetracycline hydrochloride, TC), due to the generated reactive oxygen species (ROS), especially the dominant ·O2−. It can fully inactivate E. coli (HB101) with initial number of ~108 CFU·mL-1 in 10 min, which is mainly attributed to the synergistic effects of 1D nanostructure, dissolved metal ions and generated ROS. Meanwhile it is able to damage ARGs after 180 min of photodegradation, including tetA (vs. TC) of 3.3 log10, aphA (vs. kanamycin sulfate, KAN) of 3.4 log10, and tnpA (vs. ampicillin, AMP) of 4.4 log10, respectively. This work explores a green way for treating antibiotic pollution under visible-light

Sexual Risk Behavior, Sexism, and Prejudices Towards Sexual Openness, Homosexuality, and Trans Individuals Among Young People in Spain and the UK

Introduction: Sexism, lack of sexual freedom, and negative attitudes towards minorities are related to risky and discriminatory sexual behaviors. To date, no cross-cultural comparisons have been made regarding these sexual behaviors and attitudes. The study also explores the sexuality competencies of young adults undertaking vocational courses in higher education before their transition to professional practice. Methods: The sample comprised 1235 university students (670 Spanish and 565 British) aged between 18 and 52 years (M = 22.06, SD = 4.38). During the years 2020 and 2021, respondents completed a survey structured in six standardized scales (HPSC, DSS, SOS, HATH, EANT, and TIBS). Results: Results report that British students show less gender adherence (DSS) while the Spanish ones show more positive attitudes towards trans individuals (EANT) and pleasure (SOS). These findings indicate that students in this research engage in more sexual risk behaviors (HPSC), display similar rigid gender adherences (DSS), and more positive erotophilic (SOS), homophilic (HATH), and trans-friendly attitudes (EANT and TIBS) than those in previous studies. There were, however, significant differences by gender, religion, and program of study. Conclusions: The research demonstrates the relevance of measuring cultural factors related to sexual behaviors and attitudes in youth and reflects a lack of attention to these issues in educational and healthcare settings. This is despite its broad impact on people’s health, as young people are more likely to display increased risky sexual behaviors. Policy Implications: These findings emphasize the importance of the development of updated strategies in sex education among young people. The added importance of doing so with students in higher education who are likely to enter professions where they will educate or influence others on these matters is identified

Industry 4.0 and Lean Six Sigma integration in manufacturing: A literature review, an integrated framework and proposed research perspectives

This article explores the literature on lean management (LM), Six Sigma (SS), Industry 4.0 (I4.0) and their relationship. A systematic literature review (SLR) combined with bibliometric analysis was conducted to identify, select and evaluate articles and was supported by content analysis to classify papers into group-discussed clusters. A total of 134 articles were retrieved from relevant databases and publisher engines between 2011 and June 2022. The analysis of these articles enabled us to identify the impact of Industry 4.0 technologies on Lean SS; the relationship between LM, SS and Industry 4.0 and the implications of their combination on operational excellence. The results show that while a majority of researchers consider Industry 4.0 to be a driver of LSS and a prerequisite for helping companies access the data and analytics needed, others find them to be complementary and synergistic. Similarly, various authors support the idea that LSS could be a facilitator of Industry 4.0. This study provides an overview of the main research streams in this field and its shortcomings and presents an LSS4.0 framework integrating Lean SS and Industry 4 which will be of great value to academics and practitioners working in this area