Low energy excitations in graphite: The role of dimensionality and lattice defects

In this paper, we present a high resolution angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) study of the electronic properties of graphite. We found that the nature of the low energy excitations in graphite is particularly sensitive to interlayer coupling as well as lattice disorder. As a consequence of the interlayer coupling, we observed for the first time the splitting of the $\pi$ bands by $\approx$ 0.7 eV near the Brillouin zone corner K. At low binding energy, we observed signatures of massless Dirac fermions with linear dispersion (as in the case of graphene), coexisting with quasiparticles characterized by parabolic dispersion and finite effective mass. We also report the first ARPES signatures of electron-phonon interaction in graphite: a kink in the dispersion and a sudden increase in the scattering rate. Moreover, the lattice disorder strongly affects the low energy excitations, giving rise to new localized states near the Fermi level. These results provide new insights on the unusual nature of the electronic and transport properties of graphite.Comment: 10 pages, 15 figure

Hospital and outpatient clinic utilization among older people in the 3-5 years following the initiation of continuing care: a longitudinal cohort study

Background: Few studies have investigated the subsequent rate of hospital and outpatient clinic utilization in those who receive continuing care and have documented frequent usage over one year. Such knowledge may be helpful in identifying those who would benefit from preventive interventions. The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the subsequent rate of hospital and outpatient clinic utilization among older people with 0, 1, 2, 3 or more hospital stays in the first year following the initiation of continuing care. A further aim was to compare these groups regarding demographic data, health complaints, functional and cognitive ability, informal care and mortality. Methods: A total of 1079 people, aged 65 years or older, who received a decision regarding the initiation of continuing care during the years 2001, 2002 or 2003 were investigated. Four groups were created based on whether they had 0, 1, 2 or >= 3 hospital stays in the first year following the initiation of continuing care and were investigated regarding the rate of hospital and outpatient clinic utilization in the subsequent 3-5 years. Results: Fifty seven percent of the sample had no hospital stay during the first year following the initiation of continuing care, 20% had 1 stay, 10% had 2 stays and 13% had three or more hospital stays (range: 3-13). Those with >= 3 hospital stays in the first year continued to have the significantly highest rate of hospital and outpatient care utilization in the subsequent years. This group accounted for 57% of hospital stays in the first year, 27% in the second year and 18% in the third year. In this group the risk of having >= 3 hospital stays in the second year was 27% and 12% in the third year. Conclusions: There is a clear need for interventions targeted on prevention of frequent hospital and outpatient clinic utilization among those who are high users of hospital care in the first year after the initiation of continuing care. Perhaps an increased availability of medically skilled staff in the day to day care of these people in the municipalities could prevent frequent hospital and outpatient clinic utilization, especially hospital readmissions

Dealing with daily emotions—supportive activities for the elderly in a municipal care setting

There are diverse descriptions of supportive activities in nursing to be found in the literature. What they have in common is their association with good care outcomes, but they may differ depending on the context in which the care is given. In a Swedish municipal elderly care setting, registered nurses (RN) work in a consultative way and they describe a part of their tasks as comprising supportive activities without specifying what kind of supportive activities they mean. The aim of the study was to explore the main concern of the support given by RN to a group of patients in an elderly home care setting. The study was conducted using Grounded Theory. Data were collected using nonparticipant observations regarding the supportive activities of 12 RN at the home of 36 patients between the ages of 80 and 102. Most of the home visit lasted about 40 min but some lasted for 90 min. The central category was about dealing with daily emotions. This was done by encouraging the situation and reducing the patient's limitations, but situations also occurred in which there was a gap of support. Support was about capturing the emotions that the patient expressed for a particular moment, but there were also situations in which RN chose not to give support. To develop a holistic eldercare, more knowledge is needed about the factors causing the RN to choose not to provide support on some occasions

Individualized Music Played for Agitated Patients With Dementia: Analysis of Video-recorded Sessions

Many nursing home patients with dementia suffer from symptoms of agitation (e.g. anxiety, shouting, irritability). This study investigated whether individualized music could be used as a nursing intervention to reduce such symptoms in four patients with severe dementia. The patients were video-recorded during four sessions in four periods, including a control period without music, two periods where individualized music was played, and one period where classical music was played. The recordings were analysed by systematic observations and the Facial Action Coding System. Two patients became calmer during some of the individualized music sessions; one patient remained sitting in her armchair longer, and the other patient stopped shouting. For the two patients who were most affected by dementia, the noticeable effect of music was minimal. If the nursing staff succeed in discovering the music preferences of an individual, individualized music may be an effective nursing intervention to mitigate anxiety and agitation for some patients