Tuning electronic structures via epitaxial strain in Sr2IrO4 thin films

We have synthesized epitaxial Sr2IrO4 thin-films on various substrates and studied their electronic structures as a function of lattice-strains. Under tensile (compressive) strains, increased (decreased) Ir-O-Ir bond-angles are expected to result in increased (decreased) electronic bandwidths. However, we have observed that the two optical absorption peaks near 0.5 eV and 1.0 eV are shifted to higher (lower) energies under tensile (compressive) strains, indicating that the electronic-correlation energy is also affected by in-plane lattice-strains. The effective tuning of electronic structures under lattice-modification provides an important insight into the physics driven by the coexisting strong spin-orbit coupling and electronic correlation.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

Connecting young star clusters to CO molecular gas in NGC 7793 with ALMA-LEGUS

We present an investigation of the relationship between giant molecular cloud (GMC) properties and the associated stellar clusters in the nearby flocculent galaxy NGC 7793. We combine the star cluster catalogue from the HST LEGUS (Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey) programme with the 15 pc resolution ALMA CO(2–1) observations. We find a strong spatial correlation between young star clusters and GMCs such that all clusters still associated with a GMC are younger than 11 Myr and display a median age of 2 Myr. The age distribution increases gradually as the cluster–GMC distance increases, with star clusters that are spatially unassociated with molecular gas exhibiting a median age of 7 Myr. Thus, star clusters are able to emerge from their natal clouds long before the time-scale required for clouds to disperse. To investigate if the hierarchy observed in the stellar components is inherited from the GMCs, we quantify the amount of clustering in the spatial distributions of the components and find that the star clusters have a fractal dimension slope of −0.35 ± 0.03, significantly more clustered than the molecular cloud hierarchy with slope of −0.18 ± 0.04 over the range 40–800 pc. We find, however, that the spatial clustering becomes comparable in strength for GMCs and star clusters with slopes of −0.44 ± 0.03 and −0.45 ± 0.06, respectively, when we compare massive (>105 M⊙) GMCs to massive and young star clusters. This shows that massive star clusters trace the same hierarchy as their parent GMCs, under the assumption that the star formation efficiency is a few per cent.Support for Program 13364 was provided by NASA through a grant from the Space Telescope Science Institute. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with NASA. This paper makes use of the following ALMA data: ADS/JAO.ALMA #2015.1.00782.S. ALMA is a partnership of ESO (representing its member states), NSF (USA) and NINS (Japan), together with NRC (Canada) and NSC and ASIAA (Taiwan) and KASI (Republic of Korea), in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The Joint ALMA Observatory is operated by ESO, AUI/NRAO, and NAOJ. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. Parts of this research were supported by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in three Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), through project number CE170100013. AA acknowledges the support of the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsradet) and the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB). ˚ MF acknowledges support by the Science and Technology Facilities Council [grant number ST/P000541/1]. This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement number 757535

Affordances, constraints and information flows as ‘leverage points’ in design for sustainable behaviour

Copyright @ 2012 Social Science Electronic PublishingTwo of Donella Meadows' 'leverage points' for intervening in systems (1999) seem particularly pertinent to design for sustainable behaviour, in the sense that designers may have the scope to implement them in (re-)designing everyday products and services. The 'rules of the system' -- interpreted here to refer to affordances and constraints -- and the structure of information flows both offer a range of opportunities for design interventions to in fluence behaviour change, and in this paper, some of the implications and possibilities are discussed with reference to parallel concepts from within design, HCI and relevant areas of psychology

The Shifting Imaginaries of Corporate Crime

This article begins by setting out an analysis of the process of conventionalizing corporate crime that arises from the symbiotic relationship between states and corporations. Noting briefly the empirical characteristics of four broad categories of corporate crime and harm, the article then turns to explore the role of the state in its production and reproduction. We then problematize the role of the state in the reproduction of corporate crime at the level of the global economy, through the “crimes of globalization” and “ecocide,” warning of the tendency in the research literature to oversimplify the role of states and of international organizations. The article finishes by arguing that, as critical academics, it is our role to ensure that corporate crime is never normalized and fully conventionalized in advanced capitalist societies

Integrated Personal Health Records: Transformative Tools for Consumer-Centric Care

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Integrated personal health records (PHRs) offer significant potential to stimulate transformational changes in health care delivery and self-care by patients. In 2006, an invitational roundtable sponsored by Kaiser Permanente Institute, the American Medical Informatics Association, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality was held to identify the transformative potential of PHRs, as well as barriers to realizing this potential and a framework for action to move them closer to the health care mainstream. This paper highlights and builds on the insights shared during the roundtable.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>While there is a spectrum of dominant PHR models, (standalone, tethered, integrated), the authors state that only the integrated model has true transformative potential to strengthen consumers' ability to manage their own health care. Integrated PHRs improve the quality, completeness, depth, and accessibility of health information provided by patients; enable facile communication between patients and providers; provide access to health knowledge for patients; ensure portability of medical records and other personal health information; and incorporate auto-population of content. Numerous factors impede widespread adoption of integrated PHRs: obstacles in the health care system/culture; issues of consumer confidence and trust; lack of technical standards for interoperability; lack of HIT infrastructure; the digital divide; uncertain value realization/ROI; and uncertain market demand. Recent efforts have led to progress on standards for integrated PHRs, and government agencies and private companies are offering different models to consumers, but substantial obstacles remain to be addressed. Immediate steps to advance integrated PHRs should include sharing existing knowledge and expanding knowledge about them, building on existing efforts, and continuing dialogue among public and private sector stakeholders.</p> <p>Summary</p> <p>Integrated PHRs promote active, ongoing patient collaboration in care delivery and decision making. With some exceptions, however, the integrated PHR model is still a theoretical framework for consumer-centric health care. The authors pose questions that need to be answered so that the field can move forward to realize the potential of integrated PHRs. How can integrated PHRs be moved from concept to practical application? Would a coordinating body expedite this progress? How can existing initiatives and policy levers serve as catalysts to advance integrated PHRs?</p

Foot-and-mouth disease:overview of motives of disease spread and efficacy of available vaccines

Control and prevention of foot and mouth disease (FMD) by vaccination remains unsatisfactory in endemic countries. Indeed, consistent and new FMD epidemics in previously disease-free countries have precipitated the need for a worldwide control strategy. Outbreaks in vaccinated animals require that a new and safe vaccine be developed against foot and mouth virus (FMDV). FMDV can be eradicated worldwide based on previous scientific information about its spread using existing and modern control strategies