Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Studies of Isotope Effect in Diffusion

The mass effect of diffusion is of interest in connection with interactions between defects and impurities and with the mechanisms of atomic displacements in the condensed states. The delineation entails the precise measurement of the isotope ratio as function of tracer concentration, varying within several orders of magnitude along the diffusion profile. The measurement by SIMS (secondary ion mass spectrometry), using stable isotopes, has proved to possess advantages compared to familiar techniques with radiotracers. However, the aims require the utmost counting economy and optimal precision available in SIMS, including the control of the mass fractionation and of some features peculiar to cyclic profiling. Very good results have been obtained for the isotope effect at relatively deep profiling, where step scan analysis can be effected. For more shallow profiles, requiring head-on sputtering, more serious artifacts are encountered and the error margins have hitherto been relatively high. The paper discusses salient experimental points of the determination by SIMS of the isotope effect at different diffusion geometry, and briefly reviews the hitherto obtained results

Mass Fractionation and Energy Distribution of Sputtered Monatomic Positive Ions

Secondary ion yields in sputtering depend significantly on the mass of the emitted species. Ionization as observed by secondary ion mass spectrometry is characterized by isotope fractionation; the yield of an isotope ion of mass Mi being proportional to M-, where a varies with the emitted species, its kinetic energy Ek, and the matrix. By means of SIMS, isotope ratios have been measured for ions at energies up to ca 120 eV in different metallic matrices. For singly charged positive monatomic ions, a has been found to range between O and ca 4. While a may drop steeply at low or moderate Ek, at higher energies the gradient decreases and usually becomes positive. To some extent the trends of a are complementary to those of the energy dependence of elemental ion yields. In the present work, the main tendencies are surveyed for pure element matrices as well as for several elements sputtered from a given metallic matrix. It is attempted to correlate a with the energy distributions of ionic yields. Isotope effects appear inherent in all three basic mechanisms of ion emission, i.e., in sputter yield, ionization, and charge survival

From transformative learning to social change? Using action research to explore and improve informal complaints management in an NHS trust

Background: The number of complaints concerning aspects of care from patients and/or carers have increased over time. Yet, in spite of a growing body of national and international literature on health care complaints there is a lack of knowledge around how nurses and midwives manage informal complaints at ward level, or staff needs in relation to this. Aim: Using an Action research (AR) approach with mixed methods, four phases and four cycles, the aim was to explore informal complaints management by nurses and midwives at ward level. We discuss the AR process primarily in connection with learning and service change, drawing from the qualitative data in this paper. Findings: The analysis of the collected qualitative data resulted in three main themes related to the complexities of complaints and complaints management, staff support needs and the existing ambiguous complaints systems which are hard for both staff and servicer users to negotiate. The AR approach facilitated learning and change in participants in relation to views on complaints management, and the main issues around complaints management in the collaborating trust. Conclusions: The extant body of research on complaints does not sufficiently recognise the complexity of complaints and informal complaints management or the complaints systems in place. Needs based staff training can help support staff to manage informal complaints more effectively

Gatekeeping access to the midwifery unit: managing complaints by bending the rules

While poor communication between service users and front line staff causes many service user complaints in the British National Health Service (NHS), staff rarely reflect on the causes of these complaints. We discuss findings from an action research project with midwives which suggest that the midwives struggled to fully understand complaints from women, their partners and families particularly about restricted visiting and the locked door to the midwifery unit. They responded to individual requests to visit out of hours while maintaining the general policy of restricted visiting. In this way the door was a gatekeeping device which allowed access to the unit within certain rules. The locked door remained a barrier to women and their families and as a result was a common source of informal complaints. We argue that the locked door and restricted visiting to the midwifery unit were forms of gate-keeping and boundary making by midwives which reveals a tension between their espoused woman-centred care and contemporary midwifery practice which is increasingly constrained by institutional values

Supporting staff to respond effectively to informal complaints: findings from an action research study

Aim: to understand how nurses and midwives manage informal complaints at ward level. Background: the provision of high quality, compassionate clinical nursing and midwifery is a global priority. Complaints management systems have been established within the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom (UK) to improve patient experience yet little is known about effective responses to informal complaints in clinical practice by nurses and midwives. Design: collaborative action research. Methods: four phases of data collection and analysis relating to primarily one NHS trust during 2011-2014 including: scoping of complaints data, interviews with five service users and six key stakeholders and eight reflective discussion groups with six midwives over a period of nine months, two sessions of communications training with separate groups of midwives and one focus group with four nurses in the collaborating trust. Results: three key themes emerged from these data: multiple and domino complaints; ward staff need support; and unclear complaints systems. Conclusions: current research does not capture the complexities of complaints and the nursing and midwifery response to informal complaints. Relevance to clinical practice: robust systems are required to support clinical staff to improve their response to informal complaints and thereby improve the patient experience

Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry of Glasses: Aspects of Quantification

SIMS routines have been developed for the analysis of oxide materials, with applications particularly in element profiling of corrosion layers on glasses after weathering or leaching. The possibilities of quantification and reproducibility have been found critically sensitive to the buildup of charge on the insulating specimens. With control of constant specimen potential, relative sensitivity factors in the positive mass spectrum have been determined for about 20 elements in 10 different alkali-borosilicate glasses. Secondary ion yields were studied as functions of the energy range of ions admitted to the analyzer. At relatively low energies, including the top of the energy distribution, the formalism of the local thermal equilibrium model was found to be very well approximated, strongly favoring the yields of elements with low ionization potentials. For ions with relatively high energies the role of Ei was less pronounced, and there were some indications of atomic binding effects. With well-defined conditions of energy pass window and of offset in sample voltage, considerable reproducibility of calibration could be obtained. In routine profiling it has been found advantageous to work at rather high offset, which rendered a narrowed range of specific elemental yields, easily interpreted mass spectra, and reduced sensitivity to surface charge effects

An integrative literature review of psychosocial factors in the transition to parenthood following non-donor-assisted reproduction compared with spontaneously conceiving couples

An integrative literature review of research into the psychosocial factors which shape the transition to parenthood in couples following non-donor in vitro fertilisation in comparison with spontaneously conceiving couples was undertaken following adapted PRISMA guidelines. Nineteen papers of non-donor IVF and SC mothers and fathers were included in the review. This is the first review to report on research comparing the transition to parenthood of couples following successful non-donor singleton AR and SC couples. The small number of studies were over reliant on survey methodologies. Differences between groups were reported on a range of psychosocial measures during the transition from pregnancy to parenthood: locus of control, parental adjustment and child behaviour, parental stress, parental investment in the child, self-esteem and self-efficacy, greater levels of protectiveness (separation anxiety) towards child, marital and family functioning, family alliance, marital satisfaction and communication as well anxiety, indirect aggression and less respect for child. We have conceptualised these differences as three substantive themes which reflect psychosocial factors shaping transition to parenthood in parents after non-donor AR: social support, relationships, and emotional well-being which are in turn intersected by gender differences. These findings have implications for health care professionals’ assessment of individual couples’ support needs

Reflecting on action research exploring informal complaints management by nurses and midwives in an NHS trust: Transformation or maintaining the status quo?

Background: Little is known about how nurses and midwives manage informal complaints at ward level or if effective communication at this level can improve service delivery and reduce the number of formal complaints in NHS trusts in the UK. Aims and objectives: Working in partnership with a local NHS trust, the RESPONSE project uses action research methodology to explore the role of communication in the management of informal complaints in the trust. The aim of the project is to develop a guide for best practice. This paper presents a critical reflection informed by transformative learning theory on the use of action research methodology in this context. Conclusions and implications for practice: Action research is a valuable tool for transformative learning, practice development and improved patient experience in acute NHS trusts. It requires a high level of commitment to ‘power sharing’ and perseverance. This is particularly so in relation to sustained participation, a core premise of action research, which necessitates: An inclusive, pragmatic, flexible and creative approach A continuous questioning and pre-­‐empting of participants’ needs An acceptance of the fact that participation may vary over the course of a project and that this in itself may facilitate participation

Ab initio van der Waals interactions in simulations of water alter structure from mainly tetrahedral to high-density-like

The structure of liquid water at ambient conditions is studied in ab initio molecular dynamics simulations using van der Waals (vdW) density-functional theory, i.e. using the new exchange-correlation functionals optPBE-vdW and vdW-DF2. Inclusion of the more isotropic vdW interactions counteracts highly directional hydrogen-bonds, which are enhanced by standard functionals. This brings about a softening of the microscopic structure of water, as seen from the broadening of angular distribution functions and, in particular, from the much lower and broader first peak in the oxygen-oxygen pair-correlation function (PCF), indicating loss of structure in the outer solvation shells. In combination with softer non-local correlation terms, as in the new parameterization of vdW-DF, inclusion of vdW interactions is shown to shift the balance of resulting structures from open tetrahedral to more close-packed. The resulting O-O PCF shows some resemblance with experiment for high-density water (A. K. Soper and M. A. Ricci, Phys. Rev. Lett., 84:2881, 2000), but not directly with experiment for ambient water. However, an O-O PCF consisting of a linear combination of 70% from vdW-DF2 and 30% from experiment on low-density liquid water reproduces near-quantitatively the experimental O-O PCF for ambient water, indicating consistency with a two-liquid model with fluctuations between high- and low-density regions