Copper indium diselenide: crystallography and radiation-induced dislocation loops

Copper indium diselenide (CIS) is a prime candidate as the absorber layer in solar cells for use in extraterrestrial environments due to its good photovoltaic efficiency and ability to resist radiation damage. While CIS-based devices have been tested extensively in the laboratory using electron and proton irradiation, there is still little understanding of the underlying mechanisms which give rise to its radiation hardness. To gain better insight into the response of CIS to displacing radiation, transmission electron microscope samples have been irradiated in situ with 400 keV Xe ions at the Intermediate Voltage Electron Microscope facility at Argonne National Laboratory, USA. At room temperature, dislocation loops were observed to form and grow with increasing fluence. These loops have been investigated using g  ·  b techniques and inside/outside contrast analysis. They have been found to reside on {112} planes and to be interstitial in nature. The Burgers vector were calculated as b  = 1/6 221. The compositional content of these interstitial loops was found to be indistinguishable from the surrounding matrix within the sensitivity of the techniques used. To facilitate this work, experimental electron-diffraction zone-axis pattern maps were produced and these are also presented, along with analysis of the [100] zone-axis pattern

Sympathetic activation: a mechanism for morphine induced pain and rises in liver enzymes after cholecystectomy?

In patients with biliary type pain after cholecystectomy, morphine often precipitates pain and may induce rises in plasma concentrations of liver enzymes because of exaggerated or prolonged rises in intrabiliary pressure. In this study, changes in plasma concentrations of catecholamines and histamine were determined after the administration of morphine in patients with and without a two-fold or greater rise in the plasma concentration of aspartate aminotransferase at four hours. Those showing rises in aminotransferase had higher concentrations of noradrenaline at 40 and 60 minutes after morphine and higher concentrations of dopamine at 40 minutes after morphine. The two groups had similar concentrations of adrenaline and histamine. Attempts to inhibit rises in aminotransferase after morphine by pretreatment with histamine, serotonin and alpha-receptor blockers were largely unsuccessful, although inhibition was observed with phenoxybenzamine in two of five patients. Higher plasma concentrations of noradrenaline and dopamine before and soon after induction of pain in patients showing rises in aminotransferase are consistent with sympathetic activation but heterogeneity appears to exist in the response to alpha-receptor blockade