Ab initio free energy of vacancy formation and mass-action kinetics in vis-active TiO2

Recent reports have identified bulk defects such as oxygen vacancies as key players in visible-light photoactive TiO2. This would imply greater visible light absorption rates may be possible provided effective defect engineering can be achieved. To further this we have developed methods to simulate vacancy formation in bulk TiO2 using ab initio techniques. Initial results of these methods show an entropic reduction in the free energy of vacancy formation of 2.3 eV over a range of 266 K. The use of this result is illustrated by a 'toy' mass-action kinetics model which offers insight into vacancy concentration, rate constants, and enthalpy of reaction

Nursing Innovation: Step to Full Practice Licensure

Background/local problem With the inception of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 the healthcare system was challenged to be efficient, effective, and patient centered. This transformation has challenged the nursing profession to work to the highest level of the nursing licensure. Nurses hold the distinction of being the largest profession working in healthcare, providing not only much of the direct patient care but also leadership. The Institute of Medicine 2010 The Future of Nursing Report called for nurses to reach for higher education and to become collaborative leaders in implementing change in the healthcare arena. Diabetes is a complex and expensive clinical problem, that requires nursing leadership to create innovations to efficiently and effectively meet patient needs. The purpose of this presentation is to provide an exemplar project that illustrates an advanced practice nurse utilizing research, theory and practice to create a quality improvement project and thus practice to the fullest extent of the nursing licensure to solve a local problem of ineffective diabetic education. Lessons learned and evidence that supports an innovative video diabetic educational program will be discussed to enable others to peruse similar work and/or similar process. Methods After observing and validating a clinical problem, related theories and research were evaluated to create an intervention aimed at improving healthcare quality. Garrand’s Matrix Method was used to guide a search of the literature. A database search resulted in 1219 articles for a preliminary review with 12 articles found to be specific to video education and diabetes. Within these articles themes were identified and a quality improvement project using the plan, do, study, act process was planned. Interventions This presentation will discuss 1) the research process including: formation of clinical questioning, PICO formulation, searching for the best evidence, and translating evidence into practice using theory and 2) evidence guiding a quality improvement project for individuals with Type II diabetes in a primary care setting. The broad focus is on utilization of technology to improve the knowledge of individuals with Type II diabetes. Conclusion/Implications This presentation will help nurses formulate clinical questions and proceed to quality improvement projects. It will highlight the leadership that is available in nursing profession and serve as an example of how nursing knowledge is generating practice improvements and thus provide an example of working at the fullest extent of the nursing license to create solutions to local problem

AtomSim: web-deployed atomistic dynamics simulator

AtomSim, a collection of interfaces for computational crystallography simulations, has been developed. It uses forcefield-based dynamics through physics engines such as the General Utility Lattice Program, and can be integrated into larger computational frameworks such as the Virtual Neutron Facility for processing its dynamics into scattering functions, dynamical functions etc. It is also available as a Google App Engine-hosted web-deployed interface. Examples of a quartz molecular dynamics run and a hafnium dioxide phonon calculation are presented

Implementing supply practice at Bridgend Engine Plant: the influence of institutional and strategic choice perspectives,

International audienceThis paper investigates the stalled adoption of a supplier park at Bridgend Engine Plant in the UK. It starts from the position that not all firms can or should implement the same set of practices. Critical incident technique and semi-structured interviews over five years were used to understand the influence of institutional and strategic choices during the implementation of a supplier park. A conceptual framework was developed to incorporate practices broadly associated with parks, i.e. improving supply stability, supply coordination, redefining the OEM/supplier boundary and enhancing interaction between co-located firms. The findings demonstrate a limited implementation of supply practices at Bridgend with only one component supplier brought onto the site. The original plan was to create a supplier park that would "grow" to an industrial park, creating an automotive sector in the area. However, a combination of operational, processual, and contextual factors have conspired against the plan. The combination of a broad range of theoretical and practical elements means there are associated discussions that could be more fully explored. Condensing the interview notes has resulted in the researchers' own interpretation of events becoming a significant reality filter. Whilst single case studies raise inevitable concerns over comparability, our focus is on theoretical generalizability through richness of empirical data. As firms continue to use best practice as a core ingredient of strategy, researchers must respond with robust theoretical concepts explaining adoption and implementation. This paper integrates disparate perspectives across multiple levels in order to build a richer and more believable picture of a stalled initiative. Three key conclusions can be drawn: the contingent nature of "bundles of practice" implications of political ambiguity over the efficiency argument and the effect of isomorphic or bandwagon responses by firms

Potentiality in Biology

We take the potentialities that are studied in the biological sciences (e.g., totipotency) to be an important subtype of biological dispositions. The goal of this paper is twofold: first, we want to provide a detailed understanding of what biological dispositions are. We claim that two features are essential for dispositions in biology: the importance of the manifestation process and the diversity of conditions that need to be satisfied for the disposition to be manifest. Second, we demonstrate that the concept of a disposition (or potentiality) is a very useful tool for the analysis of the explanatory practice in the biological sciences. On the one hand it allows an in-depth analysis of the nature and diversity of the conditions under which biological systems display specific behaviors. On the other hand the concept of a disposition may serve a unificatory role in the philosophy of the natural sciences since it captures not only the explanatory practice of biology, but of all natural sciences. Towards the end we will briefly come back to the notion of a potentiality in biology

Characterization of Electronic Transport through Amorphous TiO_2 Produced by Atomic-Layer Deposition

Electrical transport in amorphous titanium dioxide (a-TiO_2) thin films, deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD), and across heterojunctions of p+-Si|a-TiO_2|metal substrates that had various top metal contacts has been characterized by ac conductivity, temperature-dependent dc conductivity, space-charge-limited current spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and current density versus voltage (J–V) characteristics. Amorphous TiO_2 films were fabricated using either tetrakis(dimethylamido)-titanium with a substrate temperature of 150 °C or TiCl_4 with a substrate temperature of 50, 100, or 150 °C. EPR spectroscopy of the films showed that the Ti^(3+) concentration varied with the deposition conditions and increases in the concentration of Ti^(3+) in the films correlated with increases in film conductivity. Valence band spectra for the a-TiO_2 films exhibited a defect-state peak below the conduction band minimum (CBM) and increases in the intensity of this peak correlated with increases in the Ti^(3+) concentration measured by EPR as well as with increases in film conductivity. The temperature-dependent conduction data showed Arrhenius behavior at room temperature with an activation energy that decreased with decreasing temperature, suggesting that conduction did not occur primarily through either the valence or conduction bands. The data from all of the measurements are consistent with a Ti^(3+) defect-mediated transport mode involving a hopping mechanism with a defect density of 10^(19) cm^(–3), a 0.83 wide defect band centered 1.47 eV below the CBM, and a free-electron concentration of 10^(16) cm^(–3). The data are consistent with substantial room-temperature anodic conductivity resulting from the introduction of defect states during the ALD fabrication process as opposed to charge transport intrinsically associated with the conduction band of TiO_2

Individuals With Scleroderma May Have Increased Risk of Sleep-Disordered Breathing.

STUDY OBJECTIVES:Scleroderma is associated with abnormal skin thickening, interstitial lung disease, pulmonary hypertension, and abnormalities of the upper airway. These changes can cause cardiopulmonary complications, potentially including sleep-disordered breathing. The objective of this study is to examine the risk of sleep-disordered breathing in patients with scleroderma. METHODS:We retrospectively identified patients with documented scleroderma. We abstracted data from their electronic health records, including findings from antibody tests, serial pulmonary function tests, transthoracic echocardiography, high-resolution computed tomography, and overnight forehead oximetry. RESULTS:We identified 171 patients with scleroderma. Mean age at the time of initial consult was 56.5 years (range, 18-96 years), and 150 (86.7%) were women. Scleroderma was categorized as limited disease for 108 (62.4%), diffuse disease for 59 (34.1%), and mixed connective tissue disease for 6 (3.5%). Fifty-four patients (31.2%) had abnormal overnight forehead oximetry results, defined as an oxygen desaturation index greater than 5 or a baseline mean arterial oxygen saturation level less than 90%. CONCLUSIONS:Cardiopulmonary complications are common in patients with scleroderma, one of which may be sleep-disordered breathing. In our cohort, approximately one-third of individuals with scleroderma had evidence of sleep-disordered breathing. Moreover, the rate of sleep-disordered breathing in our population of scleroderma patients was twice the rate of pulmonary hypertension and was approximately the same as the rate of interstitial lung disease. Future prospective studies are needed to further assess the role of sleep-disordered breathing in scleroderma clinical outcomes