Mass Transport in the Presence of Internal Defect Reactions—Concept of Conservative Ensembles: IV, Tracer Diffusion and Intercorrelation with Chemical Diffusion and Ion Conductivity

The tracer diffusion coefficient is analyzed for the case in which internal ionization equilibria have to be considered, using the concept of conservative ensembles. The relationships of the tracer diffusion coefficient with other phenome-nological parameters, viz., the chemical diffusion coefficient and the diffusion coefficient derived from the ionic conductivity, as well as with the defect diffusivities are given. The importance of mobile partially ionized or neutral defects is highlighted. In this respect the formulation of the tracer diffusion as an ambipolar diffusion of the different isotopes is helpful.     

Ethik-Cafés in der geriatrischen Langzeitpflege: halten sie,was sie versprechen?

Definition of the problem Ethics cafés in long-term geriatric care are considered as ethical education. They allow the participants to have an open discourse in a casual setting about moral issues related to daily work. In the literature, various characteristics are attributed to ethics cafés, e.g., improving analytical skills and communication, increasing ethical sensitivity and authority for making decisions. These characteristics primarily result from theory-based models. Arguments The goal of this study is the empirical investigation of the effectiveness of ethics cafés in the Nursing Homes Mattenhof–Irchelpark, Zurich. Furthermore, the study examined whether the subjective evaluation of characteristics of nurses and other professional groups are different. To capture the characteristics, a questionnaire was constructed in which the participants rated 16 statements during the survey period. A 5-point Likert scale was used for the analysis. One subgroup distinguished between “nursing staff” and “non-nursing staff”. Conclusion The postulated characteristics were confirmed with a very high approval. Therefore, the ethics cafés provide important input which enable the staff to analyze more clearly in difficult situations or to let them decide ethically in a more sensitive manner and to justify decisions made. The interdisciplinary approach supports an understanding of the views and arguments among the various areas and hierarchies. The differences between the two professionals groups are partially highly significant. It can be noted that the assigned characteristics in the questionnaire are generally perceived stronger and more significantly by the nursing staff. Therefore, a distinction must be made when interpreting the results of this study concerning the participants.     

Giving too much social support: social overload on social networking sites

As the number of messages and social relationships embedded in social networking sites (SNS) increases, the amount of social information demanding a reaction from individuals increases as well. We observe that, as a consequence, SNS users feel they are giving too much social support to other SNS users. Drawing on social support theory (SST), we call this negative association with SNS usage ‘social overload’ and develop a latent variable to measure it. We then identify the theoretical antecedents and consequences of social overload and evaluate the social overload model empirically using interviews with 12 and a survey of 571 Facebook users. The results show that extent of usage, number of friends, subjective social support norms, and type of relationship (online-only vs offline friends) are factors that directly contribute to social overload while age has only an indirect effect. The psychological and behavioral consequences of social overload include feelings of SNS exhaustion by users, low levels of user satisfaction, and a high intention to reduce or even stop using SNS. The resulting theoretical implications for SST and SNS acceptance research are discussed and practical implications for organizations, SNS providers, and SNS users are drawn.     

MALDI-TOF MS: an upcoming tool for rapid detection of antibiotic resistance in microorganisms

MALDI-TOF MS profiling for microorganism detection has already been demonstrated in the 1990s, but has evolved to the first-line identification method in many laboratories just during the past five years. While this application of MALDI-TOF MS has proven its broad applicability, accuracy, robustness, and cost-effectiveness it is of particular interest to expand the capabilities of the mass spectrometric platform. Resistance detection is the most desirable further application of MALDI-TOF MS in microbiology, but maybe also the most challenging. Different approaches have been published regarding diverse antibiotic drugs and distinct microorganism classes. The current review shall give an overview about the developments of the recent years and their potential to get transformed in clinical useful assays in the future.     

Harvesting light with transformation optics

Transformation optics （TO） is a new tool for controlling electromagnetic fields. In the context of metamaterial technology, it provides a direct link between a desired electromagnetic （EM） phenomenon and the material response required for its occurrence. Recently, this powerful framework has been successfully exploited to study surface plasmon assisted phenomena such as light harvesting. Here, we review the general strategy based on TO to design plasmonic devices capable of harvesting light over a broadband spectrum and achieving considerable field confinement and enhancement. The methodology starts with two-dimensional （2D） cases, such as 2D metal edges, crescent-shaped cylinders, nanowire dimers, and rough metal surfaces, and is well extended to fully-fledged three-dimensional （3D） situations. The largely analytic approach gives physical insights into the processes involved and suggests a way forward to study a wide variety of plasmonic nanostructures.     

Processing and interactive editing of huge point clouds from 3D scanners

This paper describes a new out-of-core multi-resolution data structure for real-time visualization, interactive editing and externally efficient processing of large point clouds. We describe an editing system that makes use of the novel data structure to provide interactive editing and preprocessing tools for large scanner data sets. Using the new data structure, we provide a complete tool chain for 3D scanner data processing, from data preprocessing and filtering to manual touch-up and real-time visualization. In particular, we describe an out-of-core outlier removal and bilateral geometry filtering algorithm, a toolset for interactive selection, painting, transformation, and filtering of huge out-of-core point-cloud data sets and a real-time rendering algorithm, which all use the same data structure as storage backend. The interactive tools work in real-time for small model modifications. For large scale editing operations, we employ a two-resolution approach where editing is planned in real-time and executed in an externally efficient offline computation afterwards. We evaluate our implementation on example data sets of sizes up to 63 GB, demonstrating that the proposed technique can be used effectively in real-world applications.     

A formal framework for scenario development in support of environmental decision-making

Scenarios are possible future states of the world that represent alternative plausible conditions under different assumptions. Often, scenarios are developed in a context relevant to stakeholders involved in their applications since the evaluation of scenario outcomes and implications can enhance decision-making activities. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art of scenario development and proposes a formal approach to scenario development in environmental decision-making. The discussion of current issues in scenario studies includes advantages and obstacles in utilizing a formal scenario development framework, and the different forms of uncertainty inherent in scenario development, as well as how they should be treated. An appendix for common scenario terminology has been attached for clarity. Major recommendations for future research in this area include proper consideration of uncertainty in scenario studies in particular in relation to stakeholder relevant information, construction of scenarios that are more diverse in nature, and sharing of information and resources among the scenario development research community.     

Finite element analysis of combined forming processes by means of rate dependent ductile damage modelling

Sheet metal forming is an inherent part of todays production industry. A major goal is to increase the forming limits of classical deep-drawing processes. One possibility to achieve that is to combine the conventional quasi-static (QS) forming process with electromagnetic high-speed (HS) post-forming. This work focuses on the finite element analysis of such combined forming processes to demonstrate the improvement which can be achieved. For this purpose, a cooperation of different institutions representing different work fields has been established. The material characterization is based on flow curves and forming limit curves for low and high strain rates obtained by novel testing devices. Further experimental investigations have been performed on the process chain of a cross shaped cup, referring to both purely quasi-static and quasi-static combined with electromagnetic forming. While efficient mathematical optimization algorithms support the new viscoplastic ductile damage modelling to find the optimum parameters based on the results of experimental material characterization, the full process chain is studied by means of an electro-magneto-mechanical finite element analysis. The constitutive equations of the material model are integrated in an explicit manner and implemented as a user material subroutine into the commercial finite element package LS-DYNA.