Deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) study of P3HT:PCBM organic solar cells

The electronic structure of an organic photovoltaic bulk heterojunction cell strongly deviates from the typical textbook examples of a single sided junction used to explain electrical characterisation of defects in semiconductors. Therefore it is not so straightforward to assign the capacitance of this device or the charge in it to the presence of a depleted layer within this structure. However, conventional electronic spectroscopic techniques could give useful information to understand the electronic behaviour of the device. Therefore, in this work capacitance and charge DLTS have been performed on P3HT:PCBM solar cells. At 1MHz only negligible variation in the capacitance as a function of temperature and bias has been observed. As a result no spectrum could be recorded using a standard DLTS setup, registering the capacitance at this high frequency. To avoid this parasitic effect low frequency capacitance DLTS (40 kHz) has been performed, showing an anomalous signal with negative amplitude and an activation energy of 160meV, and a complementary positive signal could be observed altering the biases. Charge DLTS clearly revealed that both signals transients, conventional and with altered bias have the same time constants. A recent study has shown that such behaviour cannot be explained by the thermodynamic properties of capture and emission of carriers by a defect in bulk semiconductor. The validity of alternative explanations, including interface states, non-ideal ohmic contacts and effects of carrier hopping on charge mobility, will discussed

Pseudogene.org: a comprehensive database and comparison platform for pseudogene annotation

The Pseudogene.org knowledgebase serves as a comprehensive repository for pseudogene annotation. The definition of a pseudogene varies within the literature, resulting in significantly different approaches to the problem of identification. Consequently, it is difficult to maintain a consistent collection of pseudogenes in detail necessary for their effective use. Our database is designed to address this issue. It integrates a variety of heterogeneous resources and supports a subset structure that highlights specific groups of pseudogenes that are of interest to the research community. Tools are provided for the comparison of sets and the creation of layered set unions, enabling researchers to derive a current ‘consensus’ set of pseudogenes. Additional features include versatile search, the capacity for robust interaction with other databases, the ability to reconstruct older versions of the database (accounting for changing genome builds) and an underlying object-oriented interface designed for researchers with a minimal knowledge of programming. At the present time, the database contains more than 100 000 pseudogenes spanning 64 prokaryote and 11 eukaryote genomes, including a collection of human annotations compiled from 16 sources

Cherenkov Telescope Array Data Management

Very High Energy gamma-ray astronomy with the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is evolving towards the model of a public observatory. Handling, processing and archiving the large amount of data generated by the CTA instruments and delivering scientific products are some of the challenges in designing the CTA Data Management. The participation of scientists from within CTA Consortium and from the greater worldwide scientific community necessitates a sophisticated scientific analysis system capable of providing unified and efficient user access to data, software and computing resources. Data Management is designed to respond to three main issues: (i) the treatment and flow of data from remote telescopes; (ii) "big-data" archiving and processing; (iii) and open data access. In this communication the overall technical design of the CTA Data Management, current major developments and prototypes are presented.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, In Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2015), The Hague, The Netherlands. All CTA contributions at arXiv:1508.0589

Recent developments in hazardous pollutants removal from wastewater and water reuse within a circular economy

Data availability: The authors declare that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the manuscript. Further data can be requested (if need be) by contacting the corresponding author.Copyright © The Author(s) 2022. Recent advances in wastewater treatment processes have resulted in high removal efficiencies for various hazardous pollutants. Nevertheless, some technologies are more suitable for targeting specific contaminants than others. We comprehensively reviewed the recent advances in removing hazardous pollutants from industrial wastewater through membrane technologies, adsorption, Fenton-based processes, advanced oxidation processes (AOP), and hybrid systems such as electrically-enhanced membrane bioreactors (eMBRs), and integrated eMBR-adsorption system. Each technology’s key features are compared, and recent modifications to the conventional treatment approaches and limitations of advanced treatment systems are highlighted. The removal of emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals from wastewater is also discussed.Khalifa University through the Center for Membranes and Advanced Water Technology (CMAT), under grant number RC2-2018-009

Observation of an extended VHE gamma-ray emission from MSH 15-52 with CANGAROO-III

We have observed the supernova remnant MSH 15-52 (G320.4-1.2), which contains the gamma-ray pulsar PSR B1509-58, using the CANGAROO-III imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope array from April to June in 2006. We detected gamma rays above 810 GeV at the 7 sigma level during a total effective exposure of 48.4 hours. We obtained a differential gamma-ray flux at 2.35 TeV of (7.9+/-1.5_{stat}+/-1.7_{sys}) \times 10^{-13} cm^{-2}s^{-1}TeV^{-1} with a photon index of 2.21+/-0.39_{stat}+/-0.40_{sys}, which is compatible with that of the H.E.S.S. observation in 2004. The morphology shows extended emission compared to our Point Spread Function. We consider the plausible origin of the high energy emission based on a multi-wavelength spectral analysis and energetics arguments.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, Accepted in Ap

PseudoGeneQuest – Service for identification of different pseudogene types in the human genome

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pseudogenes, nonfunctional copies of genes, evolve fast due the lack of evolutionary pressures and thus appear in several different forms. PseudoGeneQuest is an online tool to search the human genome for a given query sequence and to identify different types of pseudogenes as well as novel genes and gene fragments.</p> <p>Description</p> <p>The service can detect pseudogenes, that have arisen either by retrotransposition or segmental genome duplication, many of which are not listed in the public pseudogene databases. The service has a user-friendly web interface and uses a powerful computer cluster in order to perform parallel searches and provide relatively fast runtimes despite exhaustive database searches and analyses.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>PseudoGeneQuest is a versatile tool for detecting novel pseudogene candidates from the human genome. The service searches human genome sequences for five types of pseudogenes and provides an output that allows easy further analysis of observations. In addition to the result file the system provides visualization of the results linked to Ensembl Genome Browser. PseudoGeneQuest service is freely available.</p

Detailed spectral and morphological analysis of the shell type SNR RCW 86

Aims: We aim for an understanding of the morphological and spectral properties of the supernova remnant RCW~86 and for insights into the production mechanism leading to the RCW~86 very high-energy gamma-ray emission. Methods: We analyzed High Energy Spectroscopic System data that had increased sensitivity compared to the observations presented in the RCW~86 H.E.S.S. discovery publication. Studies of the morphological correlation between the 0.5-1~keV X-ray band, the 2-5~keV X-ray band, radio, and gamma-ray emissions have been performed as well as broadband modeling of the spectral energy distribution with two different emission models. Results:We present the first conclusive evidence that the TeV gamma-ray emission region is shell-like based on our morphological studies. The comparison with 2-5~keV X-ray data reveals a correlation with the 0.4-50~TeV gamma-ray emission.The spectrum of RCW~86 is best described by a power law with an exponential cutoff at $E_{cut}=(3.5\pm 1.2_{stat})$ TeV and a spectral index of $\Gamma$~$1.6\pm 0.2$. A static leptonic one-zone model adequately describes the measured spectral energy distribution of RCW~86, with the resultant total kinetic energy of the electrons above 1 GeV being equivalent to $\sim$0.1\% of the initial kinetic energy of a Type I a supernova explosion. When using a hadronic model, a magnetic field of $B$~100$\mu$G is needed to represent the measured data. Although this is comparable to formerly published estimates, a standard E$^{-2}$ spectrum for the proton distribution cannot describe the gamma-ray data. Instead, a spectral index of $\Gamma_p$~1.7 would be required, which implies that ~$7\times 10^{49}/n_{cm^{-3}}$erg has been transferred into high-energy protons with the effective density $n_{cm^{-3}}=n/ 1$ cm^-3. This is about 10\% of the kinetic energy of a typical Type Ia supernova under the assumption of a density of 1~cm^-3.Comment: accepted for publication by A&

Characterizing the gamma-ray long-term variability of PKS 2155-304 with H.E.S.S. and Fermi-LAT

Studying the temporal variability of BL Lac objects at the highest energies provides unique insights into the extreme physical processes occurring in relativistic jets and in the vicinity of super-massive black holes. To this end, the long-term variability of the BL Lac object PKS 2155-304 is analyzed in the high (HE, 100 MeV 200 GeV) gamma-ray domain. Over the course of ~9 yr of H.E.S.S observations the VHE light curve in the quiescent state is consistent with a log-normal behavior. The VHE variability in this state is well described by flicker noise (power-spectral-density index {\ss}_VHE = 1.10 +0.10 -0.13) on time scales larger than one day. An analysis of 5.5 yr of HE Fermi LAT data gives consistent results ({\ss}_HE = 1.20 +0.21 -0.23, on time scales larger than 10 days) compatible with the VHE findings. The HE and VHE power spectral densities show a scale invariance across the probed time ranges. A direct linear correlation between the VHE and HE fluxes could neither be excluded nor firmly established. These long-term-variability properties are discussed and compared to the red noise behavior ({\ss} ~ 2) seen on shorter time scales during VHE-flaring states. The difference in power spectral noise behavior at VHE energies during quiescent and flaring states provides evidence that these states are influenced by different physical processes, while the compatibility of the HE and VHE long-term results is suggestive of a common physical link as it might be introduced by an underlying jet-disk connection.Comment: 11 pages, 16 figure

Polymorphism at High Molecular Weight Glutenin Subunits and Morphological Diversity of Aegilops geniculata Roth Collected in Algeria

A collection of 35 accessions of the tetraploid wild wheat Aegilops geniculata Roth (MM, UU) sampled in northern Algeria was evaluated for morphological and biochemical variability. Morphological and ecological analyses based on morphological traits and bioclimatic parameters, respectively, were assessed using principal component analysis (PCA). Accessions were differentiated by width characters, namely spike’s width, and a weak relationship between morphological traits and ecological parameters was found. Polymorphism of high molecular weight (HMW) glutenin subunits was carried on by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Among accessions analyzed, 27 alleles were identified at the two loci Glu-M1 and Glu-U1: resulting in twenty-nine patterns and a nomenclature was proposed. Two alleles at the Glu-U1 locus expressed a new subunit with a slightly slower mobility than subunit 8. These results provide new information regarding the genetic variability of HMW glutenin subunits, as well as their usefulness in cultivated wheat quality improvement