Composition of Jupiter irregular satellites sheds light on their origin

Irregular satellites of Jupiter with their highly eccentric, inclined and distant orbits suggest that their capture took place just before the giant planet migration. We aim to improve our understanding of the surface composition of irregular satellites of Jupiter to gain insight into a narrow time window when our Solar System was forming. We observed three Jovian irregular satellites, Himalia, Elara, and Carme, using a medium-resolution 0.8-5.5 micro m spectrograph on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF). Using a linear spectral unmixing model we have constrained the major mineral phases on the surface of these three bodies. Our results confirm that the surface of Himalia, Elara, and Carme are dominated by opaque materials such as those seen in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. Our spectral modeling of NIR spectra of Himalia and Elara confirm that their surface composition is the same and magnetite is the dominant mineral. A comparison of the spectral shape of Himalia with the two large main C-type asteroids, Themis (D 176 km) and Europa (D 352 km), suggests surface composition similar to Europa. The NIR spectrum of Carme exhibits blue slope up to 1.5 microm and is spectrally distinct from those of Himalia and Elara. Our model suggests that it is compositionally similar to amorphous carbon. Himalia and Elara are compositionally similar but differ significantly from Carme. These results support the hypotheses that the Jupiter irregular satellites are captured bodies that were subject to further breakup events and clustered as families based on their similar physical and surface compositions

Identification of the dominant recombination process for perovskite solar cells based on machine learning

Over the past decade, perovskite solar cells have become one of the major research interests of the photovoltaic community, and they are now on the brink of catching up with the classical inorganic solar cells, with efficiency now reaching up to 25%. However, significant improvements are still achievable by reducing recombination losses. The aim of this work is to develop a fast and easy-to-use tool to pinpoint the main losses in perovskite solar cells. We use large-scale drift-diffusion simulations to get a better understanding of the light intensity dependence of the open-circuit voltage and how it correlates to the dominant recombination process. We introduce an automated identification tool using machine learning methods to pinpoint the dominant loss using the light intensity-dependent performances as an input. The machine learning was trained using >2 million simulations and gives an accuracy of the prediction up to 82%. Le Corre et al. demonstrate the application of machine learning methods to identify the dominant recombination process in perovskite solar cells with 82% accuracy. The machine learning algorithms are trained and tested using large-scale drift-diffusion simulations, and their applicability on real solar cells is also demonstrated on devices previously reported

Extended-spectrum β-lactamase Enterobacteriaceae (ESBLE) in intensive care units: strong correlation with the ESBLE colonization pressure in patients but not same species

Sink drains of six intensive care units (ICUs) were sampled for screening contamination with extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBLE). A high prevalence (59.4%) of sink drain contamination was observed. Analysing the data by ICU, the ratio \u27number of ESBLE species isolated in sink drains/total number of sink drains sampled\u27 was highly correlated (Spearman coefficient: 0.87; P = 0.02) with the ratio \u27number of hospitalization days for patients with ESBLE carriage identified within the preceding year/total number of hospitalization days within the preceding year\u27. Concurrently, the distribution of ESBLE species differed significantly between patients and sink drains

Cholesterol metabolism is a potential therapeutic target in Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Background: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a lethal muscle disease detected in approximately 1:5000 male births. DMD is caused by mutations in the DMD gene, encoding a critical protein that links the cytoskeleton and the extracellular matrix in skeletal and cardiac muscles. The primary consequence of the disrupted link between the extracellular matrix and the myofibre actin cytoskeleton is thought to involve sarcolemma destabilization, perturbation of Ca homeostasis, activation of proteases, mitochondrial damage, and tissue degeneration. A recently emphasized secondary aspect of the dystrophic process is a progressive metabolic change of the dystrophic tissue; however, the mechanism and nature of the metabolic dysregulation are yet poorly understood. In this study, we characterized a molecular mechanism of metabolic perturbation in DMD. Methods: We sequenced plasma miRNA in a DMD cohort, comprising 54 DMD patients treated or not by glucocorticoid, compared with 27 healthy controls, in three groups of the ages of 4–8, 8–12, and 12–20 years. We developed an original approach for the biological interpretation of miRNA dysregulation and produced a novel hypothesis concerning metabolic perturbation in DMD. We used the mdx mouse model for DMD for the investigation of this hypothesis. Results: We identified 96 dysregulated miRNAs (adjusted P-value <0.1), of which 74 were up-regulated and 22 were down-regulated in DMD. We confirmed the dysregulation in DMD of Dystro-miRs, Cardio-miRs, and a large number of the DLK1-DIO3 miRNAs. We also identified numerous dysregulated miRNAs yet unreported in DMD. Bioinformatics analysis of both target and host genes for dysregulated miRNAs predicted that lipid metabolism might be a critical metabolic perturbation in DMD. Investigation of skeletal muscles of the mdx mouse uncovered dysregulation of transcription factors of cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism (SREBP-1 and SREBP-2), perturbation of the mevalonate pathway, and the accumulation of cholesterol in the dystrophic muscles. Elevated cholesterol level was also found in muscle biopsies of DMD patients. Treatment of mdx mice with Simvastatin, a cholesterol-reducing agent, normalized these perturbations and partially restored the dystrophic parameters. Conclusions: This investigation supports that cholesterol metabolism and the mevalonate pathway are potential therapeutic targets in DMD. 2

The contamination of the surface of Vesta by impacts and the delivery of the dark material

The Dawn spacecraft observed the presence of dark material, which in turn proved to be associated with OH and H-rich material, on the surface of Vesta. The source of this dark material has been identified with the low albedo asteroids, but it is still a matter of debate whether the delivery of the dark material is associated with a few large impact events, to micrometeorites or to the continuous, secular flux of impactors on Vesta. The continuous flux scenario predicts that a significant fraction of the exogenous material accreted by Vesta should be due to non-dark impactors likely analogous to ordinary chondrites, which instead represent only a minor contaminant in the HED meteorites. We explored the continuous flux scenario and its implications for the composition of the vestan regolith, taking advantage of the data from the Dawn mission and the HED meteorites. We used our model to show that the stochastic events scenario and the micrometeoritic flux scenario are natural consequences of the continuous flux scenario. We then used the model to estimate the amounts of dark and hydroxylate materials delivered on Vesta since the LHB and we showed how our results match well with the values estimated by the Dawn mission. We used our model to assess the amount of Fe and siderophile elements that the continuous flux of impactors would mix in the vestan regolith: concerning the siderophile elements, we focused our attention on the role of Ni. The results are in agreement with the data available on the Fe and Ni content of the HED meteorites and can be used as a reference frame in future studies of the data from the Dawn mission and of the HED meteorites. Our model cannot yet provide an answer to the fate of the missing non-carbonaceous contaminants, but we discuss possible reasons for this discrepancy.Comment: 31 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication on the journal ICARUS, "Dark and Bright Materials on Vesta" special issu

Understanding Dark Current-Voltage Characteristics in Metal-Halide Perovskite Single Crystals

Hybrid halide perovskites have great potential for application in optoelectronic devices. However, an understanding of some basic properties, such as charge-carrier transport, remains inconclusive, mainly due to the mixed ionic and electronic nature of these materials. Here, we perform temperature-dependent pulsed-voltage space-charge-limited current measurements to provide a detailed look into the electronic properties of methylammonium lead tribromide (MAPbBr(3)) and methylammonium lead triiodide (MAPbI(3)) single crystals. We show that the background carrier density in these crystals is orders of magnitude higher than that expected from thermally excited carriers from the valence band. We highlight the complexity of the system via a combination of experiments and drift-diffusion simulations and show that different factors, such as thermal injection from the electrodes, temperature-dependent mobility, and trap and ion density, influence the free-carrier concentration. We experimentally determine effective activation energies for conductivity of (349 +/- 10) meV for MAPbBr3 and (193 +/- 12) meV for MAPbI(3), which includes the sum of all of these factors. We point out that fitting the dark current density-voltage curve with a drift-diffusion model allows for the extraction of intrinsic parameters, such as mobility and trap and ion density. From simulations, we determine a charge-carrier mobility of 12.9 cm(2)/Vs, a trap density of 1.52 x 10(13) cm(-3), and an ion density of 3.19 x 10(12) cm(-3) for MAPbBr(3) single crystals. Insights into charge-carrier transport in metal-halide perovskite single crystals will be beneficial for device optimization in various optoelectronic applications

Revealing Charge Carrier Mobility and Defect Densities in Metal Halide Perovskites via Space-Charge-Limited Current Measurements

Space-charge-limited current (SCLC) measurements have been widely used to study the charge carrier mobility and trap density in semiconductors. However, their applicability to metal halide perovskites is not straightforward, due to the mixed ionic and electronic nature of these materials. Here, we discuss the pitfalls of SCLC for perovskite semiconductors, and especially the effect of mobile ions. We show, using drift-diffusion (DD) simulations, that the ions strongly affect the measurement and that the usual analysis and interpretation of SCLC need to be refined. We highlight that the trap density and mobility cannot be directly quantified using classical methods. We discuss the advantages of pulsed SCLC for obtaining reliable data with minimal influence of the ionic motion. We then show that fitting the pulsed SCLC with DD modeling is a reliable method for extracting mobility, trap, and ion densities simultaneously. As a proof of concept, we obtain a trap density of 1.3 × 1013 cm-3, an ion density of 1.1 × 1013 cm-3, and a mobility of 13 cm2 V-1 s-1 for a MAPbBr3 single crystal

Olivine or Impact Melt: Nature of the "Orange" Material on Vesta from Dawn

NASA's Dawn mission observed a great variety of colored terrains on asteroid (4) Vesta during its survey with the Framing Camera (FC). Here we present a detailed study of the orange material on Vesta, which was first observed in color ratio images obtained by the FC and presents a red spectral slope. The orange material deposits can be classified into three types, a) diffuse ejecta deposited by recent medium-size impact craters (such as Oppia), b) lobate patches with well-defined edges, and c) ejecta rays from fresh-looking impact craters. The location of the orange diffuse ejecta from Oppia corresponds to the olivine spot nicknamed "Leslie feature" first identified by Gaffey (1997) from ground-based spectral observations. The distribution of the orange material in the FC mosaic is concentrated on the equatorial region and almost exclusively outside the Rheasilvia basin. Our in-depth analysis of the composition of this material uses complementary observations from FC, the visible and infrared spectrometer (VIR), and the Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector (GRaND). Combining the interpretations from the topography, geomorphology, color and spectral parameters, and elemental abundances, the most probable analog for the orange material on Vesta is impact melt