High-Throughput Computational Screening of Cubic Perovskites for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Cathodes

It is a present-day challenge to design and develop oxygen-permeable solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) electrode and electrolyte materials that operate at low temperatures. Herein, by performing high-throughput density functional theory calculations, oxygen vacancy formation energy, Evac, data for a pool of all-inorganic ABO3 and A I 0.5 A II 0.5 BO3 cubic perovskites is generated. Using E vac data of perovskites, the area-specific resistance (ASR) data, which is related to both oxygen reduction reaction activity and selective oxygen ion conductivity of materials, is calculated. Screening a total of 270 chemical compositions, 31 perovskites are identified as candidates with properties that are between those of state-of-the-art SOFC cathode and oxygen permeation components. In addition, an intuitive approach to estimate Evac and ASR data of complex perovskites by using solely the easy-to-access data of simple perovskites is shown, which is expected to boost future explorations in the perovskite material search space for genuinely diverse energy applications.</p

Development of a standard set of outcome measures for non-specific low back pain in Dutch primary care physiotherapy practices: a Delphi study

Item does not contain fulltextPURPOSE: To develop a clinical standard set of outcome measures that are accepted for relevance and feasibility by stakeholders and useful for (a) interaction between patient and the professional, e.g. shared decision-making in goal-setting, monitoring and feedback based on outcomes, (b) internal quality improvement, and (c) external transparency in patients with non-specific low back pain (NSLBP) in primary care physical therapy. METHODS: We used a consensus-driven modified RAND-UCLA Delphi method in seven steps with panellists (patients, representatives of patient and physiotherapy associations, researchers, policy makers, health insurers): (1) literature search, (2) first online survey, (3) patient interviews, (4) an experts meeting, (5) a consensus meeting, (6) second online survey, and (7) final approval of an advisory board. Steps 1-4 resulted in potential outcome measures. In the consensus meeting after discussion panellists voted for inclusion per measure. In the second online survey the final standard set was rated on relevance and feasibility on a 9-point Likert scale; when the median score was &gt;/= 7, the standard set was accepted and finally approved. RESULTS: Thirteen draft outcome measures were rated and discussed, and finally, six outcome measures were accepted. The standard set includes the Quebec Back Pain Disability Scale, Oswestry Disability Index, Patient-Specific Functional Scale, Numeric Pain Rating Scale, Global Perceived Effect (GPE-DV), and the STarT Back Screening Tool (SBT). CONCLUSION: This study presents a standard set of outcome measures for patients with NSLBP in primary care physiotherapy accepted for relevance and feasibility by stakeholders. The standard set is currently used in daily practice and tested on validity and reliability in a pilot study. These slides can be retrieved under Electronic Supplementary Material

Effective passivation of Si surfaces by plasma deposited SiOx/a-SiNx:H stacks

Very low surface recombination velocities 800¿°C

Validation of the Fokker-Planck Approach to Vibrational Kinetics in CO2 Plasma

The Fokker-Planck (FP) approach to describe vibrational kinetics numerically is validated in this work. This approach is shown to be around 1000 times faster than the usual state-to-state (STS) method to calculate a vibrational distribution function (VDF) in stationary conditions. Weakly ionized, nonequilibrium CO2 plasma is the test case for this demonstration, in view of its importance for the production of carbon-neutral fuels. VDFs obtained through the resolution of an FP equation and through the usual STS approach are compared in the same conditions, considering the same kinetic data. The demonstration is shown for chemical networks of increasing generality in vibrational kinetics of polyatomic molecules, including V-V exchanges, V-T relaxation, intermode V-V\u27 reactions, and excitation through e-V collisions. The FP method is shown to be accurate to describe the vibrational kinetics of the CO2 asymmetric stretching mode, while being much faster than the STS approach. In this way, the quantitative validity of the FP approach in vibrational kinetics is assessed, making it a fully viable alternative to STS solvers, that can be used with other processes, molecules, and physical conditions.</p