Atomic vapor deposition of bismuth titanate thin films

c-axis oriented ferroelectric bismuth titanate (Bi4Ti 3O12) thin films were grown on (001) strontium titanate (SrTiO3) substrates by an atomic vapor deposition technique. The ferroelectric properties of the thin films are greatly affected by the presence of various kinds of defects. Detailed x-ray diffraction data and transmission electron microscopy analysis demonstrated the presence of out-of-phase boundaries (OPBs). It is found that the OPB density changes appreciably with the amount of titanium injected during growth of the thin films. Piezo-responses of the thin films were measured by piezo-force microscopy. It is found that the in-plane piezoresponse is stronger than the out-of-plane response, due to the strong c-axis orientation of the films.

Out-of-equilibrium dynamical fluctuations in glassy systems

"In this paper we extend the earlier treatment of out-of-equilibrium mesoscopic fluctuations in glassy systems in several significant ways. First, via extensive simulations, we demonstrate that models of glassy behavior without quenched disorder display scalings of the probability of local two-time correlators that are qualitatively similar to that of models with short-ranged quenched interactions. The key ingredient for such scaling properties is shown to be the development of a criticallike dynamical correlation length, and not other microscopic details. This robust data collapse may be described in terms of a time-evolving "extreme value" distribution. We develop a theory to describe both the form and evolution of these distributions based on a effective sigma model approach."

Safety and efficacy of ledipasvir-sofosbuvir in black patients with hepatitis C virus infection: A retrospective analysis of phase 3 data.

UNLABELLED: Black patients chronically infected with genotype 1 hepatitis C virus (HCV) have historically had lower rates of response to interferon-based treatment than patients of other races. In the phase 3 ION program, the single-tablet regimen of the NS5A inhibitor ledipasvir and NS5B nucleotide polymerase inhibitor sofosbuvir was shown to be safe and highly effective in the general population. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of ledipasvir/sofosbuvir in black patients using data from the three open-label ION clinical trials, which evaluated the safety and efficacy of 8, 12, and 24 weeks of ledipasvir/sofosbuvir with or without ribavirin for the treatment of treatment-naïve and treatment-experienced patients with genotype 1 HCV, including those with compensated cirrhosis. The primary endpoint was sustained virologic response at 12 weeks after the end of therapy (SVR12). For our analysis, rates of SVR12, treatment-emergent adverse events, and graded laboratory abnormalities were analyzed in black versus non-black patients. Of the 1949 patients evaluated, 308 (16%) were black. On average, black patients were older, had higher body mass index, were more likely to be IL28B non-CC, and had a lower serum alanine aminotransferase at baseline than non-black patients. Overall, 95% of black and 97% of non-black patients achieved SVR12. The rate of relapse was 3% in black patients as compared with 2% in non-black patients. The most common adverse events included fatigue, headache, nausea, and insomnia. The majority of adverse events occurred more frequently in the ribavirin-containing arms of the studies. No differences were observed in overall safety by race. CONCLUSION: A once-daily dosage of ledipasvir/sofosbuvir was similarly effective in black and non-black patients with genotype 1 HCV infection. The addition of ribavirin did not appear to increase SVR12 but was associated with higher rates of adverse events.

Out of View: Stories

OUT OF VIEW is a collection of stories set in the American Southwest about people coping with loss—the death of parents, children, ideals, innocence. The characters in this collection reap or resist lessons of life as they struggle to find their place in the world. In “First Rain,” 15-year-old Tessie struggles with the loss of her father and the demands of her mother as she navigates the rocky terrain of adolescence. In “Monsters,” middle-aged Maury has to choose between a new relationship and protecting the well-being of his 4-year-old ‘daughter.’ The stories are influenced by the Western realism of Maile Meloy and the playful plotting of Ron Carlson. These stories are inspired both by the Sonoran Desert—expansive, sun-soaked, unrepentant—and by the people who live, love, and lose in the interstices between Manifest Destiny and the Reconquista.

Houseboats pushed out of the water by Hurricane Wilma, Flamingo

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Cooperative Agreements #DBI-0620409 and #DEB-9910514. This image is made available for non-commercial or educational use only.

Houseboats pushed out of the water by Hurricane Wilma, Flamingo

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Cooperative Agreements #DBI-0620409 and #DEB-9910514. This image is made available for non-commercial or educational use only.

Sea surface temperature estimation of sediment core 86014-12PC51

A recently developed technique for determining past sea surface temperatures (SST), based on an analysis of the unsaturation ratio of long chain C37 methyl alkenones produced by Prymnesiophyceae phytoplankton (U37 k' ), has been applied to an upper Quaternary sediment core from the equatorial Atlantic. U37 k' temperature estimates were compared to those obtained from delta18O of the planktonic foraminifer Globigerinoides sacculifer and of planktonic foraminiferal assemblages for the last glacial cycle. The alkenone method showed 1.8°C cooling at the last glacial maximum, about 1/2 to 1/3 of the decrease shown by the isotopic method (6.3°C) and foraminiferal modern analogue technique estimates for the warm season (3.8°C). Warm season foraminiferal assemblage estimates based on transfer functions are out of phase with the other estimates, showing a 1.4°C drop at the last glacial maximum with an additional 0.9°C drop in the deglaciation. Increased alkenone abundances, total organic carbon percentage and foraminiferal accumulation rates in the last glaciation indicate an increase in productivity of as much as 4 times over present day. These changes are thought to be due to increased upwelling caused by enhanced winds during the glaciation. If U37 k' estimates are correct, as much as 50-70% (up to 4.5°C) of estimated delta18O and modern analogue temperature changes in the last glaciation may have been due to changes in thermocline depth, whereas transfer functions seem more strongly influenced by seasonality changes. This indicates these estimates may be influenced as strongly by other factors as they are by SST, which in the equatorial Atlantic was only reduced slightly in the last glaciation.

Point-and-shoot: rapid quantitative detection methods for on-site food fraud analysis – moving out of the laboratory and into the food supply chain

Major food adulteration and contamination events occur with alarming regularity and are known to be episodic, with the question being not if but when another large-scale food safety/integrity incident will occur. Indeed, the challenges of maintaining food security are now internationally recognised. The ever increasing scale and complexity of food supply networks can lead to them becoming significantly more vulnerable to fraud and contamination, and potentially dysfunctional. This can make the task of deciding which analytical methods are more suitable to collect and analyse (bio)chemical data within complex food supply chains, at targeted points of vulnerability, that much more challenging. It is evident that those working within and associated with the food industry are seeking rapid, user-friendly methods to detect food fraud and contamination, and rapid/high-throughput screening methods for the analysis of food in general. In addition to being robust and reproducible, these methods should be portable and ideally handheld and/or remote sensor devices, that can be taken to or be positioned on/at-line at points of vulnerability along complex food supply networks and require a minimum amount of background training to acquire information rich data rapidly (ergo point-and-shoot). Here we briefly discuss a range of spectrometry and spectroscopy based approaches, many of which are commercially available, as well as other methods currently under development. We discuss a future perspective of how this range of detection methods in the growing sensor portfolio, along with developments in computational and information sciences such as predictive computing and the Internet of Things, will together form systems- and technology-based approaches that significantly reduce the areas of vulnerability to food crime within food supply chains. As food fraud is a problem of systems and therefore requires systems level solutions and thinking.

Encapsulation of phase change materials using rice-husk-char

This paper explored a new approach to prepare phase change microcapsules using carbon-based particles via Pickering emulsions for energy storage applications. Rice-husk-char, a by-product in biofuel production, containing 53.58 wt% of carbon was used as a model carbon-based material to encapsulate hexadecane. As a model phase change material, hexadecane was emulsified in aqueous suspensions of rice-husk-char nanoparticles. Water soluble polymers poly(diallyldimethyl-ammonium chloride) and poly(sodium styrene sulfonate) were used to fix the rice-husk-char nanoparticles on the emulsion droplets through layer-by-layer assembly to enhance the structural stability of the microcapsules. The microcapsules formed are composed of a thin shell encompassing a large core consisting of hexadecane. Thermal gravimetrical and differential scanning calorimeter analyses showed the phase change enthalpy of 80.9 kJ kg−1 or 120.0 MJ m−3. Design criteria of phase change microcapsules and preparation considerations were discussed in terms of desired applications. This work demonstrated possible utilisations of biomass-originated carbon-based material for thermal energy recovery and storage applications, which can be a new route of carbon capture and utilisation.

Permissibility of Non-Voluntary Collective Management of Copyright under EU Law – The Case of the French Law on Out-of-Commerce Books

The possibility of the EU member states to adapt copyright legislation to new circumstances and to address unforeseen issues is limited by the list of exceptions and restrictions of the InfoSoc Directive. In spite of this constraint, the EU copyright framework provides for a possibility of introduction of non-voluntary forms of collective rights management that can help to tackle some of the contemporary problems with remuneration and access. This article is an attempt to deepen the understanding of non-voluntary collective management and its possible use. First, it provides a detailed description of the French mechanism adopted for facilitating mass digitization and making out-of-commerce books available, which was implemented through a new form of collective management of copyright. Then, it examines the mechanism’s compatibility with the InfoSoc Directive through comparison with the extended collective licensing.

Effect of Wealth on Health Care Seeking Behavior And Out of Pocket Health Expenditure in Malawi

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Using Social Worlds Theory to Explore Influences on Community Nurses’ Experiences of Providing Out of Hours Paediatric Palliative Care

Abstract Background: Paediatric oncology palliative care in the community is rare and nationally there is a lack of standardisation of out of hours nursing service provision. Objectives: This paper seeks to explore influences on the experiences of paediatric nurses providing out of hours palliative care within the family home to children with cancer. The study used social worlds theory to aid identification and demonstration of the findings. Methods: Twelve community-based palliative cases were purposively selected from children with cancer treated at one regional centre. Tape-recorded interviews were undertaken with 54 health professionals (general practitioners, community nurses and allied health professionals) involved in providing their palliative care and five facilitated case discussions completed. Data analysis followed a grounded theory approach; chronological comparative data analysis identifying generated themes. Social worlds theory was used as a framework to examine the data. Results: Nurses’ experiences are shaped by their social world and those of the nursing team,child and family and the inter-professional team providing the care. The lack of a formalised service, sub-optimal inter-professional working and impact of social worlds influence the experience of the nurse. Conclusions: Social worlds theory provided a new perspective in understanding these experiences based within a paediatric palliative care setting, knowledge that can be used to inform service provision.

School Mobility for Children in Out-of-Home Placement: Incidence, Educational Outcomes, and Tools for Mitigation

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Taking the 'physical' out of physical education

Fluctuations in and out of equilibrium: Thermalization, quantum measurements and Coulomb disorder

This purely theoretical thesis covers aspects of two contemporary research fields: the non-equilibrium dynamics in quantum systems and the electronic properties of three-dimensional topological insulators. In the first part we investigate the non-equilibrium dynamics in closed quantum systems. Thanks to recent technologies, especially from the field of ultracold quantum gases, it is possible to realize such systems in the laboratory. The focus is on the influence of hydrodynamic slow modes on the thermalization process. Generic systems in equilibrium, either classical or quantum, in equilibrium are described by thermodynamics. This is characterized by an ensemble of maximal entropy, but constrained by macroscopically conserved quantities. We will show that these conservation laws slow down thermalization and the final equilibrium state can be approached only algebraically in time. When the conservation laws are violated thermalization takes place exponential in time. In a different study we calculate probability distributions of projective quantum measurements. Newly developed quantum microscopes provide the opportunity to realize new measurement protocols which go far beyond the conventional measurements of correlation functions. The second part of this thesis is dedicated to a new class of materials known as three-dimensional topological insulators. Also here new experimental techniques have made it possible to fabricate these materials to a high enough quality that their topological nature is revealed. However, their transport properties are not fully understood yet. Motivated by unusual experimental results in the optical conductivity we have investigated the formation and thermal destruction of spatially localized electron- and hole-doped regions. These are caused by charged impurities which are introduced into the material in order to make the bulk insulating. Our theoretical results are in agreement with the experiment and can explain the results semi-quantitatively. Furthermore, we study emergent lengthscales in the bulk as well as close to the conducting surface.