Solar Energy Harvesting on S- and N-doped nanoporous Carbons

Nowadays heteroatom-containing carbonaceous materials such as graphene or CNT have gained more and more attention of the scientists searching for inexpensive substitutes of the catalysts for energy related applications such an oxygen reduction reactions. Discovery of graphene and an extensive characterization of its electronic properties caused that the surface of traditional activated carbon has been viewed from other, unexplored before, angles. The main advantage of activated or nanoporous carbons, within the family of carbonaceous materials, is their porosity where the confined pore space effect can be utilized. Recently we have shown that specific nanoporous carbons obtained from commodity polymers can catalyze oxygen evolution reactions1, oxygen reduction reaction2 and exhibit photoluminescence properties3. This behavior was attributed to the specificity of surface microstructure, texture, and chemistry. It was found that the carbons obtained at relatively low temperature (800 oC) contain 10 nm graphic units enhancing their DC conductivity. They have also rich surface chemistry based on sulfur, nitrogen and oxygen containing groups. Even though small sp2 clusters should be important to affect the width of the band gap, the sulfur and nitrogen containing groups are hypothesized to act as chromophores/antenna accepting visible light energy. Electron deficiency on them promotes water splitting in small pores. These groups also change the electronic structure of the carbons surface and bring some level hydrophobicity to it. These features were found as important for oxygen reduction reactions4. These reactions enhance the performance of carbons as supercapcitors when the process takes place in the visible light5. References 1. Ania, C.O.; Seredych, M.; Rodriguez-Castellon, E.; Bandosz, T.J. Visible light driven photoelectrochemical water splitting on metal free nanoporous carbon promoted by chromophoric functional groups. Carbon 79 (2014) 432–441. 2. Seredych, M.; Idrobo, J-C.; Bandosz, T.J. Effect of confined space reduction of graphite oxide followed by sulfur doping on oxygen reduction reaction in neutral electrolyte. J. Mater. Chem. A. 1 (2013) 7059-7067. 3. Bandosz, T.J.; Rodriguez-Castellon, E.; Montenegro J.M.; Seredych, M. Photoluminescence of nanoporous carbons: Opening a new application route for old materials.. Carbon 77 (2014) 651–659. 4. Confined space reduced graphite oxide doped with sulfur as metal-free oxygen reduction catalyst. Seredych, M.; Rodriguez-Castellon, E.; Bandosz, T.J. Carbon 66 (2014) 227-233. 5. Seredych, M.; Rodriguez-Castellon, E.; Biggs, MJ. Skinner, W.l Bandosz, T.J. Effect of visible light and electrode wetting on the capacitive performance of S- and N-doped nanoporous carbons: Importance of surface chemistry. Carbon 78 (2014) 540–558.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Nurses’ Experiences Empowering Hospitalized Patients

Four focus groups were conducted to explore acute care nurses’ experiences empowering patients and the facilitators and barriers they encountered during the process. Thirty-four nurses employed at four hospitals in the Midwestern United States participated in the study between February and April 2015. Facilitators of empowerment included establishing a therapeutic relationship, fostering communication, providing education, respecting patient autonomy, engaging support systems, and lifting spirit/giving hope. Barriers included conflicting information about plans of care, lack of time, fear and anxiety over unfamiliar environments and routines, ineffective or inadequate support systems, lack of/low accountability, and killing the soul. Nurses also described innovative strategies they used to overcome the barriers. The development of future inpatient empowerment interventions needs to focus on the innovative strategies nurses used to overcome barriers in addition to considering the facilitators and barriers to empowerment that nurses identified

Unfolding and refolding of cytochrome c driven by the interaction with lipid micelles

Binding of native cyt c to L-PG micelles leads to a partially unfolded conformation of cyt c. This micelle-bound state has no stable tertiary structure, but remains as -helical as native cyt c in solution. In contrast, binding of the acid-unfolded cyt c to L-PG micelles induces folding of the polypeptide, resulting in a similar helical state to that originated from the binding of native cyt c to L-PG micelles. Far-ultraviolet (UV) circular dichroism (CD) spectra showed that this common micelle-associated helical state (HL) has a native-like -helix content, but is highly expanded without a tightly packed hydrophobic core, as revealed by tryptophan fluorescence, near-UV, and Soret CD spectroscopy. The kinetics of the interaction of native and acid-unfolded cyt c was investigated by stopped-flow tryptophan fluorescence. Formation of HL from the native state requires the disruption of the tightly packed hydrophobic core in the native protein. This micelle-induced unfolding of cyt c occurs at a rate 0.1 s1, which is remarkably faster in the lipid environment compared with the expected rate of unfolding in solution. Refolding of acid-unfolded cyt c with L-PG micelles involves an early highly helical collapsed state formed during the burst phase (<3 ms), and the observed main kinetic event reports on the opening of this early compact intermediate prior to insertion into the lipid micelle

Multisensory perception of looming and receding objects in human newborns

When newborns leave the enclosed spatial environment of the uterus and arrive in the outside world, they are faced with a new audiovisual environment of dynamic objects, actions and events both close to themselves and further away. One particular challenge concerns matching and making sense of the visual and auditory cues specifying object motion [1-5]. Previous research shows that adults prioritise the integration of auditory and visual information indicating looming (for example [2]) and that rhesus monkeys can integrate multisensory looming, but not receding, audiovisual stimuli [4]. Despite the clear adaptive value of correctly perceiving motion towards or away from the self - for defence against and physical interaction with moving objects - such a perceptual ability would clearly be undermined if newborns were unable to correctly match the auditory and visual cues to such motion. This multisensory perceptual skill has scarcely been studied in human ontogeny. Here we report that newborns only a few hours old are sensitive to matches between changes in visual size and in auditory intensity. This early multisensory competence demonstrates that, rather than being entirely na\uefve to their new audiovisual environment, newborns can make sense of the multisensory cue combinations specifying motion with respect to themselves

The economic costs of alcohol misuse in Portugal

Aim: This study estimates the total economic burden of alcohol misuse in Portugal. Specifically, it reports estimates of morbidity and co-morbidity treatment costs and assesses the value of lost productivity related to alcohol misuse, for the year 1995. Methods and Sources: The study examines health care costs focusing on the nine most frequent diseases associated with alcohol misuse. The societal perspective was adopted and the prevalence-based Cost-of-Illness studies used to evaluate annual costs. The study is based on data obtained from different appropriate sources. Medical records from 88 public short-stay hospitals, provided by the Financing Management Institute in the Portuguese Ministry of Health. Hospital discharges, death causes and consultations obtained from Health Statistics and Mortality Statistics, published by the National Statistical Institute. And data on crime and motor vehicle crashes reported in the Sixth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends (UNICRI) and in the General State Account, published by the Ministry of Finance. Results : Approximately 19 878 discharges from alcohol misuse, representing 2.3% of total discharges, were estimated to occur in public short-stay hospitals. In public and private psychiatric hospitals 2 613 alcoholic discharges were estimated (18% of total mental healthdischarges in that year). The annual costs of health care services amounted to €33 million. Of this, 63% was due to inpatient care and 24% to ambulatory care. The criminal justice system and prison administration were estimated to cost €19 million whilst property damages due to motor vehicle crashes amounted to €57 million. Indirect costs were estimated to be €325 million. Of this, €76 million was due to the human cost of premature mortality. Conclusions : It is concluded that, in 1995, alcohol misuse imposed a burden of €434 million on the Portuguese economy, representing 0.6 % of Gross Domestic Product and a per capita cost estimate of €52. In examining the share of each component in total costs, both criminal justice and hospital care systems appear to have similar burdens, imposed by alcohol misuse. However, the greatest burden arises from losses in productivity resulting from illness and premature death.alcohol, cost, burden of disease

The determinants of the quality of Sales-Marketing Interface in a Multinational Customer Brand Focused Company: The Latin American Branches

Customer evolution and changes in consumers, determine the fact that the quality of the interface between marketing and sales may represent a true competitive advantage for the firm. Building on multidimensional theoretical and empirical models developed in Europe and on social network analysis, the organizational interface between the marketing and sales departments of a multinational high-growth company with operations in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay is studied. Both, attitudinal and social network measures of information exchange are used to make operational the nature and quality of the interface and its impact on performance. Results show the existence of a positive relationship of formalization, joint planning, teamwork, trust and information transfer on interface quality, as well as a positive relationship between interface quality and business performance. We conclude that efficient design and organizational management of the exchange network are essential for the successful performance of consumer goods companies that seek to develop distinctive capabilities to adapt to markets that experience vertiginous change

Do interregional transfers improve the economic performance of poor regions? The case of Spain

The 17 regional governments of Spain receive grants from both the central government and the European Union. The grants are generally redistributive and are intended to stimulate economic activity in the poorer regions. We evaluate the effectiveness of the grants by comparing the economic performance of the regions before and after the implementation of the grant programs using a differences--in-- differences approach. We find that these policies have not been effective at stimulating private investment or improving the overall economies of the poorer regions.Regional grants and economic development

Tax incentives and the city

It is difficult to justify tax incentives within the existing economics literature on tax competition. We develop a model in which communities are interested in attracting firms not only for their own capital but also for the “concentration externalities,” a form of agglomeration economies, their location bestows on existing firms. We find that it is efficient in this case for communities to offer tax incentives, defined as a tax rate below the benefit tax level, to firms. We present the recent relocation of the Boeing Corporation's headquarters from Seattle to Chicago as a case study.Tax incentives, concentration externalities, agglomeration economies, tax competition, benefit tax

Fiscal decentralization in Spain: An asymmetric transition to democracy

Asymmetric fiscal decentralization, by which we mean different fiscal arrangements between the central government and different groups of, or individual, lower-level governments, may be justified from an economic efficiency perspective. As argued by Tiebout (1956), Oates (1972) and others, a decentralized system of regional and local governments is better able to accommodate differences in tastes for public goods and services. This efficiency argument calls for decentralization of fiscal authority to regional and local governments, but not necessarily asymmetric decentralization. However, when the differences in tastes for public goods and services arise out of differences in history, culture and language across regions of a country, asymmetric treatment may be justified. History, culture and language may influence how a group of people (a region) views autonomy, independence and fiscal authority. Some regions may have had experience with autonomous government in the past, they may have a culture that is strongly reliant upon (or leery of) the central government, or they may be fearful of losing their separate languages if they do not have special arrangements. To accommodate differences in taste for independence, autonomy, and fiscal authority, it may be necessary to have different fiscal arrangements between the central government and the different regions comprising the country.Fiscal decentralization, autonomous communities, asymmetric devolution, Spanish regions, fiscal imbalance

Template-free inorganic synthesis of silica-based nanotubes and their self-assembly to mesocrystals

A novel synthesis approach for silica-based nanotubes (NTs) was discovered in the purely inorganic system containing the molecular compounds OP(NH2)3, SP(NH2)3 and SiCl4 in evacuated and sealed silica glass ampoules. Without any solvent or structure directing template the amorphous NTs self-organise to form orthogonally ordered, 3D hyperbranched mesocrystals, exhibiting an interesting material for nanofluidic device applications