Stacking-Order-Dependent Excitonic Properties Reveal Interlayer Interactions in Bulk ReS₂

Rhenium disulfide, a member of the transition metal dichalcogenide family of semiconducting materials, is unique among 2D van der Waals materials due to its anisotropy and, albeit weak, interlayer interactions, confining excitons within single atomic layers and leading to monolayer-like excitonic properties even in bulk crystals. While recent work has established the existence of two stacking modes in bulk, AA and AB, the influence of the different interlayer coupling on the excitonic properties has been poorly explored. Here, we use polarization-dependent optical measurements to elucidate the nature of excitons in AA and AB-stacked rhenium disulfide to obtain insight into the effect of interlayer interactions. We combine polarization-dependent Raman with low-temperature photoluminescence and reflection spectroscopy to show that, while the similar polarization dependence of both stacking orders indicates similar excitonic alignments within the crystal planes, differences in peak width, position, and degree of anisotropy reveal a different degree of interlayer coupling. DFT calculations confirm the very similar band structure of the two stacking orders while revealing a change of the spin-split states at the top of the valence band to possibly underlie their different exciton binding energies. These results suggest that the excitonic properties are largely determined by in-plane interactions, however, strongly modified by the interlayer coupling. These modifications are stronger than those in other 2D semiconductors, making ReS2 an excellent platform for investigating stacking as a tuning parameter for 2D materials. Furthermore, the optical anisotropy makes this material an interesting candidate for polarization-sensitive applications such as photodetectors and polarimetry.</p

Crop Updates 2000 - Cereals part 2

This session covers twenty papers from different authors: DISEASE 1. Forecasting aphid and virus risk in cereals, Debbie Thackray, Jenny Hawkes and Roger Jones, Agriculture Western Australia and Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture 2. Cereal Diagnostics, Dominie Wright, Agriculture Western Australia 3. The economic returns from spraying for leaf rust in the central wheatbelt in 1999, Peter Carlton, Trials Coordinator, Elders Limited 4. Impact and Management of Yellow Spot and Leaf Rust in the Northern Agricultural Region, Jat Bhathal and Robert Loughman, Agriculture Western Australia 5. Leaf disease management in wheat and barley in the southern agricultural region, K. Jayasena, R. Loughman and J. Majewski, Agriculture Western Australia 6. Root nematode update, R. Loughman1, S. Kelly1, G. Holloway2, N. Venn1 and D. Diepeveen1 1 Agriculture Western Australia, 2Agriculture Victoria WHEAT AGRONOMY 7. Small Grain Screenings in wheat - the agronomic issues, Brenda Shackley, Agriculture Western Australia, 8. Response of New Wheat Varieties to Seed Rate and applied Nitrogen in the North, Darshan Sharma and Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 9. Seen vigour in wheat, Darshan Sharma and Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 10. Influence of the Time of Sowing on New Wheat Varieties in the North, Darshan Sharma and Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 11, Wheat performance in a high disease season on the South Coast. 1. Disease and grain quality on the Esperance sandplain, Mohammad Amjad, Vanessa Dooley and Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 12. Wheat performance in a high disease season on the South Coast. 2. Leaf area, disease and yield at Gibson and Salmon Gums, Mohammad Amjad, Vanessa Dooley and Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 13. Agronomic Evaluation of Wheat in the Central Wheatbelt of Western Australia, Peter Burgess and Ashley Bacon, Agritech Crop Research 14. Mechanisms influencing grain susceptibility to black point in wheat, Frances Hoyle, University of Western Australia and Agriculture Western Australia 15. Improving paddock productivity using renovation cropping techniques on heavier soils, Frances Hoyle, Agriculture Western Australia 16. Improving paddock productivity using renovation cropping techniques on sandplain soils, Frances Hoyle and Keith Devenish, Agriculture Western Australia 17. Increasing profit - Is it possible using high input package approach for cereal production? M. Appelbee, IAMA Agri Services 18. Improving wheat yield, soil physical and chemical fertility by a package of deep ripping, gypsum and complete nutrients, M.A. Hamza and W.K. Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 19. Organic Wheat - Production System Guidelines, Steven McCoy, Centre for New Industries Development 20. Durum wheat obtains a premium over bread wheat, Steven Penny, Agriculture Western Australi

Crop Updates 2002 - Pulse Research and Industry Development in Western Australia

This session covers seventy one papers from different authors: 1. 2001 PULSE INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS CONTRIBUTORS BACKGROUND 2001 REGIONAL ROUNDUP 2. Northern Agricultural Region, M. Harries, Department of Agriculture 3. Central Agricultural Region, R. French and I. Pritchard, Department of Agriculture 4. Great Southern and Lakes, N. Brandon, N. Runciman and S. White, Department of Agriculture 5. Esperance Mallee, M. Seymour, Department of Agriculture PULSE PRODUCTION AGRONOMY AND GENETIC IMPROVEMENT 6. Faba bean, P. White, Department of Agriculture 7. Germplasm evaluation, P. White, M. Seymour and M. Harries, Department of Agriculture 8. Variety evaluation, P. White, M. Harries, N. Brandon and M. Seymour, Department of Agriculture 9. Sowing rate and time of sowing, P. White, N. Brandon, M. Seymour and M. Harries, Department of Agriculture 10.Use of granular inoculum in the Great Southern, N. Brandon1, J. Howieson2 and R. Yates2 1Department of Agriculture, 2Centre for Rhizobium Studies, Murdoch University 11.Tolerance to post emergent herbicides, M. Seymour and M. Harries, Department of Agriculture 12.Herbicide tolerance of new varieties, H. Dhammu and T. Piper, Department of Agriculture Desi chickpea 13. Breeding highlights, T. Khan, Department of Agriculture 14. Variety evaluation, T. Khan and K. Regan, Department of Agriculture 15. Effect of genotype and environment on seed quality, N. Suizu1 and D. Diepeveen2 1School of Public Health, Curtin University of Technology 2Department of Agriculture 16. Seed discolouration, C. Veitch and P. White, Department of Agriculture 17. Foliar application on N increases seed yield and seed protein under terminal drought, J. Palta1,2, A. Nandwal3 and N. Turner1,2 , 1CSIRO Plant Industry, 2CLIMA, the University of Western Australia, 3Department of Botany, Haryana Agric University, Hisar, India 18. Tolerance to chilling at flowering, H. Clarke, CLIMA, The University of Western Australia 19. Molecular studies of ascochyta blight disease in chickpea, G. Dwyer1, H. Loo1, T. Khan2, K. Siddique3, M. Bellgard1 and M. Jones1 ,1WA State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre and Centre for Bioinformatics and Biological Computing, Murdoch University, 2Department of Agriculture, 3CLIMA, The University of Western Australia 20. Effect of row spacing and sowing rate on seed yield, G. Riethmuller and B. MacLeod, Department of Agriculture 21. Herbicide tolerance on marginal soil types, H. Dhammu and T. Piper, Department of Agriculture 22. Kabuli chickpea, K. Regan, Department of Agriculture 23. Variety and germplasm evaluation, T. Khan and K. Regan, Department of Agriculture 24. Premium quality kabuli chickpea development in the ORIA, K. Siddique1, K. Regan2, R. Shackles2 and P. Smith2 , 1 CLIMA, The University of Western Australia, 2Department of Agriculture 25. Evaluation of ascochylta resistant germplasm from Syria and Turkey, K. Siddique1, C. Francis1 and K. Regan2, 1CLIMA, University of Western Australia 2Department of Agriculture Field pea 26. Breeding highlights, T. Khan Department of Agriculture 27. Variety evaluation, T. Khan Department of Agriculture 28. Comparing the phosphorus requirement of field pea and wheat, M. Bolland and P. White, Department of Agriculture 29. Tolerance of field pea to post emergent herbicides, M. Seymour and N. Brandon, Department of Agriculture 30. Response of new varieties to herbicides, H. Dhammu and T. Piper, Department of Agriculture 31. Lentil, K. Regan, Department of Agriculture 32. Variety evaluation, K. Regan, N. Brandon, M. Harries and M. Seymour, Department of Agriculture 33. Interstate evaluation of advanced breeding lines developed in WA, K. Regan1, K. Siddique2 and M. Materne3, 1Department of Agriculture, 2CLIMA, University of Western Australia, 3Victorian Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Agriculture Victoria 34. Evaluation of germplasm from overseas and local projects, K. Regan1, J. Clements2, K.H.M. Siddique2 and C. Francis21Department of Agriculture, 2CLIMA, University of Western Australia 35. Evaluation of breeding lines developed in WA, K. Regan1, J. Clements2, K.H.M. Siddique2 and C. Francis21Department of Agriculture, 2CLIMA, University of Western Australia 36. Productivity and yield stability in Australia and Nepal, C. Hanbury, K. Siddique and C. Francis, CLIMA, the University of Western Australia Vetch 37. Germplasm evaluation, M. Seymour1, R. Matic2 and M. Tate3, 1Department of Agriculture, 2South Australian Research and Development Institute, 3University of Adelaide, Waite Campus 38. Tolerance of common vetch to post emergent herbicides, M. Seymour and N. Brandon, Department of Agriculture Narbon bean 39. Removing narbon bean from wheat, M. Seymour, Department of Agriculture 40. Tolerance to low rates of Roundup and Sprayseed, M. Seymour, Department of Agriculture 41. Lathyrus development, C. Hanbury, CLIMA, the University of Western Australia 42. Poultry feeding trials, C. Hanbury1 and B. Hughes2 ,1CLIMA, the University of Western Australia,2Pig and Poultry Production Institute, South Australia Pulse Species 43. Species time of sowing, B. French, Department of Agriculture 44. High value pulses in the Great Southern, N. Brandon and N. Runciman, Department of Agriculture 45. Time of Harvest for improved seed yields of pulses, G. Riethmuller and B. French, Department of Agriculture 46. Phosphate acquisition efficiency of pulse crops, P. Rees, Plant Biology, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences UWA DEMONSTRATION OF PULSES IN THE FARMING SYSTEM 47. Howzat desi chickpea in the northern region, M. Harries, Department of Agriculture 48. Field pea harvest losses in the Great Southern and Esperance region, N. Brandon and M. Seymour, Department of Agriculture 49. Timing of crop topping in field pea, N. Brandon and G. Riethmuller, Department of Agriculture DISEASE AND PEST MANAGEMENT 50. Ascochyta blight of chickpea, B. MacLeod, M. Harries and N. Brandon, Department of Agriculture 51. Evaluation of Australian management packages, 52. Screening foliar fungicides 53. Row spacing and row spraying 54. Ascochyta management package for 2002, B. MacLeod, Department of Agriculture 55. Epidemiology of aschochyta and botrytis disease of pulses, J. Galloway and B. MacLeod, Department of Agriculture 56. Ascochyta blight of chickpea 57. Black spot of field pea 58. Ascochyta blight of faba bean 59. Ascochyta blight of lentil 60. Botrytis grey mould of chickpea 61. Black spot spread: Disease models are based in reality, J. Galloway, Department of Agriculture 62. Black spot spread: Scaling-up field data to simulate ‘Bakers farm’, M. Salam, J. Galloway, A. Diggle and B. MacLeod, Department of Agriculture 63. Pulse disease diagnostics, N. Burges and D. Wright, Department of Agriculture Viruses in pulses 64. Incidence of virus diseases in chickpea, J. Hawkes1, D. Thackray1 and R. Jones1,2, 1CLIMA, The University of Western Australia 2Department of Agriculture Insect pests 65. Risk assessment of aphid feeding damage on pulses, O. Edwards, J. Ridsdill-Smith, and R. Horbury, CSIRO Entomology 66. Optimum spray timing to control aphid feeding damage of faba bean, F. Berlandier, Department of Agriculture 67. Incorporation of pea weevil resistance into a field pea variety, O. Byrne1 and D. Hardie2, 1CLIMA, The University of Western Australia, 2Department of Agriculture 68. Screening wild chickpea species for resistance to Helicoverpa, T. Ridsdill-Smith1 and H. Sharma2,1CSIRO, Entomology, 2ICRISAT, Hyderabad 69. Field strategies to manage the evolution of pea weevil resistance in transgenic field pea, M. de Sousa Majer1, R. Roush2, D. Hardie3, R. Morton4 and T. Higgins4, 1Curtin University of Technology, 2Waite Campus, University of Adelaide, 3Department of Agriculture, 4CSIRO Plant Industry, Canberra 70. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 71. Appendix 1: Summary of previous result

The provision of seven day multidisciplinary staffing in Scottish acute medical units: a cross-sectional study

Background: Acute medical units (AMUs) are a central component of the admission pathway for the majority of medical patients presenting to hospital in the United Kingdom and other international settings. Detail on multidisciplinary staffing provision on weekdays and weekends is lacking. Equity of staffing across 7 days is a strategic priority for national health services in the United Kingdom. Aim: To evaluate weekday compared with weekend multidisciplinary staffing in a national set of AMUs. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Methods: Twenty-nine Scottish AMUs were identified and all were included in the study population. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews with nursing, pharmacy, therapy, non-consultant medical and consultant staff. Staffing was quantified in staff hours. A correction factor of 0.5 was applied to non-dedicated staff. The percentage of weekend/weekday staffing was calculated for each unit and the mean of these percentages was calculated to give a summary measure for each professional group. Results: As a percentage of weekday staffing levels, weekend staffing across the units was 93.8% for nursing staff; 2.2% for pharmacy staff; 13.1% for therapy staff; 69.6% for non-consultant staff and 65.0% for consultant staff. Conclusions: There is a contrast between weekday and weekend staffing on the AMU, with reductions at weekends in total staff hours, the proportion of dedicated vs. undedicated staff and the seniority of nursing staff. The weekday/weekend difference was far more pronounced for allied healthcare professional staff than any other group. These findings have potential implications for patient outcomes, quality of care, hospital flow and workforce planning

Healthy people with nature in mind

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.BACKGROUND: The global disease burden resulting from climate change is likely to be substantial and will put further strain on public health systems that are already struggling to cope with demand. An up- stream solution, that of preventing climate change and associated adverse health effects, is a promising approach, which would create win-win-situations where both the environment and human health benefit. One such solution would be to apply methods of behaviour change to prompt pro-environmentalism, which in turn benefits health and wellbeing. DISCUSSION: Based on evidence from the behavioural sciences, we suggest that, like many social behaviours, pro- environmental behaviour can be automatically induced by internal or external stimuli. A potential trigger for such automatic pro-environmental behaviour would be natural environments themselves. Previous research has demonstrated that natural environments evoke specific psychological and physiological reactions, as demonstrated by self-reports, epidemiological studies, brain imaging techniques, and various biomarkers. This suggests that exposure to natural environments could have automatic behavioural effects, potentially in a pro-environmental direction, mediated by physiological reactions. Providing access and fostering exposure to natural environments could then serve as a public health tool, together with other measures, by mitigating climate change and achieving sustainable health in sustainable ecosystems. However, before such actions are implemented basic research is required to elucidate the mechanisms involved, and applied investigations are needed to explore real world impacts and effect magnitudes. As environmental research is still not sufficiently integrated within medical or public health studies there is an urgent need to promote interdisciplinary methods and investigations in this critical field. Health risks posed by anthropogenic climate change are large, unevenly distributed, and unpredictable. To ameliorate negative impacts, pro-environmental behaviours should be fostered. Potentially this could be achieved automatically through exposure to favourable natural environments, with an opportunity for cost-efficient nature-based solutions that provide benefits for both the environment and public health

Awareness of alcohol as a risk factor for cancer is associated with public support for alcohol policies

Background: Globally, alcohol is causally related to 2.5 million deaths per year and 12.5% of these are due to cancer. Previous research has indicated that public awareness of alcohol as a risk factor for cancer is low and this may contribute to a lack of public support for alcohol policies. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between awareness of the alcohol-cancer link and support for a range of alcohol policies in an English sample and policy context. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 2100 adult residents in England was conducted in which respondents answered questions regarding awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer and support for 21 policy proposals. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to reduce the 21 policy proposals down to a set of underlying factors. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to estimate the relationship between awareness of the alcohol-cancer link and each of these policy factors. Results: Thirteen per cent of the sample were aware of the alcohol-cancer link unprompted, a further 34% were aware when prompted and 53% were not aware of the link. PCA reduced the policy items to four policy factors, which were named price and availability, marketing and information, harm reduction and drink driving. Awareness of the alcohol-cancer link unprompted was associated with increased support for each of four underlying policy factors: price and availability (Beta: 0.06, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.10), marketing and information (Beta: 0.05, 95% CI: 0.00, 0.09), harm reduction (Beta: 0.09, 95% CI: 0.05, 0.14), and drink driving (Beta: 0.16, 95% CI: 0.11, 0.20). Conclusions: Support for alcohol policies is greater among individuals who are aware of the link between alcohol and cancer. At the same time, a large proportion of people are unaware of the alcohol-cancer link and so increasing awareness may be an effective approach to increasing support for alcohol policies

Acceptability of healthcare interventions : an overview of reviews and development of a theoretical framework

Abstract Background It is increasingly acknowledged that \u2018acceptability\u2019 should be considered when designing, evaluating and implementing healthcare interventions. However, the published literature offers little guidance on how to define or assess acceptability. The purpose of this study was to develop a multi-construct theoretical framework of acceptability of healthcare interventions that can be applied to assess prospective (i.e. anticipated) and retrospective (i.e. experienced) acceptability from the perspective of intervention delivers and recipients. Methods Two methods were used to select the component constructs of acceptability. 1) An overview of reviews was conducted to identify systematic reviews that claim to define, theorise or measure acceptability of healthcare interventions. 2) Principles of inductive and deductive reasoning were applied to theorise the concept of acceptability and develop a theoretical framework. Steps included (1) defining acceptability; (2) describing its properties and scope and (3) identifying component constructs and empirical indicators. Results From the 43 reviews included in the overview, none explicitly theorised or defined acceptability. Measures used to assess acceptability focused on behaviour (e.g. dropout rates) (23 reviews), affect (i.e. feelings) (5 reviews), cognition (i.e. perceptions) (7 reviews) or a combination of these (8 reviews). From the methods described above we propose a definition: Acceptability is a multi-faceted construct that reflects the extent to which people delivering or receiving a healthcare intervention consider it to be appropriate, based on anticipated or experienced cognitive and emotional responses to the intervention. The theoretical framework of acceptability (TFA) consists of seven component constructs: affective attitude, burden, perceived effectiveness, ethicality, intervention coherence, opportunity costs, and self-efficacy. Conclusion Despite frequent claims that healthcare interventions have assessed acceptability, it is evident that acceptability research could be more robust. The proposed definition of acceptability and the TFA can inform assessment tools and evaluations of the acceptability of new or existing interventions

Effective ICTs in agricultural value chains to improve food security: An international perspective

This paper examines the grains value chain in agriculture, and identifies the importance in developing strategies which could better secure food production. The study highlights examples of successful integration of ICTs in agricultural supply and value chains. The development of strategies to integrate these ICTs into the supply chain will be proposed. It will be argued that the use of high powered computing for data mining and other technologies such as sensor networks, mobile communications, and GPS technologies can revolutionize the efficiency of these supply chains and therefore improve the food security. The study carried out a situational analysis of agricultural resources using standard internet search engines and applying data mining techniques in order to demonstrate how such technologies can be used to show difference in value chains across different situations. An assessment of the study found that the results from the grain-industry dataset support the similar supply chain grouping reported for other research studies. These groupings reflect the more-developed food-industry supply chains and may not capture all the interactions in less-developed supply chains. For example, when several of the food production processes are carried out by one food-producer, the activities will be more difficult to identify. © 2011 IEEE