Structural, Electrochemical, and (De)lithiation Mechanism Investigation of Cation-Disordered Rocksalt and Spinel Hybrid Nanomaterials in Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Significant demand for lithium-ion batteries necessitates alternatives to Co- and Ni-based cathode materials. Cation-disordered materials using earth-abundant elements are being explored as promising candidates. In this paper, we demonstrate a coprecipitation synthetic approach that allows direct preparation of disordered rocksalt LiFeTiO (r-LFTO·C) and spinel structured hybrid LiFeTiO·C (s-LFTO·C) nanoparticles with a conformal conductive carbon coating.

An Evaluation of the New Zealand Smartphone Course for Older Adults.

In contemporary society, where digital literacy is an essential skill, older adults can face disadvantages because they frequently have lower levels of digital literacy than younger cohorts. This research evaluated the effectiveness of a smartphone course developed by Age Concern Otago (a New Zealand non-government organization), with the aim of improving digital literacy among older adults. This was achieved using a pre- and post-course survey study design.

How to undertake research with refugees: lessons learned from a qualitative health research programme in Southern New Zealand.

Background Refugee health is an issue of global importance. Refugees have high and complex mental, physical and social needs and poor health outcomes. There is a clear need for more research prioritising refugees' perspectives of health care in their settlement countries; however, a number of methodological and ethical challenges can make this process difficult.

Atomistic Origins of Conductance Switching in an ε-CuVO Neuromorphic Single Crystal Oscillator.

Building artificial neurons and synapses is key to achieving the promise of energy efficiency and acceleration envisioned for brain-inspired information processing. Emulating the spiking behavior of biological neurons in physical materials requires precise programming of conductance nonlinearities. Strong correlated solid-state compounds exhibit pronounced nonlinearities such as metal-insulator transitions arising from dynamic electron-electron and electron-lattice interactions.

Interphase formation fluoride-ion insertion in tunnel-structured transition metal antimonites.

Fluoridating reagents are used to model interfacial reactions in fluoride-ion batteries. Topochemical F-ion insertion is seen for one-dimensional (1D) tunnel-structured FeSbO but interphase formation comprising antimony (oxy)fluorides is observed for MnSbO.

Providing medically assisted dying in Canada: a qualitative study of emotional and moral impact.

Purpose: Medical assistance in dying (MAiD) in Canada places the medical provider at the centre of the process. The MAiD provider holds primary responsibility for determining eligibility and becomes acquainted with patients' inner desires and expressions of suffering. This is followed by the MAiD procedure of administering the lethal agent and being present at the death of eligible patients.

Moral economy and moral capital: A new approach to understanding health systems.

Healthcare systems can be considered moral economies in which moral capital in the form of expectations toward norms, values, and virtues are exchanged and traded. Moral capital, as a concept, is an extension of Bourdieu's forms of symbolic, and in particular, cultural capital. This research set out to identify forms of moral capital evident in the accounts of health professionals and patients within the distinctive healthcare systems of Germany, New Zealand, and the Unites States.

Interface-modulated kinetic differentials in electron and hole transfer rates as a key design principle for redox photocatalysis by Sb2VO5/QD heterostructures.

The efficient conversion of solar energy to chemical energy represents a critical bottleneck to the energy transition. Photocatalytic splitting of water to generate solar fuels is a promising solution. Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) are prime candidates for light-harvesting components of photocatalytic heterostructures, given their size-dependent photophysical properties and band-edge energies.

Diamond surface functionalization via visible light-driven C-H activation for nanoscale quantum sensing.

Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond are a promising platform for nanoscale NMR sensing. Despite significant progress toward using NV centers to detect and localize nuclear spins down to the single spin level, NV-based spectroscopy of individual, intact, arbitrary target molecules remains elusive. Such sensing requires that target molecules are immobilized within nanometers of NV centers with long spin coherence.

Elucidation of Surface Functional Groups Deposited by Electrochemical Surface Treatment of Discontinuous Carbon Fiber by NEXAFS and XPS.

Control of carbon fiber heteroatom (oxygen and nitrogen) functionalization using electrochemical oxidation is explored in a variety of electrolyte solutions. Results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy indicate that most electrolytes in aqueous and anodic conditions are limited to heteroatom surface content of no more than 13 atomic percent (at %) with a majority C-O and/or C-N moieties; the remaining moieties include an oxidative sequence of carbon (alcohol to ketone to carboxylate) and more complex O- and N-containing groups. The pH of the electrolyte solution was found to be crucial in controlling the ratio of the amount of oxygen to nitrogen functionalities, with the increased basicity of solution resulting in higher nitrogen deposition.

Effect of Stereochemically Active Electron Lone Pairs on Magnetic Ordering in Trivanadates.

Stereoactive electron lone pairs derived from filled 5/6s states of p-block cations are an intriguing electronic and geometric structure motif that have been exploited for diverse applications such as thermoelectrics, thermochromics, photocatalysis, and nonlinear optics. Layered trivanadates are dynamic intercalation hosts, where the insertion of cations can be used to tune electron correlation, charge localization, and magnetic ordering. However, the interaction of 5/6s stereoactive electron lone pairs with layered trivanadates remains unexplored.

It's a family affair: Confucian familist philosophy's potential to improve mental health care for ethnic Chinese in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Many ethnic groups traditionally value familism, which emphasises interdependence and the extended family unit. However, Aotearoa New Zealand's health system remains largely individual-oriented, with the implementation of family-centred care remaining inconsistent. This is known to have negative effects on Māori healthcare experiences and outcomes.

Moral distress in rural veterinarians as an outcome of the incursion in southern New Zealand.

Aims: To gain insight into the world of rural veterinarians during the incursion within southern Aotearoa New Zealand by exploring their experiences during the incursion, and to understand the consequences, positive and negative, of these experiences.

Methods: A qualitative social science research methodology, guided by the philosophical paradigm of pragmatism, was used to collect data from an information-rich sample (n = 6) of rural veterinarians from Otago and Southland. Interview and focus group techniques were used, both guided by a semi-structured interview guide.

Lessons learnt from the implementation of new models of care delivery through alliance governance in the Southern health region of New Zealand: a qualitative study.

Objectives: To explore the process of implementation of the primary and community care strategy (new models of care delivery) through alliance governance in the Southern health region of New Zealand (NZ).

Design: Qualitative semistructured interviews were undertaken. A framework-guided rapid analysis was conducted, informed by implementation science theory-the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research.

Estimating the prevalence of drawing in clinical practice among kiwi doctors.

Drawing has played a key role in the development and dissemination of Medicine and Surgery, such as to share anatomy, pathology, and techniques for clinical interventions. While many of the visuals used in medicine today are created by medical illustration professionals, and by imaging techniques such as photography and radiography; many doctors continue to draw routinely in their clinical practice. This is known to be valued by patients, for example when making informed decisions about care.

Evidence that gecko setae are coated with an ordered nanometre-thin lipid film.

The fascinating adhesion of gecko to virtually any material has been related to surface interactions of myriads of spatula at the tips of gecko feet. Surprisingly, the molecular details of the surface chemistry of gecko adhesion are still largely unknown. Lipids have been identified within gecko adhesive pads.

"There is a huge need, and it's growing endlessly": perspectives of mental health service providers to ethnic Chinese in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Aim: Little is known about the experiences of ethnic Chinese accessing mental health services in Aotearoa New Zealand, resulting in uncertainty around their service preferences, and facilitators or barriers to their mental health help-seeking. This paper investigated the experiences of providers of specific mental health services for ethnic Chinese in Aotearoa, their opinions regarding their patients' experience, and their suggestions to improve the system.

Method: Sixteen health professionals with experience and expertise delivering mental health services for ethnic Chinese were interviewed at 12 organisations across Aotearoa.

Winging it: a qualitative study of knowledge-acquisition experiences for early adopting providers of medical assistance in dying.

Background: Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) was legalized in Canada without a designated period for implementation. Providers did not have access to customary alternatives for training and mentorship during the first 1-3 years after legalization.

Objective: To report on how doctors prepared for their first provision of MAID in the early period after legalization in Canada.

Multimodal electrochemistry coupled microcalorimetric and X-ray probing of the capacity fade mechanisms of Nickel rich NMC - progress and outlook.

Lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) is a commercially successful Li-ion battery cathode due to its high energy density; however, its delivered capacity must be intentionally limited to achieve capacity retention over extended cycling. To design next-generation NMC batteries with longer life and higher capacity the origins of high potential capacity fade must be understood. hard X-ray characterization techniques are critical for this endeavor as they allow the acquisition of information about the evolution of structure, oxidation state, and coordination environment of NMC as the material (de)lithiates in a functional battery.

Identifying stressor criteria that hinder or challenge junior clinical medical student learning.

Introduction: What makes something a stressor within clinical students' education is unclear. Medical students moving from a predominantly protected classroom environment to a situated-work environment provided an ideal transition point to explore the criteria that might make a learning experience a stressor and whether these stressors hinder or challenge learning.

Method: Data on the stressors associated with learning experiences in clinical education were collected from New Zealand undergraduate medical students.

Carbon-free high-performance cathode for solid-state Li-O battery.

The development of a cathode for solid-state lithium-oxygen batteries has been hindered in practice by a low capacity and limited cycle life despite their potential for high energy density. Here, a previously unexplored strategy is proposed wherein the cathode delivers a specific capacity of 200 milliampere hour per gram over 665 discharge/charge cycles, while existing cathodes achieve only ~50 milliampere hour per gram and ~100 cycles. A highly conductive ruthenium-based composite is designed as a carbon-free cathode by first-principles calculations to avoid the degradation associated with carbonaceous materials, implying an improvement in stability during the electrochemical cycling.

Structure of Keratins in Adhesive Gecko Setae Determined by Near-Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure Spectromicroscopy.

Geckos have the astonishing ability to climb on vertical surfaces due to the adhesive properties of fibrous setae at the tips of their toe pads. While the adhesion mechanism principle, based on van der Waals interactions of myriads of spatula located at the outermost end of the setal arrays, has been studied extensively, there are still open questions about the chemistry of gecko setae. The gecko adhesive system is based on keratin fibrils assembled to support the entire setal structure.

Social determinants and inequitable maternal and perinatal outcomes in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Objectives: Aotearoa New Zealand has demonstrable maternal and perinatal health inequity. We examined the relationships between adverse outcomes in a total population sample of births and a range of social determinant variables representing barriers to equity.

Methods: Using the Statistics New Zealand Integrated Data Infrastructure suite of linked administrative data sets, adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes (mortality and severe morbidity) were linked to socio-economic and health variables for 97% of births in New Zealand between 2003 and 2018 (~970,000 births).

The discursive context of medical aid in dying: A paradox of control?

Individual agency is central to late modern and neoliberal concepts of the self and notions of a good death. Assisted dying can be understood as a reflection of these ideas in that control over death resides with the individual. The aim of this article is to explore individual agency and control and employ concepts of biopower and freedom to illustrate the paradoxes inherent within assisted dying.