Copper deposition on TiO2 from copper(II)hexafluoroacetylacetonate

The authors have studied the adsorption of CuII(hfac)2 on the surface of a model oxide system, TiO2(110), and probed the molecular stability with respect to thermal cycling, using atomic scale imaging by scanning tunneling microscopy supported by x-ray photoemission spectroscopy. They find that at 473 K, the adsorbed metal-organic molecules begin to dissociate and release Cu atoms which aggregate and form Cu nanoparticles. These Cu nanoparticles ripen over time and the size (height) distribution develops into a bimodal distribution. Unlike other organometallic systems, which show a bimodal distribution due to enhanced nucleation or growth at surface step edges, the nanoparticles do not preferentially form at steps. The reduced mobility of the Cu islands may be related to the co-adsorbed ligands that remain in very small clusters on the surface

Understanding MaaS: Past, Present and Future

Daily references to the changing landscape in the provision of passenger transport services is made in the transport literature, including grey material. Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is the acronym which appears to have caught the imagination of technology providers with promises of a new era of passenger transport whereby assets need not be owned and services can be bought at the point of need. It is the technological developments which have spearheaded the new understanding of MaaS.MaaS has evolved into a concept that integrates public and private transport services to provide one- stop access through a common interface. MaaS is at the centre of the popular view on future collaborative and connected mobility. For transport policy, MaaS is seen as a way to reduce car traffic, and its negative externalities, by enabling citizens to satisfy their mobility needs without having to own assets such as automobiles, either conventional or (in the future) self-driving. MaaS also opens new choices for non-car owning citizens who previously had limited transport options, making some of them socially excluded. Whilst definitions vary, the concept of MaaS has several dimensions: in the form of a smart app and in real-time, it provides mobility services using multimodal options, through a sophisticated journey planner that provides the user with multiple customised options and offers the opportunity for payment either at the point of use or with a pre-purchased mobility bundle. This single platform is envisaged to eventually be transferable around the world from city to city and region to region and also to remain pervasive to the user by working and monitoring the journey in real-time and providing options for recovery in the case of disruption, and with an aspiration to support public equity objectives.MaaS has also received considerable attention in recent years from decision-makers (for instance, the Finnish government has implemented new transport regulations intended to facilitate MaaS developments) and practitioners (examples of MaaS start-ups include MaaS Global in Finland, EC2B in Sweden and Moovel in Germany) as well as researchers (e.g., Hensher and Mulley (2019) Hensher, 2017; Jittrapirom, 2017; Sochor et al., 2016; Wong et al., 2019; Mulley, 2017). Still, the knowledge of MaaS is nascent, trials for the most part have not been thoroughly evaluated and the evidence for the mobility and societal benefits of MaaS have yet to be confirmed.The paper is structured as follows. The next section provides the literature context that underpins the part of the title of this paper relating to the ‘Past’. This is followed by a section detailing the present in terms of a current MaaS trial in Sydney, New South Wales, designed to provide another ‘data point’ in our current understanding of MaaS. The penultimate section looks to the future and the challenges ahead by identifying some key questions critical to the development of MaaS. The final section concludes

Watchful Waiting vs. Immediate Transurethral Prostatectomy for Symptomatic Prostatism

The rate of resection for benign prostatic hypertrophy shows considerable variability among small geographic areas. To help inform the decision to recommend prostatectomy to men with prostatism without signs of chronic retention, we performed a decision analysis to compare the expected outcomes with immediate transurethral resection and watchful waiting. Data used in the model originated from the medical literature, Medicare claims data, and patient interview studies. In our base-case for 70-year-old men, immediate surgery resulted in the loss of 1.01 months of life expectancy, but when adjustments were made for quality of life, immediate surgery was favored with a net utility benefit of 2.94 quality-adjusted life-months. However, the analysis was particularly sensitive to the degree of disutility attributed to the index symptoms of prostatism. We conclude that patient preferences should be the dominant factor in the decision whether to recommend prostatectomy

Non-stoichiometric oxide and metal interfaces and reactions

We have employed a combination of experimental surface science techniques and density functional calculations to study the reduction of TiO2(110) surfaces through the doping with submonolayer transition metals. We concentrate on the role of Ti adatoms in self doping of rutile and contrast the behaviour to that of Cr. DFT+U calculations enable identification of probable adsorption structures and their spectroscopic characteristics. Adsorption of both metals leads to a broken symmetry and an asymmetric charge transfer localised around the defect site of a mixed localised/delocalised character. Charge transfer creates defect states with Ti 3d character in the band gap at similar to 1-eV binding energy. Cr adsorption, however, leads to a very large shift in the valence-band edge to higher binding energy and the creation of Cr 3d states at 2.8-eV binding energy. Low-temperature oxidation lifts the Ti-derived band-gap states and modifies the intensity of the Cr features, indicative of a change of oxidation state from Cr3+ to Cr4+. Higher temperature processing leads to a loss of Cr from the surface region, indicative of its substitution into the bulk

The development of a decision aid for tinnitus

OBJECTIVE: To develop a decision aid for tinnitus care that would meet international consensus for decision aid quality. DESIGN: A mixed methods design that included qualitative in-depth interviews, literature review, focus groups, user testing and readability checking. STUDY SAMPLE: Patients and clinicians who have clinical experience of tinnitus. RESULTS: A decision aid for tinnitus care was developed. This incorporates key evidence of efficacy for the most frequently used tinnitus care options, together with information derived from patient priorities when deciding which choice to make. CONCLUSION: The decision aid has potential to enable shared decision making between clinicians and patients in audiology. The decision aid meets consensus standards

The ethics of uncertainty for data subjects

Modern health data practices come with many practical uncertainties. In this paper, I argue that data subjects’ trust in the institutions and organizations that control their data, and their ability to know their own moral obligations in relation to their data, are undermined by significant uncertainties regarding the what, how, and who of mass data collection and analysis. I conclude by considering how proposals for managing situations of high uncertainty might be applied to this problem. These emphasize increasing organizational flexibility, knowledge, and capacity, and reducing hazard

Cost-effectiveness of HBV and HCV screening strategies:a systematic review of existing modelling techniques

Introduction: Studies evaluating the cost-effectiveness of screening for Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) are generally heterogeneous in terms of risk groups, settings, screening intervention, outcomes and the economic modelling framework. It is therefore difficult to compare cost-effectiveness results between studies. This systematic review aims to summarise and critically assess existing economic models for HBV and HCV in order to identify the main methodological differences in modelling approaches. Methods: A structured search strategy was developed and a systematic review carried out. A critical assessment of the decision-analytic models was carried out according to the guidelines and framework developed for assessment of decision-analytic models in Health Technology Assessment of health care interventions. Results: The overall approach to analysing the cost-effectiveness of screening strategies was found to be broadly consistent for HBV and HCV. However, modelling parameters and related structure differed between models, producing different results. More recent publications performed better against a performance matrix, evaluating model components and methodology. Conclusion: When assessing screening strategies for HBV and HCV infection, the focus should be on more recent studies, which applied the latest treatment regimes, test methods and had better and more complete data on which to base their models. In addition to parameter selection and associated assumptions, careful consideration of dynamic versus static modelling is recommended. Future research may want to focus on these methodological issues. In addition, the ability to evaluate screening strategies for multiple infectious diseases, (HCV and HIV at the same time) might prove important for decision makers

Adaptive remodeling of the bacterial proteome by specific ribosomal modification regulates Pseudomonas infection and niche colonisation

Post-transcriptional control of protein abundance is a highly important, underexplored regulatory process by which organisms respond to their environments. Here we describe an important and previously unidentified regulatory pathway involving the ribosomal modification protein RimK, its regulator proteins RimA and RimB, and the widespread bacterial second messenger cyclic-di-GMP (cdG). Disruption of rimK affects motility and surface attachment in pathogenic and commensal Pseudomonas species, with rimK deletion significantly compromising rhizosphere colonisation by the commensal soil bacterium P. fluorescens, and plant infection by the pathogens P. syringae and P. aeruginosa. RimK functions as an ATP-dependent glutamyl ligase, adding glutamate residues to the C-terminus of ribosomal protein RpsF and inducing specific effects on both ribosome protein complement and function. Deletion of rimK in P. fluorescens leads to markedly reduced levels of multiple ribosomal proteins, and also of the key translational regulator Hfq. In turn, reduced Hfq levels induce specific downstream proteomic changes, with significant increases in multiple ABC transporters, stress response proteins and non-ribosomal peptide synthetases seen for both ΔrimK and Δhfq mutants. The activity of RimK is itself controlled by interactions with RimA, RimB and cdG. We propose that control of RimK activity represents a novel regulatory mechanism that dynamically influences interactions between bacteria and their hosts; translating environmental pressures into dynamic ribosomal changes, and consequently to an adaptive remodeling of the bacterial proteome

Kidney Donor Profile Index and allograft outcomes: interactive effects of estimated post-transplant survival score and ischaemic time

Background. The Kidney Donor Profile Index (KDPI) is routinely reported by the donation agencies in Australia.We determined the association between KDPI and short-term allograft loss and assessed if this association was modified by the estimated post-transplant survival (EPTS) score and total ischaemic time. Methods. Using data from the Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant Registry, the association between KDPI (in quartiles) and 3-year overall allograft loss was examined using adjusted Cox regression analysis. The interactive effects between KDPI, EPTS score and total ischaemic time on allograft loss were assessed. Results. Of 4006 deceased donor kidney transplant recipients transplanted between 2010 and 2015, 451 (11%) recipients experienced allograft loss within 3 years post-transplant. Compared with recipients of kidneys with a KDPI of 0–25%, recipients who received donor kidneys with a KDPI >75% experienced a 2-fold increased risk of 3-year allograft loss {adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 2.04 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.53–2.71]}. The adjusted HRs for kidneys with a KDPI of 26–50% and 51–75% were 1.27 (95% CI 0.94–1.71) and 1.31 (95% CI 0.96–1.77), respectively. There were significant interactions between KDPI and EPTS scores (P-value for interaction <.01) and total ischaemic time (P-value for interaction <.01) such that the associations between higher KDPI quartiles and 3-year allograft loss were strongest in recipients with the lowest EPTS scores and longest total ischaemic time. Conclusion. Recipients with higher post-transplant expected survival and transplants with longer total ischaemia who received donor allografts with higher KDPI scores experienced a greater risk of short-term allograft loss compared with those recipients with reduced post-transplant expected survival and with shorter total ischemia.Janelle Prunster, Germaine Wong, Nicholas Larkins, Kate Wyburn, Ross Francis, William R. Mulley, Esther Ooi, Helen Pilmore, Christopher E. Davies and Wai H. Li