Analysis of integrated single-electron memory operation

Various aspects of single-electron memory are discussed. In particular, we analyze the single-electron charging by Fowler-Nordheim tunneling, propose the idea of background charge compensation, and discuss the defect-tolerant architecture based on nanofuses.Comment: 6 page

Efficiency boost of bifacial Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin-film solar cells for flexible and tandem applications with silver-assisted low-temperature process

Bifacial Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells are attractive for a range of applications, but their low power conversion efficiency is a limitation. To improve their efficiency, the formation of GaOx at the CIGS/transparent-conducting-oxide interface and charge recombination near this interface under rear illumination need to be suppressed. In the study reported here we prevented the formation of GaOx by silver-promoted low-temperature growth of the CIGS layer. This process also led to an improvement in the absorber quality, a steep Ga gradient near the back interface and reduced the absorption of the transparent conducting oxide. We also report here a certified bifacial solar cell on a glass substrate with efficiencies of 19.77% and 10.89% under front and rear illumination, respectively. We also fabricated bifacial solar cells directly on flexible substrates. Finally, we prepared bifacial perovskite/CIGS tandem solar cells in a four-terminal configuration, achieving a power generation density of 28.0 mW cm-2 under 1 Sun and 30% albedo illumination.This work has received funding from the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) (SI/502310-01 25 “ACIGS”). This work was partially supported by Young Scholar Fellowship Einstein Program of 26 MOST, Taiwan (grant no. MOST 110-2636-E-007-015) Huagui Lai thanks the funding of China 27 Scholarship Council (CSC) from the Ministry of Education of P. R. China. This project has 28 received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme 29 under grant agreement N° 850937. The work also acknowledges the financial support from the 30 Strategic Focus Area Advanced Manufacturing under the project AMYS - Advancing manufac 31 turability of hybrid organic-inorganic semiconduc-tors for large area optoelectronics. 32 The authors gratefully acknowledge the use of UHRTEM (Dr. Chong-Chi Chi) and HRTEM 33 (Ms. Yi-Jen Yu) equipment belonging to the Instrumentation Center at National Tsing Hua 34 University in Taiwan and FIB (Dr. Wei-Ni Lee) at CNMM of the National Tsing Hua University 35 in Taiwan

Co-limitation towards lower latitudes shapes global forest diversity gradients

The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) is one of the most recognized global patterns of species richness exhibited across a wide range of taxa. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed in the past two centuries to explain LDG, but rigorous tests of the drivers of LDGs have been limited by a lack of high-quality global species richness data. Here we produce a high-resolution (0.025° × 0.025°) map of local tree species richness using a global forest inventory database with individual tree information and local biophysical characteristics from ~1.3 million sample plots. We then quantify drivers of local tree species richness patterns across latitudes. Generally, annual mean temperature was a dominant predictor of tree species richness, which is most consistent with the metabolic theory of biodiversity (MTB). However, MTB underestimated LDG in the tropics, where high species richness was also moderated by topographic, soil and anthropogenic factors operating at local scales. Given that local landscape variables operate synergistically with bioclimatic factors in shaping the global LDG pattern, we suggest that MTB be extended to account for co-limitation by subordinate drivers

Identification of Metabolites in the Normal Ovary and Their Transformation in Primary and Metastatic Ovarian Cancer

In this study, we characterized the metabolome of the human ovary and identified metabolic alternations that coincide with primary epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and metastatic tumors resulting from primary ovarian cancer (MOC) using three analytical platforms: gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) using buffer systems and instrument settings to catalog positive or negative ions. The human ovarian metabolome was found to contain 364 biochemicals and upon transformation of the ovary caused changes in energy utilization, altering metabolites associated with glycolysis and β-oxidation of fatty acids—such as carnitine (1.79 fold in EOC, p<0.001; 1.88 fold in MOC, p<0.001), acetylcarnitine (1.75 fold in EOC, p<0.001; 2.39 fold in MOC, p<0.001), and butyrylcarnitine (3.62 fold, p<0.0094 in EOC; 7.88 fold, p<0.001 in MOC). There were also significant changes in phenylalanine catabolism marked by increases in phenylpyruvate (4.21 fold; p = 0.0098) and phenyllactate (195.45 fold; p<0.0023) in EOC. Ovarian cancer also displayed an enhanced oxidative stress response as indicated by increases in 2-aminobutyrate in EOC (1.46 fold, p = 0.0316) and in MOC (2.25 fold, p<0.001) and several isoforms of tocopherols. We have also identified novel metabolites in the ovary, specifically N-acetylasparate and N-acetyl-aspartyl-glutamate, whose role in ovarian physiology has yet to be determined. These data enhance our understanding of the diverse biochemistry of the human ovary and demonstrate metabolic alterations upon transformation. Furthermore, metabolites with significant changes between groups provide insight into biochemical consequences of transformation and are candidate biomarkers of ovarian oncogenesis. Validation studies are warranted to determine whether these compounds have clinical utility in the diagnosis or clinical management of ovarian cancer patients

Co-limitation towards lower latitudes shapes global forest diversity gradients

The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) is one of the most recognized global patterns of species richness exhibited across a wide range of taxa. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed in the past two centuries to explain LDG, but rigorous tests of the drivers of LDGs have been limited by a lack of high-quality global species richness data. Here we produce a high-resolution (0.025° × 0.025°) map of local tree species richness using a global forest inventory database with individual tree information and local biophysical characteristics from ~1.3 million sample plots. We then quantify drivers of local tree species richness patterns across latitudes. Generally, annual mean temperature was a dominant predictor of tree species richness, which is most consistent with the metabolic theory of biodiversity (MTB). However, MTB underestimated LDG in the tropics, where high species richness was also moderated by topographic, soil and anthropogenic factors operating at local scales. Given that local landscape variables operate synergistically with bioclimatic factors in shaping the global LDG pattern, we suggest that MTB be extended to account for co-limitation by subordinate drivers

The impact of immediate breast reconstruction on the time to delivery of adjuvant therapy: the iBRA-2 study

Background: Immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) is routinely offered to improve quality-of-life for women requiring mastectomy, but there are concerns that more complex surgery may delay adjuvant oncological treatments and compromise long-term outcomes. High-quality evidence is lacking. The iBRA-2 study aimed to investigate the impact of IBR on time to adjuvant therapy. Methods: Consecutive women undergoing mastectomy ± IBR for breast cancer July–December, 2016 were included. Patient demographics, operative, oncological and complication data were collected. Time from last definitive cancer surgery to first adjuvant treatment for patients undergoing mastectomy ± IBR were compared and risk factors associated with delays explored. Results: A total of 2540 patients were recruited from 76 centres; 1008 (39.7%) underwent IBR (implant-only [n = 675, 26.6%]; pedicled flaps [n = 105,4.1%] and free-flaps [n = 228, 8.9%]). Complications requiring re-admission or re-operation were significantly more common in patients undergoing IBR than those receiving mastectomy. Adjuvant chemotherapy or radiotherapy was required by 1235 (48.6%) patients. No clinically significant differences were seen in time to adjuvant therapy between patient groups but major complications irrespective of surgery received were significantly associated with treatment delays. Conclusions: IBR does not result in clinically significant delays to adjuvant therapy, but post-operative complications are associated with treatment delays. Strategies to minimise complications, including careful patient selection, are required to improve outcomes for patients

Strategy for large???scale monolithic Perovskite/Silicon tandem solar cell: A review of recent progress

For any solar cell technology to reach the final mass-production/commercialization stage, it must meet all technological, economic, and social criteria such as high efficiency, large-area scalability, long-term stability, price competitiveness, and environmental friendliness of constituent materials. Until now, various solar cell technologies have been proposed and investigated, but only crystalline silicon, CdTe, and CIGS technologies have overcome the threshold of mass-production/commercialization. Recently, a perovskite/silicon (PVK/Si) tandem solar cell technology with high efficiency of 29.1% has been reported, which exceeds the theoretical limit of single-junction solar cells as well as the efficiency of stand-alone silicon or perovskite solar cells. The International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaics (ITRPV) predicts that silicon-based tandem solar cells will account for about 5% market share in 2029 and among various candidates, the combination of silicon and perovskite is the most likely scenario. Here, we classify and review the PVK/Si tandem solar cell technology in terms of homo- and hetero-junction silicon solar cells, the doping type of the bottom silicon cell, and the corresponding so-called normal and inverted structure of the top perovskite cell, along with mechanical and monolithic tandemization schemes. In particular, we review and discuss the recent advances in manufacturing top perovskite cells using solution and vacuum deposition technology for large-area scalability and specific issues of recombination layers and top transparent electrodes for large-area PVK/Si tandem solar cells, which are indispensable for the final commercialization of tandem solar cells