Evaluation of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on a smoking cessation service in Derbyshire: An interrupted time series analysis.

Background: Data published early in the COVID-19 pandemic suggested that smokers infected with SARS-CoV-2 were more likely to need hospital treatment or die than non-smokers, and thus this was seen as a motivator to encourage smokers to make a quit attempt. Live Life Better Derbyshire (LLBD) is an integrated lifestyle service providing free support for residents Derbyshire, UK, who want to quit smoking. On 19 March 2020, LLBD converted from offering face-to-face cessation support to a smoking cessation service delivered remotely.

Color Tunable, Lithography-Free Refractory Metal-Oxide Metacoatings with a Graded Refractive Index Profile.

The refractory metal-oxide semiconductors are an overlooked platform for nanophononics that offer alloys with high melting points and tunable optical constants through stoichiometry changes and ion intercalation. We show that these semiconductors can form metamaterial coatings (metacoatings) made from a set of highly subwavelength, periodic metal-oxide layers (≤20 nm) with a varying and graded refractive index profile that includes a combination of high and low refractive indices and plasmonic layers. These metacoatings exhibit vibrant, structural color arising from the periodic index profile that can be tuned across the visible spectrum, over ultralarge lateral areas through bottom-up thermal annealing techniques.

Improving community support for older people's needs through commissioning third sector services: a qualitative study.

Aim: This exploratory study of commissioning third sector services for older people aimed to explore whether service data was fed back to commissioners and whether this could improve intelligence about the population and hence inform future commissioning decisions.

Background: Third sector services are provided through charities and non-profit community organizations, and over recent years services have developed that assess and advise people for self-management or provide wellbeing support in the community. Third sector services have an opportunity to reach vulnerable populations and to provide intelligence about them.

High-throughput physical vapour deposition flexible thermoelectric generators.

Flexible thermoelectric generators (TEGs) can provide uninterrupted, green energy from body-heat, overcoming bulky battery configurations that limit the wearable-technologies market today. High-throughput production of flexible TEGs is currently dominated by printing techniques, limiting material choices and performance. This work investigates the compatibility of physical vapour deposition (PVD) techniques with a flexible commercial process, roll-to-roll (R2R), for thermoelectric applications.

Nonlinear refractive index of ultrafast laser inscribed waveguides in gallium lanthanum sulphide.

We demonstrate ultrafast all-optical switching in femtosecond laser inscribed nonlinear directional couplers in gallium lanthanum sulphide operated at 1.55 μm. We report on the evaluation of the nonlinear refractive index of the waveguides forming the directional couplers by making use of the switching parameters.

Qualitative study investigating the commissioning process for older people's services provided by third sector organisations: SOPRANO study protocol.

Introduction: The commissioning of third sector services for older people may influence the quality, availability and coordination of services for older people. The SOPRANO study aims to understand the relationships between and processes of commissioning bodies and third sector organisations providing health and social care services for older people.

Methods And Analysis: This qualitative study will be based in the East Midlands region of England.

Refractive index and dispersion control of ultrafast laser inscribed waveguides in gallium lanthanum sulphide for near and mid-infrared applications.

The powerful ultrafast laser inscription technique is used to fabricate optical waveguides in gallium lanthanum sulphide substrates. For the first time the refractive index profile and the dispersion of such ultrafast laser inscribed waveguides are experimentally measured. In addition the Zero Dispersion Wavelength of both the waveguides and bulk substrate is experimentally determined.

A changing understanding in the presentation of patients with hepatoportal venous gas: a case report.

Often believed to be a poor prognostic sign, hepatoportal venous gas (HPVG) has been associated with massive intra-abdominal sepsis. It is more frequently detected as computed tomography imaging techniques improve. A patient presenting with radiological evidence of HPVG is discussed and the literature reviewed.