Method of fabricating a photovoltaic module of a substantially transparent construction

A method characterized by the steps of positioning a plurality of uniformly dimensioned photovoltaic cells in registered relation with a plurality of openings formed in a planar tool is disclosed. The method allows acess to the P contact surface of each of the cells. The steps of the method are: (1) connecting the N contact surface of alternate cells to the P contact surface of the cells interposed therebetween, (2) removing therefrom residue of solder flux, (3) applying to the N contact surfaces of the cells a transparent adhesive, (4) placing a common transparent cover plate in engaged relation with the adhesive, (5) placing a film over the circular openings for hermetically sealing the openings, and (6) establishing a vacuum between the film and the cover plate

Ring current proton decay by charge exchange

Explorer 45 measurements during the recovery phase of a moderate magnetic storm have confirmed that the charge exchange decay mechanism can account for the decay of the storm-time proton ring current. Data from the moderate magnetic storm of 24 February 1972 was selected for study since a symmetrical ring current had developed and effects due to asymmetric ring current losses could be eliminated. It was found that after the initial rapid decay of the proton flux, the equatorially mirroring protons in the energy range 5 to 30 keV decayed throughout the L-value range of 3.5 to 5.0 at the charge exchange decay rate calculated by Liemohn. After several days of decay, the proton fluxes reached a lower limit where an apparent equilibrium was maintained, between weak particle source mechanisms and the loss mechanisms, until fresh protons were injected into the ring current region during substorms. While other proton loss mechanisms may also be operating, the results indicate that charge exchange can entirely account for the storm-time proton ring current decay, and that this mechanism must be considered in all studies involving the loss of proton ring current particles

Telemedicine infectious diseases consultations and clinical outcomes: A systematic review

Background: Telemedicine use is increasing in many specialties, but its impact on clinical outcomes in infectious diseases has not been systematically reviewed. We reviewed the current evidence for clinical effectiveness of telemedicine infectious diseases consultations, including outcomes of mortality, hospital readmission, antimicrobial use, cost, length of stay, adherence, and patient satisfaction. Methods: We queried Ovid MEDLINE 1946-, Embase.com 1947-, Scopus 1823-, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and ClinicalTrials.gov 1997- through August 5, 2019, for studies looking at clinical outcomes of infectious diseases in the setting of telemedicine use. We did not restrict by language or year of publication. Clinical outcomes searched included 30-day all-cause mortality, 30-day readmissions, patient compliance/adherence, patient satisfaction, cost or cost-effectiveness, length of hospital stay, antimicrobial use, and antimicrobial stewardship. Bias was assessed using standard methodologies. PROSPERO CRD42018105225. Results: From a search pool of 1154 studies, only 18 involved telemedicine infectious diseases consultation and our selected clinical outcomes. The outcomes tracked were heterogeneous, precluding meta-analysis, and the majority of studies were of poor quality. Overall, clinical outcomes with telemedicine infectious diseases consultation seem comparable to in-person infectious diseases consultation. Conclusions: Although in widespread use, the clinical effectiveness of telemedicine infectious diseases consultations has yet to be sufficiently studied. Further studies, or publication of previously collected and available data, are warranted to verify the cost-effectiveness of this widespread practice. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42018105225

Degeneracies and fluctuations of N\'e\`el skyrmions in confined geometries

The recent discovery of tunable Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions in layered magnetic materials with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy makes them promising candidates for stabilization and manipulation of skyrmions at elevated temperatures. In this article, we use Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the robustness of skyrmions in these materials against thermal fluctuations and finite-size effects. We find that in confined geometries and at finite temperatures skyrmions are present in a large part of the phase diagram. Moreover, we find that the confined geometry favors the skyrmion over the spiral phase when compared to infinitely large systems. Upon tuning the magnetic field through the skyrmion phase, the system undergoes a cascade of transitions in the magnetic structure through states of different number of skyrmions, elongated and half-skyrmions, and spiral states. We consider how quantum and thermal fluctuations lift the degeneracies that occur at these transitions, and find that states with more skyrmions are typically favored by fluctuations over states with less skyrmions. Finally, we comment on electrical detection of the various phases through the topological and anomalous Hall effects.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure

Emission Line Galaxies and Active Galactic Nuclei in WINGS clusters

We present the analysis of the emission line galaxies members of 46 low redshift (0.04 < z < 0.07) clusters observed by WINGS (WIde-field Nearby Galaxy cluster Survey, Fasano et al. 2006). Emission line galaxies were identified following criteria that are meant to minimize biases against non-star forming galaxies and classified employing diagnostic diagrams. We have examined the emission line properties and frequencies of star forming galaxies, transition objects and active galactic nuclei (AGNs: LINERs and Seyferts), unclassified galaxies with emission lines, and quiescent galaxies with no detectable line emission. A deficit of emission line galaxies in the cluster environment is indicated by both a lower frequency with respect to control samples, and by a systematically lower Balmer emission line equivalent width and luminosity (up to one order of magnitude in equivalent width with respect to control samples for transition objects) that implies a lower amount of ionised gas per unit mass and a lower star formation rate if the source is classified as Hii region. A sizable population of transition objects and of low-luminosity LINERs (approx. 10 - 20% of all emission line galaxies) is detected among WINGS cluster galaxies. With respect to Hii sources they are a factor of approx. 1.5 more frequent than (or at least as frequent as) in control samples. Transition objects and LINERs in cluster are most affected in terms of line equivalent width by the environment and appear predominantly consistent with "retired" galaxies. Shock heating can be a possible gas excitation mechanism able to account for observed line ratios. Specific to the cluster environment, we suggest interaction between atomic and molecular gas and the intracluster medium as a possible physical cause of line-emitting shocks.Comment: Astronomy and Astrophysics, accepte

Dimensional crossover in quantum critical metallic magnets

Nearly magnetic metals often have layered lattice structures, consisting of coupled planes. In such a situation, physical properties will display, upon decreasing temperature or energy, a dimensional crossover from two-dimensional (2d) to three-dimensional (3d) behavior, which is particularly interesting near quantum criticality. Here we study this crossover in thermodynamics using a suitably generalized Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson approach to the critical behavior, combined with renormalization group techniques. We focus on two experimentally relevant cases: the crossover from a 2d to a 3d antiferromagnet, and the crossover from a 2d ferromagnet to a 3d antiferromagnet. We discuss the location of phase boundary and crossover lines and determine the crossover functions for important thermodynamic quantities. As naive scaling does not apply at and above the upper critical dimension, two crossover scales arise which can be associated with separate dimensional crossovers of classical and quantum fluctuations, respectively. In particular, we find an intermediate regime with novel power laws where the quantum fluctuations still have a 2d and the classical fluctuations already have a 3d character. For the ferromagnet-to-antiferromagnet crossover, the mismatch of the dynamical exponents between the 2d and 3d regimes leads to an even richer crossover structure, with an interesting 2d non-critical regime sandwiched between two critical regimes. For all cases, we find that thermal expansion and compressibility are particularly sensitive probes of the dimensional crossover. Finally, we relate our results to experiments on the quantum critical heavy-fermion metals CeCu(6-x)Au(x), YbRh(2)Si(2) and CeCoIn(5).Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, published versio

Implementation of telemedicine infectious diseases consultation in a rural hospital using the Active Implementation Framework

In this pilot study, guided by the Active Implementation Framework, telemedicine infectious diseases consultation was provided to hospitalized inpatients at a rural Missouri hospital. Measured outcomes included the implementation outcomes of feasibility, acceptability, appropriateness, and fidelity, as well as clinical outcomes of readmissions and death