Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a complex disorder for which currently there is no accepted definition. Having a uniform standard for diagnosing and classifying AKI would enhance our ability to manage these patients. Future clinical and translational research in AKI will require collaborative networks of investigators drawn from various disciplines, dissemination of information via multidisciplinary joint conferences and publications, and improved translation of knowledge from pre-clinical research. We describe an initiative to develop uniform standards for defining and classifying AKI and to establish a forum for multidisciplinary interaction to improve care for patients with or at risk for AKI. Members representing key societies in critical care and nephrology along with additional experts in adult and pediatric AKI participated in a two day conference in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in September 2005 and were assigned to one of three workgroups. Each group's discussions formed the basis for draft recommendations that were later refined and improved during discussion with the larger group. Dissenting opinions were also noted. The final draft recommendations were circulated to all participants and subsequently agreed upon as the consensus recommendations for this report. Participating societies endorsed the recommendations and agreed to help disseminate the results. The term AKI is proposed to represent the entire spectrum of acute renal failure. Diagnostic criteria for AKI are proposed based on acute alterations in serum creatinine or urine output. A staging system for AKI which reflects quantitative changes in serum creatinine and urine output has been developed. We describe the formation of a multidisciplinary collaborative network focused on AKI. We have proposed uniform standards for diagnosing and classifying AKI which will need to be validated in future studies. The Acute Kidney Injury Network offers a mechanism for proceeding with efforts to improve patient outcomes.

Acute Kidney Injury Network: report of an initiative to improve outcomes in acute kidney injury

Gallium nitride (GaN) is a compound semiconductor that has tremendous potential to facilitate economic growth in a semiconductor industry that is silicon-based and currently faced with diminishing returns of performance versus cost of investment. At a material level, its high electric field strength and electron mobility have already shown tremendous potential for high frequency communications and photonic applications. Advances in growth on commercially viable large area substrates are now at the point where power conversion applications of GaN are at the cusp of commercialisation. The future for building on the work described here in ways driven by specific challenges emerging from entirely new markets and applications is very exciting. This collection of GaN technology developments is therefore not itself a road map but a valuable collection of global state-of-the-art GaN research that will inform the next phase of the technology as market driven requirements evolve. First generation production devices are igniting large new markets and applications that can only be achieved using the advantages of higher speed, low specific resistivity and low saturation switching transistors. Major investments are being made by industrial companies in a wide variety of markets exploring the use of the technology in new circuit topologies, packaging solutions and system architectures that are required to achieve and optimise the system advantages offered by GaN transistors. It is this momentum that will drive priorities for the next stages of device research gathered here.

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The 2018 GaN power electronics roadmap

Japanese Journal of Applied Physicsの創刊

As one of the transition metal oxides, niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5) offers a broad variety of properties that make it a potentially useful and highly applicable material in many different areas. In comparison to many other transition metal oxides, Nb2O5 has received relatively little attention, which presents a significant opportunity for future investigations aimed at fundamentally understanding this material and finding new and interesting applications for it. In this article, a general overview of Nb2O5 is presented which focuses on its fundamental properties, synthesis methods and recent applications, along with a discussion on future research directions relevant to this material.

Thin films and nanostructures of niobium pentoxide : fundamental properties, synthesis methods and applications

Recently the developments in the field of II-VI-oxides have been spectacular. Various epitaxial methods has been used to grow epitaxial ZnO layers. Not only epilayers but also sufficiently good-quality multiple quantum wells (MQWs) have also been grown by laser molecular-beam epitaxy (laser-MBE). We discuss mainly the experimental aspect of the optical properties of excitons in ZnO-based MQW heterostructures. Systematic temperature-dependent studies of optical absorption and photoluminescence in these MQWs were used to evaluate the well-width dependence and the composition dependence of the major excitonic properties. Based on these data, the localization of excitons, the influence of exciton-phonon interaction, and quantum-confined Stark effects are discussed. 
The optical spectra of dense excitonic systems are shown to be determined mainly by the interaction process between excitons and biexcitons. The high-density excitonic effects play a role for the observation of room-temperature stimulated emission in the ZnO MQWs. The binding energies of exciton and biexciton are enhanced from the bulk values, as a result of quantum-confinement effects.

Optical Properties of Excitons in ZnO-based Quantum Well Heterostructures

This paper reports on reduced graphene oxide (rGO), tin oxide (SnO2) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) tertiary nanocomposite thick film based flexible gas sensor. The nanocomposite of 0.90(PVDF) − 0.10[x(SnO2) − (1 − x)rGO] with different weight percentages (x = 0, 0.15, 0.30, 0.45, 0.6, 0.75, 0.90 and 1) have been prepared by the hot press method. Chromium (Cr) has been deposited on the surface by using E-beam evaporation system, which is used as electrode of the device. Crystal structure, morphology, and electrical characteristics of the device have been explored for the technological application. A correlation between crystallinity, morphology, and electrical properties with these thick films has also been established. The device has been tested at different hydrogen (H2) gas concentration as well as at different response times. A superior response of 0.90(PVDF) − 0.10[0.75(SnO2) − 0.25 rGO] nanocomposite thick film has been observed. Hence, this composition is considered as optimized tertiary nanocomposite for the hydrogen gas sensor application. The sensor response of 49.2 and 71.4% with response time 34 sec and 52 sec for 100 PPM and 1000 PPM H2 gas concentration respectively have been obtained. First time a new kind of low cost and flexible polymer based nanocomposite thick film gas sensor has been explored.

A new type low-cost, flexible and wearable tertiary nanocomposite sensor for room temperature hydrogen gas sensing.

Improvement in performance of lead free inverted perovskite solar cell by optimization of solar parameters

Sb-doped ZnO (SZO) films were deposited on c-plane sapphire substrates by dual ion beam sputtering deposition system and subsequently annealed in-situ in vacuum and in various proportions of O2/(O2 + N2)% from 0% (N2) to 100% (O2). Hall measurements established all SZO films were p-type, as was also confirmed by typical diode-like rectifying current-voltage characteristics from p-ZnO/n-ZnO homojunction. SZO films annealed in O2 ambient exhibited higher hole concentration as compared with films annealed in vacuum or N2 ambient. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic analysis confirmed that Sb5+ states were more preferable in comparison to Sb3+ states for acceptor-like SbZn-2VZn complex formation in SZO films.

Influence of in-situ annealing ambient on p-type conduction in dual ion beam sputtered Sb-doped ZnO thin films

ZnO epitaxial thin films were grown on p-type Si(100) substrates by dual ion beam sputtering deposition system. The crystalline quality, surface morphology, optical and electrical properties of as-deposited ZnO thin films at different growth temperatures were studied. Substrate temperature was varied from 100 to 600 °C at constant oxygen percentage O2/(O2 + Ar) % of 66.67 % in a mixed gas of Ar and O2 with constant chamber pressure of 2.75 × 10−4 mBar. X-Ray diffraction analyses revealed that all the films had (002) preferred orientation. The minimum value of stress was reported to be −0.32 × 1010 dyne/cm2 from ZnO film grown at 200 °C. Photoluminescence measurements demonstrated sharp near-band-edge emission (NBE) was observed at ~375 nm along with deep level emission (DLE) in the visible spectral range at room temperature. The DLE Peak was found to have decrement as ZnO growth temperature was increased from 200 to 600 °C. The minimum FWHM of the NBE peak of 16.76 nm was achieved at 600 °C growth temperature. X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy study revealed presence of oxygen interstitials and vacancies point defects in ZnO film grown at 400 °C. The ZnO thin film was found to be highly resistive when grown at 100 °C. The ZnO films were found to be n-type conducting with decreasing resistivity on increasing substrate temperature from 200 to 500 °C and again increased for film grown at 600 °C. Based on these studies a correlation between native point defects, optical and electrical properties has been established.

Saurabh Kumar Pandey

Papers

A new type low-cost, flexible and wearable tertiary nanocomposite sensor for room temperature hydrogen gas sensing.

Improvement in performance of lead free inverted perovskite solar cell by optimization of solar parameters

Influence of in-situ annealing ambient on p-type conduction in dual ion beam sputtered Sb-doped ZnO thin films

Effect of growth temperature on structural, electrical and optical properties of dual ion beam sputtered ZnO thin films

Performance evaluation and material parameter perspective of eco-friendly highly efficient CsSnGeI3 perovskite solar cell