The provision of education and training for healthcare professionals through the medium of the internet

This paper describes a new initiative to provide Internet based courses to student and professional occupational therapists in four centres in the UK, Belgium the Netherlands and Sweden. The basis of this collaborative Occupational Therapy Internet School (OTIS) is the concept of the “Virtual College”. This comprises the design and implementation of a sophisticated Internet-based system through which courses can be managed, prepared and delivered online in an effective fashion, and where students can communicate both with the staff and their peers. The aim is to support and facilitate the whole range of educational activities within a remote electronic environment. A major feature of the course organisation is the adoption of a problem-based approach in which students will collaborate internationally to propose effective intervention in given case study scenarios. The paper outlines the rationale for OTIS, the content and structure of the courseware, the technical specification of the system and evaluation criteria. In addition to the more conventional web-based learning facilities generally offered, a number of agent-based approaches are being adopted to assist in the management of the course by ensuring the proper delivery of course materials and to assist the functioning of project groups. </p

Direct Bonding of Silicon to Platinum

International audienc

Ultrathin Ni Silicides with low contact resistance on Strained and Unstrained Silicon

Ultrathin Ni silicides were formed on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and biaxially tensile strained SOI (SSOI) substrates. The Ni layer thickness crucially determines the silicide phase formation: With a 3-nm Ni layer, high-quality epitaxial NiSi2 layers were grown at temperatures > 450 degrees C, while NiSi was formed with a 5-nm-thick Ni layer. A very thin Pt interlayer, to incorporate Pt into NiSi, improves the thermal stability and the interface roughness and lowers the contact resistivity. The contact resistivity of epitaxial NiSi2 is about one order of magnitude lower than that of a NiSi layer on both As-and B-doped SOI and SSOI

A mean body temperature of 37 degrees C for incubated preterm infants is associated with lower energy costs in the first 11days of life

International audienceAimThis randomised trial compared the energy costs of providing incubated preterm infants born before 32weeks of gestation with homeothermia using either air temperature control (ATC) or skin servocontrol (SSC). MethodsWe studied 38 incubated preterm infants for the first 11days of life, calculating the frequency of hypothermia (37.5 degrees C) and thermal challenge, together with energy costs, based on a change in incubator air temperature of 2 degrees C above or below thermoneutrality. ResultsThe daily mean incubator air temperature was higher in ATC than SSC (p<0.05) for the first 6days, and the mean body temperature was higher in ATC (37.00.03 degrees C) than SSC (36.8 +/- 0.02; p<0.01) over the whole study period. The frequency of moderate hyperthermia was higher in ATC (p<0.001), whereas warm and cold thermal challenges were higher in SSC (p<0.001). The two groups did not differ in terms of energy costs. The time to recover birthweight was shorter in ATC (p<0.05). ConclusionIn incubators using ATC, a body temperature of 37 degrees C was associated with lower energy costs and greater weight gain at 11days of life for preterm infants. Future studies should test SSC shielded abdominal skin temperature set to 37 degrees C

Electrical characterization of strained and unstrained silicon nanowires with nickel silicide contacts

We present electrical characterization of nickel monosilicide (NiSi) contacts formed on strained and unstrained silicon nanowires (NWs), which were fabricated by top-down processing of initially As(+) implanted and activated strained and unstrained silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates. The resistivity of doped Si NWs and the contact resistivity of the NiSi to Si NW contacts are studied as functions of the As(+) ion implantation dose and the cross-sectional area of the wires. Strained silicon NWs show lower resistivity for all doping concentrations due to their enhanced electron mobility compared to the unstrained case. An increase in resistivity with decreasing cross section of the NWs was observed for all implantation doses. This is ascribed to the occurrence of dopant deactivation. Comparing the silicidation of uniaxially tensile strained and unstrained Si NWs shows no difference in silicidation speed and in contact resistivity between NiSi/Si NW. Contact resistivities as low as 1.2 x 10(-8) Omega cm(-2) were obtained for NiSi contacts to both strained and unstrained Si NWs. Compared to planar contacts, the NiSi/Si NW contact resistivity is two orders of magnitude lower