Chemical incorporation of copper into indium selenide thin films

Indium selenide thin-films have been treated in a copper-containing chemical bath with the goal of forming a precursor layer capable of being converted into copper indium diselenide. The conversion process was carried out by annealing the layers in a tube furnace in the presence of selenium vapour. The phase content of the layers as a function of composition and annealing temperature has been investigated by Raman spectroscopy. It is concluded that copper selenide is formed during the chemical bath treatment and that during annealing the copper selenide reacts first with elemental selenium vapour and then with the indium selenide to form chalcopyrite CuInSe2. Secondary phases of CuIn3Se5 and Cu-Au ordered CuInSe2 have been detected in annealed copper-poor layers

Integrable open supersymmetric U model with boundary impurity

An integrable version of the supersymmetric U model with open boundary conditions and an impurity situated at one end of the chain is introduced. The model is solved through the algebraic Bethe ansatz method and the Bethe ansatz equations are obtained.Comment: RevTeX, 8 pages, no figures, final version to appear in Phys. Lett.

Climate change and plant diseases Mudanças climáticas e doenças de plantas

Human activities are altering greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere and causing global climate change. In the near future, there will certainly be changes in the Brazilian phytosanitary scenario attributed to global climate change. The impacts of climate change can be positive, negative or neutral, since these changes can decrease, increase or have no impact on diseases, depending on each region or period. These impacts will also be observed on plants and other organisms as well as on other agroecosystem components. However, these impacts are not easily determined, and consequently, specialists from several areas must go beyond their disciplinary boundaries and placing the climate change impacts in a broader context. This review focuses on the discussion of different aspects related to the effects of climate change on plant diseases. On the geographical and temporal distribution of diseases, a historical context is presented and recent studies using data of forecast models of future climate associated with disease simulation models are discussed in order to predict the distribution in future climate scenarios. Predicted future disease scenarios for some crops in Brazil are shown. On the effects of increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO2 and other gases, important aspects are discussed of how diseases change under altered atmospheric gases conditions in the future. The consequences of these changes on the chemical and biological control of plant diseases are also discussed.<br>As atividades antrópicas estão alterando as concentrações de gases de efeito estufa da atmosfera e causando mudanças no clima do planeta. Certamente, num futuro próximo, devido às mudanças climáticas globais, ocorrerão modificações no cenário fitossanitário brasileiro. Os impactos podem ser positivos, negativos ou neutros, pois as mudanças podem diminuir, aumentar ou não ter efeito sobre as doenças, em cada região ou época. Esses impactos também serão observados sobre as plantas e outros organismos, além de outros componentes do agroecossistema. Porém, esses impactos não são facilmente determinados e, desta forma, os especialistas das diferentes áreas precisam ir além de suas disciplinas e abordar os impactos das mudanças climáticas em um contexto mais amplo. Nessa revisão são discutidos os aspectos relacionados com os efeitos das mudanças climáticas sobre as doenças de plantas. Na distribuição geográfica e temporal das doenças, um contexto histórico é apresentado, incluindo estudos recentes utilizando dados de modelos de previsão do clima futuro associados com modelos de simulação da doença a fim de predizer a distribuição nos cenários climáticos futuros. Também são apresentados os cenários futuros de previsão de doenças de algumas culturas no Brasil. Sobre os efeitos do aumento da concentração de CO2 atmosférico e outros gases são discutidos importantes aspectos do comportamento das doenças sujeitas às condições alteradas de gases atmosféricos no futuro. As conseqüências dessas alterações sobre o controle químico e biológico das doenças de plantas também são discutidas

Critical care usage after major gastrointestinal and liver surgery: a prospective, multicentre observational study

Background: Patient selection for critical care admission must balance patient safety with optimal resource allocation. This study aimed to determine the relationship between critical care admission, and postoperative mortality after abdominal surgery. Methods: This prespecified secondary analysis of a multicentre, prospective, observational study included consecutive patients enrolled in the DISCOVER study from UK and Republic of Ireland undergoing major gastrointestinal and liver surgery between October and December 2014. The primary outcome was 30-day mortality. Multivariate logistic regression was used to explore associations between critical care admission (planned and unplanned) and mortality, and inter-centre variation in critical care admission after emergency laparotomy. Results: Of 4529 patients included, 37.8% (n=1713) underwent planned critical care admissions from theatre. Some 3.1% (n=86/2816) admitted to ward-level care subsequently underwent unplanned critical care admission. Overall 30-day mortality was 2.9% (n=133/4519), and the risk-adjusted association between 30-day mortality and critical care admission was higher in unplanned [odds ratio (OR): 8.65, 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.51–19.97) than planned admissions (OR: 2.32, 95% CI: 1.43–3.85). Some 26.7% of patients (n=1210/4529) underwent emergency laparotomies. After adjustment, 49.3% (95% CI: 46.8–51.9%, P&lt;0.001) were predicted to have planned critical care admissions, with 7% (n=10/145) of centres outside the 95% CI. Conclusions: After risk adjustment, no 30-day survival benefit was identified for either planned or unplanned postoperative admissions to critical care within this cohort. This likely represents appropriate admission of the highest-risk patients. Planned admissions in selected, intermediate-risk patients may present a strategy to mitigate the risk of unplanned admission. Substantial inter-centre variation exists in planned critical care admissions after emergency laparotomies