Next Generation Print-based Manufacturing for Photovoltaics and Solid State Lighting

For the grand challenge of reducing our energy and carbon footprint, the development of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies offer a potential solution. Energy technologies can reduce our dependence on foreign oil as well as the energy consumed by the petroleum industry, the leading consumer of energy by a U.S. industry sector. Nonetheless, the manufacturing processes utilized to manufacture equipment for alternative energy technologies often involve energy-intensive processes. This undermines some of the advantages to moving to 'green' technologies in the first place. Our answer to the Industrial Technology Program's (ITP) Grand Challenge FOA was to develop a transformational low cost manufacturing process for plastic-based photovoltaics that will lower by over 50% both energy consumption and greenhouse emissions and offer a return-of-investment of over 20%. We demonstrated a Luminescent Solar Concentrator fabricated on a plastic acrylic substrate (i.e. no glass) that increases the power output of the PV cell by 2.2x with a 2% power efficiency as well as an LSC with a 7% power efficiency that increased the power output from the PV cells by 35%. S large area 20-inch x 60-inch building-integrated photovoltaic window was fabricated using contract manufacturing with a 4% power efficiency which improved the power output of the PV cell by over 50%. In addition, accelerated lifetimes of the luminescent material demonstrate lifetimes of 20-years

Remembrance and Wellness Five Years After 9/11

It has been five years. For some people time has barely passed. Tuesday, September 11, 2001 feels like yesterday. To others these last five years seem an eternity. Many people have slipped back into their everyday lives. The horrific images, unimaginable sadness, security threats and unanswered questions have given way to a world that on the surface feels predictable and safe. But there are abrupt reminders that the world is not safe or predictable; everything familiar to us can change in an instant

State of Nonprofits Annual Report: 2013

It is hard to believe, but prior to the Caster Center’s first publication in 2006, A Spotlight on San Diego’s Third Sector, nobody knew how many nonprofits were located in San Diego County, let alone anything about their major activities, capacity, or contributions to our larger economy. Since that time, the Caster Center team has been pushing the boundaries of nonprofit data collection to tell the sector’s story in a more timely, complete, and meaningful way. This report represents a new milestone in these ongoing efforts. Much has transpired since the publication of the Center’s first report, not only in the nonprofit sector, but also in the lives of the 3 million San Diegans served by these organizations. Together we have weathered the most challenging economic conditions since the Great Depression and are adapting to its myriad and lasting effects. And, although it appears that the worst is behind us, our community and its organizations are forever changed as a result. This report chronicles the economic health and well-being of San Diego’s nonprofit sector over that time and documents the current state of the sector as expressed by its leaders.https://digital.sandiego.edu/npi-stateofnp/1000/thumbnail.jp

State of Nonprofits Annual Report: 2013

It is hard to believe, but prior to the Caster Center’s first publication in 2006, A Spotlight on San Diego’s Third Sector, nobody knew how many nonprofits were located in San Diego County, let alone anything about their major activities, capacity, or contributions to our larger economy. Since that time, the Caster Center team has been pushing the boundaries of nonprofit data collection to tell the sector’s story in a more timely, complete, and meaningful way. This report represents a new milestone in these ongoing efforts. Much has transpired since the publication of the Center’s first report, not only in the nonprofit sector, but also in the lives of the 3 million San Diegans served by these organizations. Together we have weathered the most challenging economic conditions since the Great Depression and are adapting to its myriad and lasting effects. And, although it appears that the worst is behind us, our community and its organizations are forever changed as a result. This report chronicles the economic health and well-being of San Diego’s nonprofit sector over that time and documents the current state of the sector as expressed by its leaders.https://digital.sandiego.edu/npi-stateofnp/1000/thumbnail.jp

Thermal Properties of TiO2/PbS Nanoparticle Solar Cells

Photovoltaic performance is shown to depend on ligand capping on PbS nanoparticle solar cells by varying the temperature between 140K and 350K. The thermal response of open‐circuit voltage, short‐circuit current density, fill‐factor and shunt resistance varies between the ligands. A large increase in short‐circuit current density at low temperatures is observed for 1,2‐ethanedithiol and 3‐mercaptopropionic acid and a relatively constant short-circuit current density is observed for the stiffer 1,4‐benzenedithiol. Dark data provide evidence for tunnelling transport being the dominant charge conduction mechanism for all three ligand devices with recombination occurring within deep trap states. Under illumination, devices exhibit band‐to‐band recombination, indicated by an ideality factor of nearly unity

The Use of Single-Sided NMR to Study Moisture Behaviour in an Activated Carbon Fibre/Phenolic Composite

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) has been shown to be a useful technique to study the form and content of water in polymer composites. Composites using activated carbon fibres with phenolic resin have complex water absorption behaviour which would benefit from such investigation; however, the presence of the conductive fibres can make NMR problematic. In this study, single-sided NMR has been successfully used on such material by developing a method for sample-to-sample compensation for the effect of conductivity. Transverse relaxation curves showed water to be primarily in two states in the resin, corresponding to "bound" and "mobile" molecules. In addition, two much less bound states were identified in the composite, associated firstly with water adsorbed on to the fibre surface and secondly with clusters of water molecules moving more freely within the fibre pores

Effects of sex, menstrual cycle phase, and endogenous hormones on cognition in schizophrenia

In women with schizophrenia, cognition has been shown to be enhanced following administration of hormone therapy or oxytocin. We examined how natural hormonal changes across the menstrual cycle influence cognition in women with schizophrenia. We hypothesized that female patients would perform better on “female-dominant” tasks (verbal memory/fluency) and worse on “male-dominant” tasks (visuospatial) during the early follicular phase (low estradiol and progesterone) compared to midluteal phase (high estradiol and progesterone) in relation to estradiol but not progesterone