Developing information literacy programmes for public university libraries in Tanzania : a case study of the University of Dar es Salaam

The aim of the research was to develop a training course that inculcated infonnation literacy that could be implemented by staff at the University of Dar es Salaam library (Tanzania), in order to provide students with appropriate infonnation literacy skills to meet their educational goals. The course was developed from an integration of knowledge from infonnation behaviour research and educational theory with current perspectives of infonnation literacy from Infonnation and Library Science (ILS). The ultimate goal of the research was to create a framework that would be used by public university libraries in Tanzania to teach infonnation literacy courses. The study was carried out in two parts. In the first implementation "pilot" programme, the course was tested by involving librarians who took the entire course, in order to see whether the same course structure could be used to implement to the Masters of Education students. Following adaptations made on the first course, a second course programme was implemented to Masters of Education students by two librarians who attended the first implementation "pilot" programme. Therefore, the success of the course was partly judged on whether it effectively enabled knowledge transfer from the librarians to students. Data collection methods were predominantly qualitative, although quantitative methods in tenns of diagnostic tests were also used. The tests were used to evaluate trainees' knowledge ofinfonnation literacy before and after the course to provide an indication of changes in knowledge. Qualitative methods used included semistructured interviews with librarians and academic staff at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania in order to make sure that assumptions made about students' knowledge of infonnation literacy and the kind of problems experienced by students were correct. Other methods included quizzes, exercises, group reflection and presentations that related to each stage in the course. These methods served to indicate trainees' understanding of what was taught, reflections on the leaming process and provided feedback for improvements on the course. The major findings showed that there was a recognized need for infonnation literacy and that problems such as unfamiliarity with categories of infonnation sources, analysis, synthesis, evaluation and use, were experienced in Tanzania as was the case in other "Western" countries. In addition, librarians were able to transfer skills learned to students, who in turn used the same course materials to teach fellow students who did not participate in the course. Furthermore, the design of the course was facilitated by the integration of Information and library science (ILS) approaches to information literacy with the knowledge of information behaviour and pedagogic theory. The thesis provides recommendations for the library and information curricula to introduce information literacy, teaching information literacy in a holistic way and with librarians participating in teaching and research. In addition, the study recommended that librarians should facilitate the development of information literacy in primary and secondary schools.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Piezoelectricity, Phase Stability, and Surface Diffusion in Multicomponent Nitrides

The last hundred years have been full of scientific discoveries leading to technological advances, such as, computers, smart phones, etc. Most of the advances would not have been possible without new discoveries within the vast field of materials science. The specific area within materials science covered in this thesis is multicomponent nitride alloys, which are commonly used as thin films in industrial applications, e.g., as hard wear-resistant coatings for cutting-tools or as part of intricate electronic components in mobile telecommunication devices. The core of this thesis is towards the fundamental understanding of existing, and the discovery of new, nitride alloys using theoretical tools. Knowledge about the quantum mechanics of the alloys was gained using density functional theory, alloy theory, and thermodynamics investigating piezoelectricity, phase stability, and surface diffusion. The focus of the piezoelectricity research is on piezoelectric properties of both ordered and disordered nitrides. The exploration of disordered wurtzite nitrides revealed important aspects of the nitride alloying physics and the implications for their piezoelectric response, in addition to the discovery of interesting alloy candidates and their synthesis, e.g., YxIn1-xN. For the ordered nitrides, novel TMZnN2 (TM = Ti, Zr, Hf) structures with high piezoelectric responses have been predicted as stable. The focus of the piezoelectricity research is on piezoelectric properties of both ordered and disordered nitrides. The exploration of disordered wurtzite nitrides revealed important aspects of the nitride alloying physics and the implications for their piezoelectric response, in addition to the discovery of interesting alloy candidates and their synthesis, e.g., YxIn1-xN. For the ordered nitrides, novel TMZnN2 (TM = Ti, Zr, Hf) structures with high piezoelectric responses have been predicted as stable. The thermodynamic stability of novel alloys with interesting properties is investigated in order to determine if equilibrium or non-equilibrium synthesis is feasible. The studies consist of ternary phase diagrams of TM-Zn-N, mixing enthalpies for disordered YxAl1-xN and YxIn1-xN that can be used to predict possible synthesis routes and guide experiments. In addition, mixing enthalpies for strained ScxAl1-xN/InyAl1-yN superlattices show that the stability of certain phases and, therefore, the crystalline quality can be improved by modifying in-plane lattice parameters through higher indium content in the InAlN layers. Surface diffusion is studied because it is an important factor during thin film growth with, for example, physical vapor deposition. It is the main atomic transport mechanism and, thus, governs the structure development of thin films. Specifically, the research is focused on diffusion on the surfaces of disordered alloys, and in particular Ti, Al, and N adatom diffusion on TiN and TiAlN surfaces. The investigations revealed that Ti adatom mobilities are dramatically reduced in the presence of Al in the surface layer on the TiN and Ti0.5Al0.5N(0 0 1) surfaces, while Al adatoms are largely unaffected. Furthermore, the reverse effect is found on the TiN(1 1 1) surface, Al adatom migration is reduced while Ti adatom migration is unaffected. In addition, it is shown that neglecting the magnetic spin polarization of Ti adatoms will locally underestimate the binding energies and the diffusion path, e.g., underestimating the stability of TiN(0 0 1) bulk sites

A Theoretical Study of Piezoelectricity, Phase Stability, and Surface Diffusion in Disordered Multicomponent Nitrides

Disordered multicomponent nitride thin film can be used for various applications. The focus of this Licentiate Thesis lies on the theoretical study of piezoelectric properties, phase stability and surface diffusion in multifunctional hard coating nitrides using density functional theory (DFT). Piezoelectric thin films show great promise for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), such as surface acoustic wave resonators or energy harvesters. One of the main benefits of nitride based piezoelectric devices is the much higher thermal stability compared to the commonly used lead zirconate titanate (PZT) based materials. This makes the nitride based material more suitable for application in, e.g., jet engines. The discovery that alloying AlN with ScN can increase the piezoelectric response more than 500% due to a phase competition between the wurtzite phase in AlN and the hexagonal phase in ScN, provides a fundamental basis for constructing highly responsive piezoelectric thin films. This approach was utilized on the neighboring nitride binaries, where ScN or YN was alloyed with AlN, GaN, or InN. It established the general role of volume matching the binaries to easily achieve a structural instability in order to obtain a maximum increase of the piezoelectric response. For Sc0.5Ga0.5N this increase is more than 900%, compared to GaN. Y1-xInxN is, however, the most promising alloy with the highest resulting piezoelectric response seconded only by Sc0.5Al0.5N. Phase stability and lattice parameters (stress-strain states) of the Y1-xAlxN alloy have been calculated in combination with experimental synthesis. Hard protective coatings based on nitride thin films have been used in industrial applications for a long time. Two of the most successful coatings are TiN and the metastable Ti1-xAlxN. Although these two materials have been extensively investigated both experimentally and theoretically, at the atomic level little is known about Ti1-xAlxN diffusion properties. This is in large part due to problems with configurational disorder in the alloy, because Ti and Al atoms are placed randomly at cation positions in the lattice, considerably increasing the complexity of the problem. To deal with this issues, we have used special quasi-random structure (SQS) models, as well as studying dilute concentrations of Al. One of the most important mechanisms related to the growth of Ti1-xAlxN is surface diffusion. Because Ti1-xAlxN is a metastable material it has to be grown as a thin film with methods such as physical vapor deposition (PVD), in which surface diffusion plays a pivotal role in determining the microstructure evolution of the film. In this work, the surface energetics and mobility of Ti and Al adatoms on a disordered Ti0.5Al0.5N(001) surface are studied. Also the effects on the adatom energetics of Ti, Al, and N by the substitution of one Ti with an Al surface atom in TiN(001), TiN(011), and TiN(111) surfaces is studied. This provides an indepth atomistic understanding of how the energetics behind surface diffusion changes as TiN transitions into Ti0.5Al0.5N. The investigations revealed many interesting results. i) That Ti adatom mobilities are dramatically reduced on the TiN and Ti0.5Al0.5N(001) surfaces while Al adatoms are largely unaffected. ii) The reverse effect is found on the TiN(111) surface, Al adatom migration is reduced while Ti adatom migration is unaffected. iii) The magnetic spin polarization of Ti adatoms is shown to have an important effect on binding energies and diffusion path, e.g., the adsorption energy at bulk sites is increased by 0.14 eV

Ab initio piezoelektricitet och energilandskap för Y0.375Al0.625N

There is high industrial demand for materials with a high piezoelectrical response which are stable at high temperatures. A recent study on ScAlN has explained the microscopic origin of the increased piezoelectric response in the alloy and its effect on the energy landscape. Y is a promising candidate to observe the same phenomena. The ab initio DFT-GGA calculations for Y0.375Al0.625N, using a 128 atom SQS model, show a less pronounced increase of the piezoelectric response. The Y0.375Al0.625N energy landscape shows a flattening due to competition between the parent wurtzite phase of AlN and the hexagonal phase of YN. The flattening causes softening of the C33 elastic constant, while the piezoelectric constant e33 is only slightly increased. This slight increase can be explained by the quite stable local tetrahedral environment in Y0.375Al0.625N, which is related to the big volume mismatch between the parent YN and AlN. In summary we conclude the importance of the volume matching to obtain high piezoelectric response via phase competition

Volume matching condition to establish the enhanced piezoelectricity in ternary

Recently, ScAlN alloys attracted attention for their giant piezoelectric moduli. In this study the piezoelectric response of the wurtzite group-III nitrides AlN, GaN, and InN mixed with 50 mol% of ScN or YN is investigated using ab initio calculations. We confirm that the energy flattening phenomenon gives rise to the simultaneous appearance of elastic softening and local structural instability, and explains the enhanced piezoelectricity of the alloys. Furthermore, we present a volume matching condition for an efficient search of new piezoelectric materials. It states that alloys in which the parent components show close volume matching exhibit a flatter potential-energy landscape and higher increase of piezoelectric moduli. We suggest YInN, beyond ScAlN, as a promising material for piezoelectric energy harvesting with its enhanced ≈400% piezoelectric moduli

Volume matching condition to establish the enhanced piezoelectricity in ternary (Sc,Y)0.5(Al,Ga,In)0.5N alloys

Recently, ScAlN alloys attracted attention for their giant piezoelectric moduli. In this study the piezoelectric response of the wurtzite group-III nitrides AlN, GaN, and InN mixed with 50 mol% of ScN or YN is investigated using ab initio calculations. We confirm that the energy flattening phenomenon gives rise to the simultaneous appearance of elastic softening and local structural instability, and explains the enhanced piezoelectricity of the alloys. Furthermore, we present a volume matching condition for an efficient search of new piezoelectric materials. It states that alloys in which the parent components show close volume matching exhibit a flatter potential-energy landscape and higher increase of piezoelectric moduli. We suggest YInN, beyond ScAlN, as a promising material for piezoelectric energy harvesting with its enhanced ≈400% piezoelectric moduli.Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council Linneaus Environment LiLi-NFM||Knut and Alice Wallenberg Scholar LH Grant||Swedish Research Council|621-2011-4426|Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF)|10-0026|</p

Large piezoelectric response of quarternary wurtzite nitride alloys and its physical origin from first principles

The potential of quarternary wurtzite TMx/2Mx/2Al1-xN (TM = Ti, Zr, Hf; M = Mg, Ca, Zn) alloys for piezoelectric applications is investigated using first-principles calculations. All considered alloys show increased piezoelectric response compared to pure AlN, and competing with the best ternary system proven to date: ScAlN. (Zr, Hf)(x/2)(Mg, Ca)(x/2)Al1-xN alloys are particularly promising. Calculations reveal positive mixing enthalpies indicative for phase separating systems; their values are smaller compared to related nitride alloys, which still can be grown as metastable thin films. The wurtzite phase of the alloys is lowest in energy at least up to x = 0.5 and for Tix/2Znx/2Al1-xN in the full composition range. Moreover, calculations reveal that wurtzite TM0.5Zn0.5N (TM = Ti, Zr, Hf) are piezoelectric alloys with d(33,f) = 19.95, 29.89, and 24.65 pC/N respectively, up to six times that of AlN. Finally, we discuss the physical origin behind the increased piezoelectric response and show that the energy difference between tetrahedrally coordinated zinc-blende (B3) and the layered hexagonal (B-k) phases of the TM0.5M0.5N alloy can be used as a descriptor in a high-throughput search for complex wurtzite alloys with high piezoelectric response.Funding Agencies|Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation Scholar Grant; Swedish Research Council (VR) Linkoping Linnaeus Initiative LiLi-NFM [2008-6572]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area Grant in Materials Science on Advanced Functional Materials [MatLiU 2009-00971]; Swedish Research Council [621-2011-4417, 330-2014-6336]; Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) Programme SRL [10-0026]; Swedish Research Council (VR) [621-2011-4426]</p

Configurational disorder effects on adatom mobilities on Ti1-xAlxN(001) surfaces from first principles

We use metastable NaCl-structure Ti0.5Al0.5N alloys to probe effects of configurational disorder on adatom surface diffusion dynamics which control phase stability and nanostructural evolution during film growth. First-principles calculations were employed to obtain energy potential maps of Ti and Al adsorption on an ordered TiN(001) reference surface and a disordered Ti0.5Al0.5N(001) solid-solution surface. The energetics of adatom migration on these surfaces are determined and compared to isolate effects of configurational disorder. The results show that alloy surface disorder dramatically reduces Ti adatom mobilities. Al adatoms, in sharp contrast, experience only small disorder-induced differences in migration dynamics