Fermi level alignment in single molecule junctions and its dependence on interface structure

The alignment of the Fermi level of a metal electrode within the gap of the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied orbital of a molecule is a key quantity in molecular electronics. Depending on the type of molecule and the interface structure of the junction, it can vary the electron transparency of a gold/molecule/gold junction by at least one order of magnitude. In this article we will discuss how Fermi level alignment is related to surface structure and bonding configuration on the basis of density functional theory calculations for bipyridine and biphenyl dithiolate between gold leads. We will also relate our findings to quantum-chemical concepts such as electronegativity.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, presented at the ICN+T 2006 conferenc

Editorial

No aspect of the practice of pediatric anesthesia is more essential than airway management. Pediatric anesthesiologists are the ‘go to’ specialists when infants and children with difficult airways present anywhere in the hospital. To our advantage, rapid technical advances have taken place during the past decades and the number of tools available to assist us in providing and maintaining a secure and stable airway has increased significantly. Until the 1970s tracheal intubation with a conventional laryngoscope or blind nasal intubation were the mainstays of establishing an artificial airway. The choice of endotracheal tubes was limited. During the past 20 years a remarkable assortment of equipment and novel techniques to facilitate optimal airway management have been developed. These include supraglottic airways, direct and fiberoptic laryngoscopes and transtracheal devices. Improved imaging of the airway prior to initiation of airway management, with CT and MRI, for example, and during airway manipulation and instrumentation, using fiberoptic cameras and portable video displays, is now widely used. While new developments in airway management have helped us improve the quality of care of our patients, new challenges have also arisen. Which techniques should we learn, teach and employ? Which endotracheal tubes should be utilized – uncuffed or cuffed, old or new design? Which of our patients need preoperative imaging of the airway and/or sleep studies? What are the risks of newer interventions, including novel airway devices and laser instruments

Family Supportive Supervision Around the Globe

Family-supportive supervision (FSS) refers to the degree to which employees perceive their immediate supervisors as exhibiting attitudes and behaviors that are supportive of their family role demands (Hammer, Kossek, Zimmerman, & Daniels, 2007; Kossek, Pichler, Bodner & Hammer, 2011: Thomas & Ganster, 1995). A growing body of research suggests that leaders\u27 and supervisors\u27 social support of employees\u27 needs to jointly carry out work and family demands is important for general health and job attitudes, such as satisfaction, work-family conflict, commitment, and intention to turn over (Hammer, Kossek, Anger, Bodner, & Zimmerman, 2009; Kossek et al., 2011). Thus, employee perceptions of FSS are critical to individual well-being and productivity (Hammer, Kossek, Yragui, Bodner, & Hansen, 2009). [excerpt

Few-body physics in effective field theory

Effective Field Theory (EFT) provides a powerful framework that exploits a separation of scales in physical systems to perform systematically improvable, model-independent calculations. Particularly interesting are few-body systems with short-range interactions and large two-body scattering length. Such systems display remarkable universal features. In systems with more than two particles, a three-body force with limit cycle behavior is required for consistent renormalization already at leading order. We will review this EFT and some of its applications in the physics of cold atoms and nuclear physics. In particular, we will discuss the possibility of an infrared limit cycle in QCD. Recent extensions of the EFT approach to the four-body system and N-boson droplets in two spatial dimensions will also be addressed.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, Proceedings of the INT Workshop on "Nuclear Forces and the Quantum Many-Body Problem", Oct. 200