Attitudes to telecare among older people,professional care workers and informal carers: a preventative strategy or crisis management?

This paper reports findings from an attitudinal survey towards telecare that emerged from 22 focus groups comprising 92 older people, 55 professional stakeholders and 39 carers. These were convened in three different regions of England as a precursor to telecare service development. The results from this study suggest that informants’ views were shaped by prior knowledge of conventional health and social care delivery in their locality, and the implication is that expectations and requirements with respect to telecare services in general are likely to be informed by wider perceptions about the extent to which community care should operate as a preventative strategy or as a mechanism for crisis management.

Crystal and molecular structure of the thioether-analogue of PEEK from X-ray powder data and diffraction-modelling

Analysis of X-ray powder data for the melt-crystallisable aromatic poly(thioether thioether ketone) [-S-Ar-S-Ar-CO-Ar]_n, (‘PTTK’, Ar=1,4-phenylene), reveals that it adopts a crystal structure very different from that established for its ether-analogue PEEK. Molecular modelling and diffraction-simulation studies of PTTK show that the structure of this polymer is analogous to that of melt-crystallised poly(thioetherketone) [-S-Ar-CO-Ar]_n in which the carbonyl linkages in symmetry-related chains are aligned anti-parallel to one another, and that these bridging units are crystallographically interchangeable. The final model for the crystal structure of PTTK is thus disordered, in the monoclinic space group I2/a (two chains per unit cell), with cell dimensions a=7.83, b=6.06, c=10.35 Å, β=93.47°.     

Experimental evaluation of mental health programs.

The purpose of this paper was twofold: to illustrate the application of classical research methodology to an examination of problems in a social environment, specifically the mental health field; and, to point to some of the strengths and weaknesses of this approach. A quasi-experimental design and its application to the study of effects resulting from an introduction of a comprehensive psychiatric center into a region of Saskatchewan not previously so served was presented. The definition of relevant criterion variables and appropriate controls in this context was discussed. Preliminary results of the study were considered, with attention given to such parameters as change in incidence of psychiatric case-load and changes in admission rate. Positive features of this type of design in terms of its utility for specifying variables in specific problem areas, and limitations in terms of the need for some additional more broadly based research strategy, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of protein types and low molecular weight surfactants on spray drying of sugar-rich foods

The effect of protein types and low molecular weight surfactants (LMS) on spray drying of sugar-rich foods has been studied using sucrose as a model sugar and sodium caseinate (NaCas) and pea protein isolate (PPI) as model proteins. Sodium stearoyl lactylate (SSL) and Polysorbate 80 (Tween-80) were chosen as model ionic and non-ionic LMS. The sucrose:NaCas and sucrose:PPI solid ratios were maintained at (99.5:0.5) and (99:1), respectively and spray-dried maintaining 25% solids in feed solutions. It was found that the proteins preferentially migrated to the air–water interface reasonably swiftly and the addition of LMS resulted into partial or complete displacement of the proteins from the air–water interface. More than 80% of amorphous sucrose powder was produced with the addition of 0.13% (w/w) of NaCas in feed solution. PPI was not as effective and produced less than 50% recovery even at 0.26% (w/w) in feed. Addition of 0.01–0.05% SSL displaced 2.0% and 29.3% of proteins from the surface of sucrose–NaCas–SSL droplet, respectively, resulting in a 6.5 ± 1.2% to 51.9 ± 1.9% reduction in powder recovery. The extent of protein displacement was higher when SSL was added into sucrose–PPI solution; however, the powder recovery was not much affected. The addition of 0.01% Tween-80 in sucrose–NaCas solution resulted in a 48.2 ± 1.5% reduction in powder recovery and at 0.05% concentration, it displaced a substantial amount or all the NaCas from the droplet surface and no powder was recovered. The addition of 0.01% and 0.05% Tween-80 into sucrose–PPI solution resulted into very low powder recoveries (24.9 ± 0.4% and 29.5 ± 1.8%, respectively). The glass transition temperature (T_g) results revealed that the amount of protein required for successful spray drying of sucrose–protein solutions depends on the amount of proteins present on the droplet surface but not on the bulk concentration. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy results showed that the powders of sucrose–NaCas/PPI and sucrose–NaCas/PPI with 0.01% SSL were mostly amorphous while those with sucrose–NaCas/PPI–Tween-80 (0.01%), sucrose–PPI–Tween-80 (0.05%) and sucrose–NaCas/PPI–SSL (0.05%) were crystalline.     

Hydrogen‐Bonding‐Assisted Intermolecular Charge Transfer: A New Strategy to Design Single‐Component White‐Light‐Emitting Materials

This study reveals the mechanism of the dual‐emission properties for asymmetrical diphenylsulfone and diphenylketone derivatives. A series of asymmetrical diphenylketone and diphenylsulfone derivatives with dual‐emission properties are designed and synthesized. By single crystal structure analyses, various photophysical studies, and 2D ¹H–¹H NOSEY NMR studies, the lower energy emission bands in the dual‐emission spectra are successfully assigned to hydrogen‐bonding‐assisted intermolecular charge transfer emission. The emission properties of these compounds can easily be tuned in both solid state and solution state by destroying or strengthening the intermolecular hydrogen bonding. In addition, thermally activated delayed fluorescence characteristics for the intermolecular charge transfer emissions are also observed. The control of the intermolecular and intramolecular charge transfers serves as the basis for the generation of the white‐light emission. For compound CPzPO, nearly pure white‐light emission with CIE coordinates of (0.31, 0.32) is easily achieved by precipitation from dichloromethane and hexane mixed solvent system. These results clearly give an insight into the dual‐emission properties and provide a rational strategy for the design and synthesis of single‐component white‐light‐emitting materials and mechanoresponsive light‐emitting materials.     

Investigations of ruthenium pyrochlores as bifunctional oxygen electrodes

The lead–ruthenates oxides were synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis. Compounds in which part of the ruthenium is substituted with iridium were also prepared. The performance of these oxides for oxygen reduction and generation reactions was investigated in porous, gas-fed electrodes. The performance of pyrochlore oxide electrodes was shown to be excellent for oxygen reduction and generation reactions. It was observed that iridium substituted pyrochlores exhibit somewhat better performance for oxygen reduction than the unsubstituted compounds. The anodic corrosion resistance of pyrochlore-based porous electrodes was improved by using two different anionically conducting polymer overlayers, which slow down the diffusion of ruthenates and plumbate out of the electrode. The use of the conducting polymer overlayers resulted in improved performance of these electrodes.     

Atomic force microscopy of the morphology and mechanical behaviour of barnacle cyprid footprint proteins at the nanoscale

Barnacles are a major biofouler of man-made underwater structures. Prior to settlement, cypris larvae explore surfaces by reversible attachment effected by a ‘temporary adhesive’. During this exploratory behaviour, cyprids deposit proteinaceous ‘footprints’ of a putatively adhesive material. In this study, footprints deposited by Balanus amphitrite cyprids were probed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) in artificial sea water (ASW) on silane-modified glass surfaces. AFM images obtained in air yielded better resolution than in ASW and revealed the fibrillar nature of the secretion, suggesting that the deposits were composed of single proteinaceous nanofibrils, or bundles of fibrils. The force curves generated in pull-off force experiments in sea water consisted of regions of gradually increasing force, separated by sharp drops in extension force manifesting a characteristic saw-tooth appearance. Following the relaxation of fibrils stretched to high strains, force–distance curves in reverse stretching experiments could be described by the entropic elasticity model of a polymer chain. When subjected to relaxation exceeding 500 ms, extended footprint proteins refolded, and again showed saw-tooth unfolding peaks in subsequent force cycles. Observed rupture and hysteresis behaviour were explained by the ‘sacrificial bond’ model. Longer durations of relaxation (>5 s) allowed more sacrificial bond reformation and contributed to enhanced energy dissipation (higher toughness). The persistence length for the protein chains (L_P) was obtained. At high elongation, following repeated stretching up to increasing upper strain limits, footprint proteins detached at total stretched length of 10 µm.