16,212 research outputs found
Stability of ferromagnetism in the half-metallic pnictides and similar compounds: A first-principles study
Based on first-principles electron structure calculations and employing the
frozen-magnon approximation we study the exchange interactions in a series of
transition-metal binary alloys crystallizing in the zinc-blende structure and
calculate the Curie temperature within both the mean-field approximation (MFA)
and random-phase approximation (RPA). We study two Cr compounds, CrAs and CrSe,
and four Mn compounds: MnSi, MnGe, MnAs and MnC. MnC, MnSi and MnGe are
isovalent to CrAs and MnAs is isoelectronic with CrSe. Ferromagnetism is
particular stable for CrAs, MnSi and MnGe: All three compounds show Curie
temperatures around 1000 K. On the other hand, CrSe and MnAs show a tendency to
antiferromagnetism when compressing the lattice. In MnC the half-metallic gap
is located in the majority-spin channel contrary to the other five compounds.
The large half-metallic gaps, very high Curie temperatures, the stability of
the ferromagnetism with respect to the variation of the lattice parameter and a
coherent growth on semiconductors make MnSi and CrAs most promising candidates
for the use in spintronics devises.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure
Orbital moment of a single Co atom on a Pt(111) surface - a view from correlated band theory
The orbital magnetic moment of a Co adatom on a Pt(111) surface is calculated
in good agreement with experimental data making use of the LSDA+U method. It is
shown that both electron correlation induced orbital polarization and
structural relaxation play essential roles in orbital moment formation. The
microscopic origins of the orbital moment enhancement are discussed
Elastic deformation due to tangential capillary forces \ud
A sessile liquid drop can deform the substrate on which it rests if the solid is sufficiently “soft.” In this paper we compute the detailed spatial structure of the capillary forces exerted by the drop on the solid substrate using a model based on Density Functional Theory. We show that, in addition to the normal forces, the drop exerts a previously unaccounted tangential force. The resultant effect on the solid is a pulling force near the contact line directed towards the interior of the drop, i.e., not along the interface. The resulting elastic deformations of the solid are worked out and illustrate the importance of the tangential force
Exchange interactions and temperature dependence of the magnetization in half--metallic Heusler alloys
We study the exchange interactions in half-metallic Heusler alloys using
first-principles calculations in conjunction with the frozen-magnon
approximation. The Curie temperature is estimated within both mean-field (MF)
and random-phase-approximation (RPA) approaches. For the half-Heusler alloys
NiMnSb and CoMnSb the dominant interaction is between the nearest Mn atoms. In
this case the MF and RPA estimations differ strongly. The RPA approach provides
better agreement with experiment. The exchange interactions are more complex in
the case of full-Heusler alloys CoMnSi and CoCrAl where the dominant
effects are the inter-sublattice interactions between the Mn(Cr) and Co atoms
and between Co atoms at different sublattices. For these compounds we find that
both MF and RPA give very close values of the Curie temperature slightly
underestimating experimental quantities. We study the influence of the lattice
compression on the magnetic properties. The temperature dependence of the
magnetization is calculated using the RPA method within both quantum mechanical
and classical approaches.Comment: New figures and discussio
An analysis of the global pharmacy workforce capacity trends from 2006 to 2012
Background: Human resources for health are at a critical low. The World Health Organization estimates that the
current shortage of health workers, including pharmacists, is in excess of 7.2 million worldwide and that, by 2035,the shortage will reach 12.9 million. Pharmacists, in particular, are lacking in the workforce in many countries. The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) and academic partners have conducted periodic global pharmacy workforce surveys in 2006, 2009 and 2012 which have monitored and reported on the status of the pharmacy
workforce at the country and territory levels. This current analysis is a synthesis of workforce capacity data from
these date points to provide an overview of the global trends and changes to pharmacy workforce capacity over
this time period.
Methods: The methodology proceeded with accessing workforce capacity data collated in 2006, 2009 and 2012
held on file at the FIP Collaborating Centre. This data had previously been validated and made available to WHO
Human Resources for Health. The data focused (due to limitations from 2006 databank) on pharmacist workforce
capacity. Countries and territories were identified that had data available across at least two of the three time
points (2006, 2009 and 2012). Missing time-point data for some countries (data gaps) were subject, where possible,
to literature and online data searching to capture possible missing data. Country-level capacity data were plotted
against time to identify trends coupled with comparative analysis of the trends.
Results: The countries and territories identified as having valid data for each of the time points 2006, 2009 and
2012 were present in all WHO regions, with Europe having the most countries with data available and South East
Asia the fewest.
All WHO regions have experienced an increase in the density of pharmacists (measured as number of pharmacists
per 10 000 population) over the period 2006–2012. However, some countries show a reduction in the density of
pharmacists. African countries show large relative increases in acceleration of capacity building but remain
significantly behind in terms of absolute capacity per capita. South East Asian and Middle Eastern countries also
show large proportional changes in pharmacist workforce.
Conclusion: The global trend is an increase in workforce across all nations and regions, and this is a move in the right
direction towards improved access to, and availability of, pharmaceutical expertise. However, there is still much to be
done, with some regions and low-income countries still displaying a disproportionately low number of pharmacists on
small overall capacity for delivering pharmacy service
Contact angles on a soft solid: from Young's law to Neumann's law
The contact angle that a liquid drop makes on a soft substrate does not obey
the classical Young's relation, since the solid is deformed elastically by the
action of the capillary forces. The finite elasticity of the solid also renders
the contact angles different from that predicted by Neumann's law, which
applies when the drop is floating on another liquid. Here we derive an
elasto-capillary model for contact angles on a soft solid, by coupling a
mean-field model for the molecular interactions to elasticity. We demonstrate
that the limit of vanishing elastic modulus yields Neumann's law or a slight
variation thereof, depending on the force transmission in the solid surface
layer. The change in contact angle from the rigid limit (Young) to the soft
limit (Neumann) appears when the length scale defined by the ratio of surface
tension to elastic modulus reaches a few molecular sizes
On the Logarithmic Asymptotics of the Sixth Painleve' Equation (Summer 2007)
We study the solutions of the sixth Painlev\'e equation with a logarithmic
asymptotic behavior at a critical point. We compute the monodromy group
associated to the solutions by the method of monodromy preserving deformations
and we characterize the asymptotic behavior in terms of the monodromy itself.Comment: LaTeX with 8 figure
An analysis of the global pharmacy workforce capacity
BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there is a global healthcare workforce shortage of 7.2 million, which is predicted to grow to 12.9 million by 2035. Globally, people are living longer with multiple co-morbidities and require increased access and use of medicines. Pharmacists are a key component of the healthcare workforce, and in many countries, pharmacists are the most accessible healthcare profession. This paper identifies key issues and current trends affecting the global pharmacy workforce, in particular workforce distribution, country economic status, capacity, and workforce gender balance. METHODS: National professional pharmacy leadership bodies, together with other contacts for professional bodies, regulatory bodies, and universities, were approached to provide country-level data on pharmacy workforce. A descriptive and comparative analysis was conducted to assess each country's pharmacy workforce. RESULTS: A total of 89 countries and territories responded to the survey. To standardise the capacity measure, an analysis of the population density of pharmacists (per 10 000 population) was performed. The sample mean was 6 pharmacists per 10 000 population (n = 80). There is considerable variation between the surveyed countries/territories ranging from 0.02 (Somalia) to 25.07 (Malta) pharmacists per 10 000 population. African nations have significantly fewer pharmacists per capita. Pharmacist density correlates with gross national income (GNI) and health expenditure. The majority of pharmacists are employed in community settings, followed by hospital, industry-related, academia, and regulation. There is a greater proportion of females in the pharmacy workforce globally, with some WHO regions showing female representation of more than 65 % with an increasing trend trajectory. CONCLUSIONS: Pharmacy workforce capacity varies considerably between countries and regions and generally correlates with population- and country-level economic indicators. Those countries and territories with lower economic indicators tend to have fewer pharmacists and pharmacy technicians; this has implications for inequalities regarding access to medicines and medicine expertise
Thermodynamical features of multifragmentation in peripheral Au + Au Collisions at 35 A.MeV
The distribution of fragments produced in events involving the
multifragmentation of excited sources is studied for peripheral Au + Au
reactions at 35 A.MeV.
The Quasi-Projectile has been reconstructed from its de-excitation products.
An isotropic emission in its rest frame has been observed, indicating that an
equilibrated system has been formed. The excitation energy of the
Quasi-Projectile has been determined via calorimetry.
A new event by event effective thermometer is proposed based on the energy
balance. A peak in the energy fluctuations is observed related to the heat
capacity, suggesting that the system undergoes a liquid-gas type phase
transition at an excitation energy about 5 A.MeV and a temperature 4 - 6 MeV,
dependent on the freeze-out hypothesis. By analyzing different regions of the
Campi-plot, the events associated with the liquid and gas phases as well as the
critical region are thermodynamically characterized.
The critical exponents, tau, beta,gamma, extracted from the high moments of
the charge distribution are consistent with a liquid-gas type phase transition.Comment: 44 pages, 16 Postscript figures, Fig14_nucl-ex.eps in colors, to be
published in Nucl.Phys.A (1999
Defects as a reason of continuity of normal-incommensurate phase transitions
Almost all normal-incommensurate phase transitions observed experimentally
are continuous. We show that there is not any theoretical reason for this
general behaviour in perfect crystals. A normal-incommensurate phase transition
that is not too far from the mean-field tricritical point should be
discontinuous and it is highly improbable that so far reported
normal-incommensurate phase transitions lie very far from this point. To
understand this behaviour we study influence of defects on a hypothetical
first-order normal-incommensurate phase transition in a pure material. We have
found that this influence is strikingly different from that on other kinds of
first-order phase transitions. The change of the discontinuity of the order
parameter at the transition is negative and formally diverges within our
approximate theory. At the same time the diminishing of the phase transition
temperature remains finite. We interpret these results as an indication that at
least some of the observed seemingly second-order normal-incommensurate
transitions would be first-order transitions in defectless crystals.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figur
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