Increased voltage photovoltaic cell

A photovoltaic cell, such as a solar cell, is provided which has a higher output voltage than prior cells. The improved cell includes a substrate of doped silicon, a first layer of silicon disposed on the substrate and having opposite doping, and a second layer of silicon carbide disposed on the first layer. The silicon carbide preferably has the same type of doping as the first layer

Remaking Downtown Toronto: Politics, Development, and Public Space on Yonge Street, 1950-1980

This study explores the history of Torontos iconic downtown Yonge Street and the people who contested its future, spanning a period from the 1950s through to 1980 when the street was seldom out of the news. Through detailed analysis of a range of primary sources, it explores how the uses and public meanings of this densely-built commercial strip changed over time, in interaction with the city transforming around it. What emerges is a street that, despite fears for its future, remained at the heart of urban life in Toronto, creating economic value as a retail centre; pushing the boundaries of taste and the law as a mass-entertainment destination; and drawing crowds as a meeting place, pedestrian corridor, and public space. Variously understood as an historic urban landscape and an embarrassing relic, a transportation route and a people place, a bastion of Main Street values and a haven for big-city crime and sleaze, from the 1950s through the 1970s Yonge was at the centre of efforts to improve or reinvent the central city in ways that would keep pace with, or even lead, urban change. This thesis traces the history of three interventionsa pedestrian mall, a clean-up campaign aimed at the sex industry, and a major redevelopment schemetheir successes and failures, and the larger debates they triggered. The result is a narrative that ranges widely in theme: planning, automobility, and youth culture; vice, moral regulation, and citizen activism; capitalism, corporate power, and urban renewal. Engaging with the North American and international historiographies of these topics, it places the politics of downtown in Toronto in larger historical context. It offers an account of urban transformation that emphasizes complexity in the interaction between ideas, structures of power, and the often idiosyncratic decisions of a range of downtown actors. An increasingly interventionist local state, dynamic capital investment in retail and real estate, and diverse citizen mobilizations all contributed to transforming Yonge Street, helping to create the modern, globalized downtown shopping street and public space we know today

American Realness Festival—January 2015

Critique théâtrale, janvier 2015 Festival American Realness, 8-18 janvier 2015Performance review, January 2015 American Realness Festival, January 8th-18th 201

Making distance visible: assembling nearness in an online distance learning programme

Online distance learners are in a particularly complex relationship with the educational institutions they belong to (Bayne, Gallagher, & Lamb, 2012). For part-time distance students, arrivals and departures can be multiple and invisible as students take courses, take breaks, move into independent study phases of a programme, find work or family commitments overtaking their study time, experience personal upheaval or loss, and find alignments between their professional and academic work. These comings and goings indicate a fluid and temporary assemblage of engagement, not a permanent or stable state of either “presence” or “distance”. This paper draws from interview data from the “New Geographies of Learning” project, a research project exploring the notions of space and institution for the MSc in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh, and from literature on distance learning and online community. The concept of nearness emerged from the data analyzing the comings and goings of students on a fully online programme. It proposes that “nearness” to a distance programme is a temporary assemblage of people, circumstances, and technologies. This state is difficult to establish and impossible to sustain in an uninterrupted way over the long period of time that many are engaged in part-time study. Interruptions and subsequent returns should therefore be seen as normal in the practice of studying as an online distance learner, and teachers and institutions should work to help students develop resilience in negotiating various states of nearness. Four strategies for increasing this resilience are proposed: recognising nearness as effortful; identifying affinities; valuing perspective shifts; and designing openings

American Realness Festival—January 2015

Critique théâtrale, janvier 2015 Festival American Realness, 8-18 janvier 2015Performance review, January 2015 American Realness Festival, January 8th-18th 201

Device-measured Desk-based Occupational Sitting Patterns and Stress (hair cortisol and perceived stress)

Background: Stress and poor mental health are significant issues in the workplace and are a major cause of absenteeism and reduce productivity. Understanding what might contribute towards employee stress is important for managing mental health in this setting. Physical activity has been shown to be beneficial to stress but less research has addressed the potential negative impact of sedentary behaviour such as sitting. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the relationship between device-measured occupational desk-based sitting patterns and stress (hair cortisol levels (HCL), as a marker of chronic stress and self-reported perceived stress (PS)). Methods: Employees were recruited from four workplaces located in Central Scotland with large numbers of desk-based occupations. Seventy-seven participants provided desk-based sitting pattern data (desk-based sitting time/day and desk-based sit-to-stand transitions/day), a hair sample and self-reported perceived stress. HCL were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and PS using the Cohen Self-Perceived Stress Scale. Linear regression models were used to test associations between desk-based sitting time/day, desk-based sit-to-stand transitions/day, HCL and PS. Results: There were no associations between any of the desk-based sitting measures and either HCL or PS. Conclusion. Desk-based sitting patterns in the workplace may not be related to stress when using HCL as a biomarker or PS. The relationship between sitting patterns and stress therefore requires further investigation

Bleomycin electrochemotherapy for the management of locally advanced metastatic melanoma: Two notable clinical cases potentially indicating a greater therapeutic role in the era of targeted and immuno-therapy

Bleomycin electrochemotherapy (ECT) has emerged as a treatment modality for locally advanced metastatic melanoma over the past decade. The phenomenon of reversible electroporation enhances cell permeability when a pulsed electrical current is applied to tissues. This facilitates enhanced cytotoxicity of bleomycin with minimal systemic side effects. We present two case analyses of patients with advanced metastatic melanoma of lower limb which did not respond to alternative therapies, including immunotherapy and isolated limb perfusion, but had a positive clinical response to bleomycin ECT. Locoregional control of the tumour was gained along with positive functional outcomes for the patients including increased mobility and reduced malodour. Bleomycin ECT is an exciting new therapeutic modality in the armamentarium of the plastic surgeon. Operating parameters have been developed and refined which facilitate its safe use along with incorporation into international melanoma guidelines. Evidence in the literature supports its use in select cases, however, it is vital that we share our experiences in its use so that its role can be better defined. Particularly in the era of rapidly developing systemic treatments which are decreasing mortality and thereby increasing the number of patients requiring locoregional disease managment

XMM-Newton observation of the deep minimum state of PG 2112+059: A spectrum dominated by reflection from the accretion disk?

We analyse a 75ks XMM-Newton observation of PG 2112+059 performed in November 2005 and compare it with a 15ks XMM-Newton observation taken in May 2003. PG 2112+059 was found in a deep minimum state as its 0.2-12 keV flux decreased by a factor of 10 in comparison to the May 2003 observation. During the deep minimum state the spectra show strong emission in excess of the continuum in the 3-6 keV region. The excess emission corresponds to an EW = 26.1 keV whereas its shape resembles that of heavily absorbed objects. The spectra of both observations of PG 2112+059 can be explained statistically by a combination of two absorbers where one shows a high column density, $N_{H} \sim 4.5 \times 10^{23} cm^{-2}$, and the other high ionisation parameters. As the ionisation parameter of the high flux state, $\xi \sim 34 erg cm s^{-1}$, is lower than the value found for the deep minimum state, $\xi \sim 110 erg cm s^{-1}$, either the absorbers are physically different or the absorbing material is moving with respect to the X-ray source. The spectra can also be explained by a continuum plus X-ray ionised reflection on the accretion disk, seen behind a warm absorber. The ionisation parameter of the high state ($\xi \sim 5.6 erg cm s^{-1}$) is higher than the ionisation parameter of the deep minimum state ($\xi \sim 0.2 erg cm s^{-1}$), as expected for a stationary absorber. The values found for the ionisation parameters are in the range typical for AGNs. The spectra observed during the deep minimum state are reflection dominated and show no continuum emission. These can be understood in the context of light bending near the supermassive black hole as predicted by Minutti and Fabian.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, A&A latex, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic