High pressure polymorphism of ß-TaON.

The high pressure behavior of TaON was studied using a combination of Raman scattering, synchrotron X-ray diffraction, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy in diamond anvil cells to 70 GPa at ambient temperature. A Birch-Murnaghan equation of state fit for baddeleyite structured ß-TaON indicates a high bulk modulus value Ko = 328 ± 4 GPa with K = 4.3. EXAFS analysis of the high pressure XAS data provides additional information on changes in the Ta-(O,N) and Ta-Ta distances. Changes in the X-ray diffraction patterns and Raman spectra indicate onset of a pressure induced phase transition near 33 GPa. Our analysis indicates that the new phase has an orthorhombic cotunnite-type structure but that the phase transition may not be complete even by 70 GPa. Similar sluggish transformation kinetics are observed for the isostructural ZrO2 phase. Analysis of compressibility data for the new cotunnite-type TaON phase indicate a very high bulk modulus Ko ∼ 370 GPa, close to the theoretically predicted value.

Education in practice: the United Kingdom experience.

Health care leaders, government agencies, and professional nursing associations all understand that rethinking existing delivery strategies is part of the strategic approach to workforce planning. In the United Kingdom, the demand for nurses is great and the supply inadequate. The potential for a public health crisis is challenging the way the United Kingdom educates and positions nurses within the health care industry. This article reviews past efforts and current strategies in workforce characteristics, age, educational mix, competencies, career goals, and future plans to ensure adequate nurses to care for the health needs of the people residing in the United Kingdom. The activities of the National Association of Theatre Nurses in promoting dialogue around this issue and fostering collaborative initiatives are presented in a framework of efforts designed to benefit all.

Utilization of the "Smokescreen" smoking-cessation programme by general practitioners and their patients.

General practitioners have been encouraged to be more active in helping their patients to stop smoking. A number of research studies overseas and in Australia has reported that they can be effective in this form of health promotion. The "Smokescreen" programme is an intensive, structured antismoking intervention that was developed for use by general practitioners in Australia. To monitor the effect of this programme, general practitioners who had attended workshops on the use of the programme were contacted 12 months later to find out what use they had made of the programme, and how effective it had been. Only 18 of the 38 doctors who initially agreed to cooperate in the study had recruited smokers to the programme and had kept records of their progress. These 18 doctors had recruited 121 smokers in the 12-month period: only 7% (approximately) of all their patients who smoked. Of these, 29 (24%) patients reported that they had stopped smoking. Reasons that were given by doctors for their inability to use the programme as fully as they had hoped included the difficulty in recruiting smokers, a lack of time, and a low rate of return by the patients for follow-up visits. These results suggest that while general practitioners should be encouraged to give brief antismoking advice, general practice may not be a suitable location for more-intensive antismoking programmes. Limited health-promotional funds may be deployed better in general community awareness and mass-media programmes.