Raman-scattering study of the InGaN alloy over the whole composition range

We present Raman-scattering measurements on InxGa1−xN over the entire composition range of the alloy. The frequencies of the A1(LO) and E2 modes are reported and show a good agreement with the one-mode behavior dispersion predicted by the modified random-element isodisplacement model. The A1(LO) mode displays a high intensity relative to the E2 mode due to resonant enhancement. For above band-gap excitation, the A1(LO) peak displays frequency shifts as a function of the excitation energy due to selective excitation of regions with different In contents, and strong multiphonon scattering up to 3LO is observed in outgoing resonance conditions

Structural and optical properties of MOCVD AllnN epilayers

7] M.-Y. Ryu, C.Q. Chen, E. Kuokstis, J.W. Yang, G. Simin, M. Asif Khan, Appl. Phys. Lett. 80 (2002) 3730. [8] D. Xu, Y. Wang, H. Yang, L. Zheng, J. Li, L. Duan, R. Wu, Sci. China (a) 42 (1999) 517. [9] H. Hirayama, A. Kinoshita, A. Hirata, Y. Aoyagi, Phys. Stat. Sol. (a) 188 (2001) 83. [10] Y. Chen, T. Takeuchi, H. Amano, I. Akasaki, N. Yamada, Y. Kaneko, S.Y. Wang, Appl. Phys. Lett. 72 (1998) 710. [11] Ig-Hyeon Kim, Hyeong-Soo Park, Yong-Jo Park, Taeil Kim, Appl. Phys. Lett. 73 (1998) 1634. [12] K. Watanabe, J.R. Yang, S.Y. Huang, K. Inoke, J.T. Hsu, R.C. Tu, T. Yamazaki, N. Nakanishi, M. Shiojiri, Appl. Phys. Lett. 82 (2003) 718

Direct observation of LO phonon-plasmon coupled modes in the infrared transmission spectra of n-GaAs and n-InxGa1-xAs epilayers

The infrared transmission spectrum of Si-doped molecular beam epitaxy (MBE)-grown GaAs epilayers, 2-2.5-mum thick, measured in the oblique (Berreman) geometry, revealed distinct minima in p polarization. Given epilayer thickness \u3c reststrahlen wavelength, the minima are identified as the zone-center transverse optic phonon (omega(TO)) and the high-frequency LO phonon-plasmon coupled mode (omega(+)). Analysis of the experimental data yielded free-carrier concentrations ranging from 2.5x10(17) to 1.4x10(18) cm(-3). The same technique with MBE-grown Si-doped In0.53Ga0.47As epilayers (0.5-1 mum thick) yielded omega(+) modes corresponding to free-carrier concentrations of 8.2x10(16)-2.7x10(19) cm(-3). The observations of the transmission minima in the Berreman geometry and their interpretation demonstrate a direct and simple method for deducing free-carrier concentrations over a wide range

Risk of adverse events in patients prescribed long‐term opioids: a cohort study in the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink

Background Long‐term opioid prescribing for musculoskeletal pain is controversial due to uncertainty regarding effectiveness and safety. This study examined the risks of a range of adverse events in a large cohort of patients prescribed long‐term opioids using the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink. Methods Patients with musculoskeletal conditions starting a new long‐term opioid episode (defined as ≥3 opioid prescriptions within 90 days) between 2002 and 2012 were included. Primary outcomes: major trauma and intentional overdose (any). Secondary outcomes: addiction (any), falls, accidental poisoning, attempted suicide/self‐harm, gastrointestinal pathology and bleeding, and iron deficiency anaemia. “Control” outcomes (unrelated to opioid use): incident eczema and psoriasis. Results A total of 98,140 new long‐term opioids users (median age 61, 41% male) were followed for (median) 3.4 years. Major trauma risk increased from 285 per 10,000 person‐years without long‐term opioids to 369/10,000 for a long‐term opioid episode (<20 mg MED), 382/10,000 (20–50 mg MED), and 424/10,000 (≥50 mg MED). Adjusted hazard ratios were 1.09 (95% CI; 1.04, 1.14 for <20 mg MED vs. not being in an episode of long‐term prescribing), 1.24 (95% CI; 1.16, 1.32: 20–50 mg MED) and 1.34 (95% CI; 1.20, 1.50: ≥50 mg MED). Significant dose‐dependent increases in the risk of overdose (any type), addiction, falls, accidental poisoning, gastrointestinal pathology, and iron deficiency anaemia were also found. Conclusions Patients prescribed long‐term opioids are vulnerable to dose‐dependent serious adverse events. Opioid prescribing should be reviewed before long‐term use becomes established, and periodically thereafter to ensure that patients are not being exposed to increased risk of harm, which is not balanced by therapeutic benefit. Significance Long‐term opioid use is associated with serious adverse events such as major trauma, addiction and overdose. The risk increases with higher opioid doses. Opioid prescribing should be reviewed before long‐term use becomes established, and periodically thereafter to assess ongoing effectiveness

High-pressure Raman scattering in wurtzite indium nitride

Copyright (2011) American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics.We perform Raman-scattering measurements at high hydrostatic pressures on c-face and a-face InN layers to investigate the high-pressure behavior of the zone-center optical phonons of wurtzite InN. Linear pressure coefficients and mode Grneisen parameters are obtained, and the experimental results are compared with theoretical values obtained from ab initio lattice-dynamical calculations. Good agreement is found between the experimental and calculated results. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.Work supported by the Spanish MICINN (Projects MAT2010-16116, MAT2008-06873-C02-02, MAT2010-21270-C04-04, and CSD2007-00045), the Catalan Government (BE-DG 2009), and the Spanish Council for Research (PIE2009-CSIC).Ibanez, J.; Manjón Herrera, FJ.; Segura, A.; Oliva, R.; Cusco, R.; Vilaplana Cerda, RI.; Yamaguchi, T.... (2011). High-pressure Raman scattering in wurtzite indium nitride. Applied Physics Letters. 99:119081-119083. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3609327S11908111908399Veal, T., McConville, C., & Schaff, W. (Eds.). (2009). Indium Nitride and Related Alloys. doi:10.1201/9781420078107Gallinat, C. S., Koblmüller, G., Brown, J. S., Bernardis, S., Speck, J. S., Chern, G. D., … Wraback, M. (2006). In-polar InN grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Applied Physics Letters, 89(3), 032109. doi:10.1063/1.2234274Li, S. X., Wu, J., Haller, E. E., Walukiewicz, W., Shan, W., Lu, H., & Schaff, W. J. (2003). Hydrostatic pressure dependence of the fundamental bandgap of InN and In-rich group III nitride alloys. Applied Physics Letters, 83(24), 4963-4965. doi:10.1063/1.1633681Gorczyca, I., Plesiewicz, J., Dmowski, L., Suski, T., Christensen, N. E., Svane, A., … Speck, J. S. (2008). Electronic structure and effective masses of InN under pressure. Journal of Applied Physics, 104(1), 013704. doi:10.1063/1.2953094Domènech-Amador, N., Cuscó, R., Artús, L., Yamaguchi, T., & Nanishi, Y. (2011). Raman scattering study of anharmonic phonon decay in InN. Physical Review B, 83(24). doi:10.1103/physrevb.83.245203Serrano, J., Bosak, A., Krisch, M., Manjón, F. J., Romero, A. H., Garro, N., … Kuball, M. (2011). InN Thin Film Lattice Dynamics by Grazing Incidence Inelastic X-Ray Scattering. Physical Review Letters, 106(20). doi:10.1103/physrevlett.106.205501Pinquier, C., Demangeot, F., Frandon, J., Pomeroy, J. W., Kuball, M., Hubel, H., … Gil, B. (2004). Raman scattering in hexagonal InN under high pressure. Physical Review B, 70(11). doi:10.1103/physrevb.70.113202Pinquier, C., Demangeot, F., Frandon, J., Chervin, J.-C., Polian, A., Couzinet, B., … Maleyre, B. (2006). Raman scattering study of wurtzite and rocksalt InN under high pressure. Physical Review B, 73(11). doi:10.1103/physrevb.73.115211Yao, L. D., Luo, S. D., Shen, X., You, S. J., Yang, L. X., Zhang, S. J., … Xie, S. S. (2010). Structural stability and Raman scattering of InN nanowires under high pressure. Journal of Materials Research, 25(12), 2330-2335. doi:10.1557/jmr.2010.0290Cuscó, R., Ibáñez, J., Alarcón-Lladó, E., Artús, L., Yamaguchi, T., & Nanishi, Y. (2009). Raman scattering study of the long-wavelength longitudinal-optical-phonon–plasmon coupled modes in high-mobility InN layers. Physical Review B, 79(15). doi:10.1103/physrevb.79.155210Wagner, J.-M., & Bechstedt, F. (2003). First-principles study of phonon-mode softening under pressure: the case of GaN and AlN. physica status solidi (b), 235(2), 464-469. doi:10.1002/pssb.200301603Weinstein, B. A. (1977). Phonon dispersion of zinc chalcogenides under extreme pressure and the metallic transformation. Solid State Communications, 24(9), 595-598. doi:10.1016/0038-1098(77)90369-6Yakovenko, E. V., Gauthier, M., & Polian, A. (2004). High-pressure behavior of the bond-bending mode of AIN. Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics, 98(5), 981-985. doi:10.1134/1.1767565Reparaz, J. S., Muniz, L. R., Wagner, M. R., Goñi, A. R., Alonso, M. I., Hoffmann, A., & Meyer, B. K. (2010). Reduction of the transverse effective charge of optical phonons in ZnO under pressure. Applied Physics Letters, 96(23), 231906. doi:10.1063/1.3447798Perlin, P., Jauberthie-Carillon, C., Itie, J. P., San Miguel, A., Grzegory, I., & Polian, A. (1992). Raman scattering and x-ray-absorption spectroscopy in gallium nitride under high pressure. Physical Review B, 45(1), 83-89. doi:10.1103/physrevb.45.83Manjón, F. J., Errandonea, D., Romero, A. H., Garro, N., Serrano, J., & Kuball, M. (2008). Lattice dynamics of wurtzite and rocksalt AlN under high pressure: Effect of compression on the crystal anisotropy of wurtzite-type semiconductors. Physical Review B, 77(20). doi:10.1103/physrevb.77.205204Jephcoat, A. P., Hemley, R. J., Mao, H. K., Cohen, R. E., & Mehl, M. J. (1988). Raman spectroscopy and theoretical modeling of BeO at high pressure. Physical Review B, 37(9), 4727-4734. doi:10.1103/physrevb.37.4727Ibáñez, J., Segura, A., Manjón, F. J., Artús, L., Yamaguchi, T., & Nanishi, Y. (2010). Electronic structure of wurtzite and rocksalt InN investigated by optical absorption under hydrostatic pressure. Applied Physics Letters, 96(20), 201903. doi:10.1063/1.3431291Goñi, A. R., Siegle, H., Syassen, K., Thomsen, C., & Wagner, J.-M. (2001). Effect of pressure on optical phonon modes and transverse effective charges inGaNandAlN. Physical Review B, 64(3). doi:10.1103/physrevb.64.03520

Electron-phonon renormalization of the absorption edge of the cuprous halides

Compared to most tetrahedral semiconductors, the temperature dependence of the absorption edges of the cuprous halides (CuCl, CuBr, CuI) is very small. CuCl and CuBr show a small increase of the gap $E_0$ with increasing temperature, with a change in the slope of $E_0$ vs. $T$ at around 150 K: above this temperature, the variation of $E_0$ with $T$ becomes even smaller. This unusual behavior has been clarified for CuCl by measurements of the low temperature gap vs. the isotopic masses of both constituents, yielding an anomalous negative shift with increasing copper mass. Here we report the isotope effects of Cu and Br on the gap of CuBr, and that of Cu on the gap of CuI. The measured isotope effects allow us to understand the corresponding temperature dependences, which we also report, to our knowledge for the first time, in the case of CuI. These results enable us to develop a more quantitative understanding of the phenomena mentioned for the three halides, and to interpret other anomalies reported for the temperature dependence of the absorption gap in copper and silver chalcogenides; similarities to the behavior observed for the copper chalcopyrites are also pointed out.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Multi-center evaluation of the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) assay and HbsAg confirmatory assay for the family of Access immunoassay systems

BACKGROUND: Accurate detection of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen (HBsAg) is an important aid in the diagnosis of patients infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV). A multi-center study was conducted to characterize the performance of the HBsAg assay on the family of Access immunoassay systems from Beckman Coulter. METHODS: The Access HBsAg assay was characterized in a multi-center study and compared to the Abbott AxSYM* and PRISM* HBsAg assays. The bioMérieux VIDAS* assay was used to resolve discrepant results. Reproducibility studies (intra-assay, inter-assay and inter-lot) were performed with pooled serum samples (negative sample, close to cut off, low, medium and high positive samples). Analytical sensitivity, subtype and genotype detection were studied with various commercial panels (SFTS panel, WHO 80/549, WHO 00/588, Teragenix HBV Genotype panel). A panel of recombinant HBsAg mutant proteins was tested to investigate reactivity towards genetic mutations. Clinical sensitivity was verified with seroconversion panels and samples from subjects with known HBV infection. Analytical specificity was studied with samples from patients with potential cross-reactive infections. Clinical specificity was validated among blood donors and a hospitalized population. RESULTS: The imprecision was &lt; 10%. Analytical sensitivity was &lt; or = 0.1 ng/mL (SFTS panel), 0.020 PEI Units/mL (ad panel), 0.024 PEI Units/mL (ay panel), 0.092 IU/mL with WHO 80/549 and 0.056 IU/mL with WHO 00/588. All genotype samples and HBsAg mutants were reactive with the Access HBsAg assay. Seroconversion panels tested showed no significant difference with the reference method. Sensitivity for subjects with known HBV infection was 100%. No interference with potentially cross-reactive infections was observed after confirmatory testing. Specificity was 99.96% (100% after confirmatory testing) in a blood donor population and 99.5% (100% after confirmatory testing) in a hospitalized population. Excellent separation of positive and negative populations was observed. CONCLUSIONS: The Access HBsAg and HBsAg Confirmatory assays meet all clinical and analytical performance requirements of assays for the detection of HBsAg

Industrial relations in European hypermarkets: Home and host country influences

YesIn this article we examine the industrial relations practices of three large European food retailers when they transfer the hypermarket format to other countries. We ask, first, how industrial relations in hypermarkets differ from those in other food retailing outlets. Second, we examine how far the approach characteristic of each company’s country-of-origin (Germany, France and the UK) shapes the practices adopted elsewhere. Third, we ask how they respond to the specific industrial relations systems of each host country (Turkey, Poland, Ireland and Spain)

Patients visiting the complementary medicine clinic for pain: a cross sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pain is one of the most common reasons for seeking medical care. The purpose of this study was to characterize patients visiting the complementary medicine clinic for a pain complaint.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This is a cross-sectional study. The study took place at Clalit Health Services (CHS) complementary clinic in Beer-Sheva, Israel. Patients visiting the complementary clinic, aged 18 years old and older, Hebrew speakers, with a main complaint of pain were included. Patients were recruited consecutively on random days of the month during a period of six months. Main outcome measures were: pain levels, location of pain, and interference with daily activities. Once informed consent was signed patients were interviewed using a structured questionnaire by a qualified nurse. The questionnaire included socio-demographic data, and the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Three-hundred and ninety-five patients were seen at the complementary medicine clinic during the study period, 201 (50.8%) of them met the inclusion criteria. Of them, 163 (81.1%) agreed to participate in the study and were interviewed. Pain complaints included: 69 patients (46.6%) with back pain, 65 (43.9%) knee pain, and 28 (32.4%) other limbs pain. Eighty-two patients (50.3%) treated their pain with complementary medicine as a supplement for their conventional treatment, and 55 (33.7%) felt disappointed from the conventional medicine experience. Eighty-three patients (50.9%) claimed that complementary medicine can result in better physical strength, or better mental state 51 (31.3%). Thirty-seven patients (22.7%) were hoping that complementary medicine will prevent invasive procedures.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Given the high proportion of patients with unsatisfactory pain relief using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), general practitioners should gain knowledge about CAM and CAM providers should gain training in pain topics to improve communication and counsel patients. More clinical research to evaluate safety and efficiency of CAM for pain is needed to provide evidence based counseling.</p