Beyond the Langevin horn: transducer arrays for the acoustic levitation of liquid drops

The acoustic levitation of liquid drops has been a key phenomenon for more than 40 years, driven partly by the ability to mimic a microgravity environment. It has seen more than 700 research articles published in this time and has seen a recent resurgence in the past 5 years, thanks to low cost developments. As well as investigating the basic physics of levitated drops, acoustic levitation has been touted for container free delivery of samples to a variety of measurements systems, most notably in various spectroscopy techniques including Raman and Fourier transform infrared in addition to numerous X-ray techniques. For 30 years, the workhorse of the acoustic levitation apparatus was a stack comprising a piezoelectric transducer coupled to a horn shaped radiative element often referred to as the Langevin horn. Decades of effort have been dedicated to such devices, paired with a matching and opposing device or a reflector, but they have a significant dependence on temperature and require precision alignment. The last decade has seen a significant shift away from these in favor of arrays of digitally driven, inexpensive transducers, giving a new dynamic to the topic which we review herein

Internet access: the impact on nurses and PAMs

An outline of a research project into the use of the internet on hospital wards and its impact on nurses and professionals allied to medicine

Access to the internet in an acute care area: experiences of nurses.

The internet is expected to play a key role in delivering evidence-based practice (Department of Health (DoH), 1997, 1998a; Beyea, 2000). In the UK, poor access to the internet and a lack of knowledge and confidence have been identified as barriers to nurses accessing evidence via the internet. The study described here aimed to evaluate how open access to the internet in an acute ward area had an impact upon the evidence-based practice of nurse and allied health professionals. The study was funded by the Department of Health. It incorporated a survey of over 200 staff, semi-structured interviews and monitoring of internet use. The results indicate that the ward-based internet facilities were valued and used by nurses. However, time, support and training are required for nurse to realize the full potential of the internet. Future partnerships between health science libraries and the NHS are recommended to help staff to access and use the internet in order to answer clinically derived questions

Nurses' use of the Internet in clinical ward settings

Background: The potential of the Internet as a fast and efficient way of accessing evidence to support nursing practice has been well recognized. In addition, nurses have highlighted the need for training in the use of information technology, information retrieval and critical appraisal as essential to their professional development. Aim: The aim of this paper is to present selected results of a longitudinal project that evaluated the impact of networked computers, with open access to the Internet, on four acute wards in a large UK teaching hospital. Method: Evaluation methods in the project included monitoring data from an Internet surveillance software package, a questionnaire survey with the nurses (n = 97) and in-depth interviews with a sample of nurses (n = 12). Findings: A complex picture was revealed of the nature of Internet use and the factors that nurses perceived as influencing this. The majority used the networked computers and some frequent users emerged. Nurses were able to use the technology during quiet periods throughout the day and night. Patterns of use were mixed, with nurses accessing the Internet for a combination of work and non-work-related activities. They integrated use of Internet technology into their working days in ways that appropriately fitted patterns of clinical activity. Factors relating to the organization, workplace culture and training were identified influencing Internet use. Conclusions: Open access to the Internet in the workplace emerged as a useful but unrefined tool for encouraging the retrieval of information for practice. Future development of this technology in the workplace must include support and training for professional staff in order to enhance the skills required. Recommendations are made about what and how training may be useful in promoting nurses' use of Internet technology in clinical settings.</p