Educational needs of direct care workers in long-term care facilities providing mealtime assistance to older adults with dementia.

Background: Older adults with dementia in long-term care facilities often encounter challenges in self-feeding owing to cognitive and physical impairments. Although direct care workers play a crucial role in facilitating mealtime activities, they lack adequate and specific training. To develop an effective educational training program for this purpose, it is essential to understand the educational needs of direct care workers providing meal assistance.

Design Rule of Electron- and Hole-Selective Contacts for Polycrystalline Silicon-Based Passivating Contact Solar Cells.

A crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cell with a polycrystalline silicon/SiO (poly-Si/SiO) structure, incorporating both electron and hole contacts, is an attractive choice for achieving ideal carrier selectivity and serving as a fundamental component in high-efficiency perovskite/Si tandem and interdigitated back-contact solar cells. However, our understanding of the carrier transport mechanism of hole contacts remains limited owing to insufficient studies dedicated to its investigation. There is also a lack of comparative studies on the poly-Si/SiO electron and hole contacts for ideal carrier-selective solar cells.

Thermal annealing effects on tunnel oxide passivated hole contacts for high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells.

Tunnel oxide passivated contacts (TOPCon) embedding a thin oxide layer between polysilicon and base crystalline silicon have shown great potential in the development of solar cells with high conversion efficiency. In this study, we investigate the formation mechanism of hole-carrier selective contacts with TOPCon structure on n-type crystalline silicon wafers. We explore the thermal annealing effects on the passivation properties in terms of the stability of the thermally-formed silicon oxide layer and the deposition conditions of boron-doped polysilicon.

Organic Anisotropic Excitonic Optical Nanoantennas.

Optical nanoantennas provide control of light at the nanoscale, which makes them important for diverse areas ranging from photocatalysis and flat metaoptics to sensors and biomolecular tweezing. They have traditionally been limited to metallic and dielectric nanostructures that sustain plasmonic and Mie resonances, respectively. More recently, nanostructures of organic J-aggregate excitonic materials have been proposed capable of also supporting nanooptical resonances, although their advance has been hampered from difficulty in nanostructuring.

Fully Bottom-Up Waste-Free Growth of Ultrathin Silicon Wafer via Self-Releasing Seed Layer.

The fabrication of ultrathin silicon wafers at low cost is crucial for advancing silicon electronics toward stretchability and flexibility. However, conventional fabrication techniques are inefficient because they sacrifice a large amount of substrate material. Thus, advanced silicon electronics that have been realized in laboratories cannot move forward to commercialization.

Effect of a multidisciplinary program to improve organ donation in the emergency department.

Background And Importance: As the emergency department (ED) is an important source of potential organ donors, it may play an important role in the organ donation process.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of the multidisciplinary organ donation improvement program (ODIP) on identifying potential donors and improving organ donation in South Korean EDs.

Design, Settings, And Participants: This study was a retrospective, observational study of the ED-inclusive ODIP implemented in 55 tertiary teaching hospitals contracted with the Korea Organ Donation Agency (KODA) since 2014.

Formation and suppression of hydrogen blisters in tunnelling oxide passivating contact for crystalline silicon solar cells.

The formation of hydrogen blisters in the fabrication of tunnelling oxide passivating contact (TOPCon) solar cells critically degrades passivation. In this study, we investigated the formation mechanism of blisters during the fabrication of TOPCons for crystalline silicon solar cells and the suppression of such blisters. We tested the effects of annealing temperature and duration, surface roughness, and deposition temperature on the blister formation, which was suppressed in two ways.

Moiré-fringeless Transparent Conductive Films with a Random Serpentine Network of Medium-Field Electrospun, Chemically Annealed Silver Microfibres.

Low-cost flexible transparent conductive films (TCFs) with direct writing of metal grids have been explored as a promising alternative to conventional indium-tin-oxide-based TCFs for future flexible electronics. However, flexible TCFs have raised technical concerns because of their disadvantages, such as low resolution, low productivity, poor optoelectrical performance, poor thermal stability, and adverse moiré fringes, which primarily arise from the superposition of periodic patterns. Herein, a facile and highly productive method to fabricate moiré-fringeless TCFs with good optoelectrical characteristics and excellent thermal stability is presented using a single-pass printed random serpentine network of medium-field electrospun silver microfibres (AgMFs) with a line width of 2.

Flexible/Rechargeable Zn-Air Batteries Based on Multifunctional Heteronanomat Architecture.

The increasing demand for advanced rechargeable batteries spurs development of new power sources beyond currently most widespread lithium-ion batteries. Here, we demonstrate a new class of flexible/rechargeable zinc (Zn)-air batteries based on multifunctional heteronanomat architecture as a scalable/versatile strategy to address this issue. In contrast to conventional electrodes that are mostly prepared by slurry-casting techniques, heteronanomat (denoted as "HM") framework-supported electrodes are fabricated through one-pot concurrent electrospraying (for electrode powders/single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs)) and electrospinning (for polyetherimide (PEI) nanofibers) process.

The vitamin D receptor expression in skeletal muscle of women with distal radius fracture.

Unlabelled: We evaluated the vitamin D receptor (VDR) expression in the forearm flexor muscle of women with distal radius fracture. High VDR expression was associated with low appendicular lean mass index.

Introduction: We aimed to evaluate the relationship between the VDR expression in the muscle cell and the muscle mass in women with a distal radius fracture (DRF).

Pyrolytic Carbon Hemiarthroplasty for Avascular Necrosis of the Metacarpal Head: A Case Report.

Avascular necrosis of the metacarpal head is a rare entity. Surgical interventions, such as curettage, bone-grafting, and osteotomy, have been reported in symptomatic patients. We present a patient who underwent pyrolytic carbon hemiarthroplasty of the metacarpal head and had satisfactory outcomes at 1-year follow-up.

Expression of vitamin D receptor in the subsynovial connective tissue in women with carpal tunnel syndrome.

Unlabelled: Studies suggest that low vitamin D levels are associated with carpal tunnel syndrome. We aimed to evaluate whether level of vitamin D receptor expression in the endothelial cells of the subsynovial connective tissue is associated with clinical features of carpal tunnel syndrome. We obtained the subsynovial connective tissue from 52 women with carpal tunnel syndrome during surgery and performed immunohistochemical analysis of vitamin D receptors in the endothelial cells of the subsynovial connective tissue.

Structural evolution of tunneling oxide passivating contact upon thermal annealing.

We report on the structural evolution of tunneling oxide passivating contact (TOPCon) for high efficient solar cells upon thermal annealing. The evolution of doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) into polycrystalline-silicon (poly-Si) by thermal annealing was accompanied with significant structural changes. Annealing at 600 °C for one minute introduced an increase in the implied open circuit voltage (V) due to the hydrogen motion, but the implied V decreased again at 600 °C for five minutes.

Olecranon Fractures Have Features of Osteoporotic Fracture.

Background: To determine whether olecranon fractures have osteoporotic features such as age-dependent, low bone attenuation and low-energy trauma as a cause of injury.

Methods: Elbow computed tomography (CT) and medical record review were performed in 114 patients (53 males and 61 females) with acute olecranon fractures. The mean age was 57 years.

Low evaluation rate for osteoporosis among patients presenting with a rib fracture.

Unlabelled: This study in a regional hospital setting found a low evaluation rate for osteoporosis among patients presenting with a rib fracture. Increased emphasis or education for osteoporosis evaluation may be necessary in case of rib fractures.

Introduction: Rib fractures from a low-energy trauma are common in the elderly, and a history of rib fracture has been reported to increase the risk for a subsequent osteoporotic fracture.

Enhancement of Light Absorption in Photovoltaic Devices using Textured Polydimethylsiloxane Stickers.

We designed and fabricated a random-size inverted-pyramid-structured polydimethylsiloxane (RSIPS-PDMS) sticker to enhance the light absorption of solar cells and thus increase their efficiency. The fabricated sticker was laminated onto bare glass and crystalline silicon (c-Si) surfaces; consequently, low solar-weighted reflectance values were obtained for these surfaces (6.88 and 17.

High-Temperature-Short-Time Annealing Process for High-Performance Large-Area Perovskite Solar Cells.

Organic-inorganic hybrid metal halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are attracting tremendous research interest due to their high solar-to-electric power conversion efficiency with a high possibility of cost-effective fabrication and certified power conversion efficiency now exceeding 22%. Although many effective methods for their application have been developed over the past decade, their practical transition to large-size devices has been restricted by difficulties in achieving high performance. Here we report on the development of a simple and cost-effective production method with high-temperature and short-time annealing processing to obtain uniform, smooth, and large-size grain domains of perovskite films over large areas.

Use of a decision aid did not decrease decisional conflict in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome.

Background: Although a model for shared decision-making is important for patient-centered care, decisional conflict can emerge when patients participate in the decision-making. A decision aid is proposed to provide information and to involve patients more comfortably in the decision-making process. We aimed to determine whether a decision aid helps patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) experience less decisional conflict regarding their decision-making for surgery.

Magnetic resonance imaging evaluation of the distal oblique bundle in the distal interosseous membrane of the forearm.

Background: Some cadaveric studies have reported the role of the distal oblique bundle (DOB) in the distal radioulnar joint stability. We aimed to determine whether the presence of the DOB can be identified and its thickness can be measured in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 468 wrist and forearm MRIs.

Unravelling a simple method for the low temperature synthesis of silicon nanocrystals and monolithic nanocrystalline thin films.

In this work, we present new results on the plasma processing and structure of hydrogenated polymorphous silicon (pm-Si:H) thin films. pm-Si:H thin films consist of a low volume fraction of silicon nanocrystals embedded in a silicon matrix with medium range order, and they possess this morphology as a significant contribution to their growth comes from the impact on the substrate of silicon clusters and nanocrystals synthesized in the plasma. Quadrupole mass spectrometry, ion flux measurements, and material characterization by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy all provide insight on the contribution to the growth by silicon nanocrystals during PECVD deposition.

18.4%-Efficient Heterojunction Si Solar Cells Using Optimized ITO/Top Electrode.

We optimize the thickness of a transparent conducting oxide (TCO) layer, and apply a microscale mesh-pattern metal electrode for high-efficiency a-Si/c-Si heterojunction solar cells. A solar cell equipped with the proposed microgrid metal electrode demonstrates a high short-circuit current density (JSC) of 40.1 mA/cm(2), and achieves a high efficiency of 18.

Salicin, an extract from white willow bark, inhibits angiogenesis by blocking the ROS-ERK pathways.

Salicin has been studied as a potent antiinflammatory agent. Angiogenesis is an essential process for tumor progression, and negative regulation of angiogenesis provides a good strategy for antitumor therapy. However, the potential medicinal value of salicin on antitumorigenic and antiangiogenic effects remain unexplored.