The contribution of metamemory deficits to schizophrenia.

A number of recent studies have demonstrated that individuals with schizophrenia display knowledge corruption; that is, they hold false information with strong conviction. This aberration in metamemory is thought to stem from poor memory accuracy in conjunction with impaired discrimination of correct and incorrect judgments in terms of confidence. Thirty-one participants with schizophrenia, along with 61 healthy control participants and 48 control participants with other psychiatric conditions, participated in a computerized source memory task. Whereas no differences in memory accuracy were observed between the group with schizophrenia and the group with other psychiatric diagnoses, knowledge corruption was specifically impaired in those with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia participants showed a significantly decreased confidence gap: They were more confident in errors and less confident in correct responses relative to those in the control groups. Knowledge corruption is theorized to be a potential risk factor for the emergence of delusions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Routine immunization of infants in the Canton of Zurich

At present there is a shortage of data regarding the rate of routine immunization in Swiss children. To address this deficit, a representative cross sectional study was conducted in the Canton of Zurich with 210 children aged between 24 and 36 months. Data was taken from the individual official vaccination certificates. 178 vaccination certificates (55.1% female and 44.9% male) were evaluated, corresponding to a response rate of 84.8%. With children of foreign nationalities, the response rate was 66.7%, whereas the response rate of Swiss children was 90.6% (p < 0.001). The response rate of children of a European nationality outside the European Union was especially poor (33.3%). The immunization rate with three doses of diphtheria, tetanus and poliomyelitis vaccines was 99.4%, and that of the pertussis vaccine was 93.3%. With the vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella the rates were 80.3%, 78.1% and 77.5% respectively. Vaccination rate against Haemophilus influenzae type B was 74.7% with two doses, and 61.2% with three doses. The timing and the number of doses of the vaccines used for infants in the Canton of Zurich were satisfactory. However, the vaccination rate for measles, mumps and rubella is inadequate. Attention should be paid to this problem and also to possible insufficient care of foreign children.     

Nanostructured Si/Organic Heterojunction Solar Cells with High Open‐Circuit Voltage via Improving Junction Quality

Nanostructured silicon (Si) can provide improved light harvest efficiencies in organic‐Si heterojunction solar cells due to its low light reflection ratio compared with planar one. However, the associated large surface/volume ratio of nanostructured Si suffers from serious surface recombination as well as poor adhesion with organics in organic‐Si heterojunction solar cells, which leads to an inferior open‐circuit voltage (V_oc). Here, we develop a simple and effective method to suppress charge recombination as well as enhancing adhesion force between nanostructured Si and organics by incorporating a silane chemical, namely 3‐glycidoxypropyltrimethoxydsilane (GOPS). GOPS can chemically graft onto nanostructured Si and improve the aqueous organic wetting properties, suppressing surface charge recombination velocity dramatically. In addition, this chemically grafted layer can enhance adhesion force between organics and Si. In such a way, a record V_oc of 640 mV associated with a power conversion efficiency of 14.1% is obtained for organic‐nanostructured Si heterojunction devices. These findings suggest a promising approach to low‐cost and simple fabrication for high‐performance organic‐Si solar cells.     

Separation efficiency of particle-packed HPLC microchips

We report an experimental study of separation efficiency in microchip high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). For this study, prototype HPLC microchips were developed that are characterized by minimal dead volume, a separation channel with trapezoidal cross section, and on-chip UV detection. A custom-built stainless steel holder enabled microchip packing under pressures of up to 400 bar and ultrasonication. Bed densities were investigated with respect to the packing conditions and consistently related to pressure drop over the packed microchannels and separation efficiency under isocratic elution conditions. The derived plate height curves show a decrease of mobile phase mass transfer resistance with increasing bed density. High bed densities are critical to separation performance in noncylindrical packed beds, because only at low bed porosities does hydrodynamic dispersion in noncylindrical packings come close to that of cylindrical packings. At higher bed porosities, the presence of fluid channels of advanced flow velocity in the corners of noncylindrical packings affects hydrodynamic dispersion strongly. We demonstrate that the separation channels of HPLC microchips can be packed as densely as the cylindrical fused-silica capillaries used in nano-HPLC and that consequently microchip-HPLC separation efficiencies comparable to those of nano-HPLC can be achieved.     

In situ optical characterization and reengineering of interference coatings

A new optical monitoring system has been developed that allows recording of transmission spectra in the wavelength range between 400 and 920 nm of a growing optical coating during deposition. Several kinds of thin film sample have been prepared by use of a hybrid monitoring strategy that is essentially based on a combination of quartz monitoring and in situ transmission spectra measurements. We demonstrate and discuss the applicability of our system for reengineering procedures of high-low stacks and measurements of small vacuum or thermal shifts of optical coatings.     

Optical and chemical characterization of thin TiNx films deposited by DC-magnetron sputtering

Thin titanium nitride (TiN_x) films were deposited on silicon substrates by means of a reactive DC-magnetron plasma. Layers were synthesized under various conditions of discharge power and nitrogen flows in two operation modes of the magnetron (the so-called “balanced” and “unbalanced” modes). The optical constants of the TiN_x films were investigated by spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to determine the relative atomic concentration and chemical states of the TiN_x films. The density and thickness of the films have been investigated by means of grazing incidence X-ray reflectometry (GIXR). The results of the layer analyses were combined with plasma investigations carried out by means of energy resolved mass spectrometry (ERMS) under the same conditions. It is shown that the magnetron mode has a clear influence on the titanium deposition rate and the incorporation of nitrogen into the layers.     

基于基塘系统的珠江三角洲多尺度水敏设计研究

珠江三角洲是位于中国东南部以河流为主导的洪泛平原。由于堤防建设、河流渠化和城市化带来纳水空间的减少,珠江三角洲地区的河流、雨水和海洋所引起的洪水风险增加。为了防范洪水风险,需要采取更具适应性的城市化战略,在考虑多尺度研究视角的同时,重视珠江三角洲传统水利方法(即生态农业),例如利用传统水管理方法的基塘系统。确定基于该地区传统水陆混合农业实践的多尺度水敏设计的景观设计原则。顺德地区地处珠江三角洲西江和北江之间洪水易发的低地,这种传统水陆混合农业系统已经有着悠久的历史并促使其形成了与水共生的传统。通过学习传统的水陆混合农业实践,发现新的设计原则,从而减轻洪水风险,同时促进可持续的城市化。这种新的方法将不仅服务于顺德区,而且包括整个珠江三角洲,以增加对于洪水的适应性。