Recent progress on indoor organic photovoltaics : from molecular design to production scale

Recently, indoor photovoltaics have attracted much interest for their ability to power small electronic devices and sensors, especially with the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT). Due to their absorption covering ambient emission spectra and tunable electronic structures, π-conjugated polymers and small molecules are well-suited for these applications. Among many benefits, including their ink processability, lightweight and flexibility; indoor organic photovoltaics (IOPVs) show power conversion efficiencies (PCE) over 26%. It represents a power output over 30 μW cm-2 under office light (500 lux), which is sufficient to operate many electronic devices and sensors with a relatively small photovoltaic area. This focus review highlights the major advances in the material design for IOPVs and includes some industrial insights to reach the production scale criteri

EARLY METAL AGE POTTERY FROM FATU AKI ANIK KNUA, TIMOR-LESTE AND THE APPEARANCE OF CERAMICS IN THE WALLACEAN ISLANDS SUPPLEMENTARY FILE 1: FAAK CAVE CATALOGUE

This catalogue presents descriptions on 16 diagnostic shards: rims (11), decorated rims (3), and decorated body shards (2) from the Faak Cave

EARLY METAL AGE POTTERY FROM FATU AKI ANIK KNUA, TIMOR-LESTE AND THE APPEARANCE OF CERAMICS IN THE WALLACEAN ISLANDS SUPPLEMENTARY FILE 2: FAAK OPEN SITE CATALOGUE—RIMS

This catalogue presents descriptions and observations on 172 diagnostic rim shards from the Faak Open site

EARLY METAL AGE POTTERY FROM FATU AKI ANIK KNUA, TIMOR-LESTE AND THE APPEARANCE OF CERAMICS IN THE WALLACEAN ISLANDS SUPPLEMENTARY FILE 4: FAAK OPEN SITE CATALOGUE—DECORATED BODY SHARDS

This catalogue presents descriptions and observations on 128 diagnostic decorated body shards from the Faak Open site

Early Metal Age Pottery from Fatu Aki Anik Knua, Timor-Leste and the Appearance of Ceramics in the Wallacean Islands.

Fatu Aki Anik Knua is an archaeological site in the mountainous interior of Timor-Leste comprising of a limestone cave and open site locale. Excavations in 2015 yielded an extraordinary quantity of earthenware pottery with over 13,000 potsherds recovered, all dating within the last 1800 years. The Faak pottery is described and examined in the context of Timor-Leste and eastern Indonesian assemblages more widely. The intensification of ceramic technology transfers and initial pottery use, which occurred at many sites in the region during the Paleometallic era, is highlighted. The essential features of this hinterland site assemblage show affinities with Early Metal Age pottery occurring extensively throughout eastern Indonesia after 2500 BP

EARLY METAL AGE POTTERY FROM FATU AKI ANIK KNUA, TIMOR-LESTE AND THE APPEARANCE OF CERAMICS IN THE WALLACEAN ISLANDS SUPPLEMENTARY FILE 4: FAAK OPEN SITE CATALOGUE—DECORATED BODY SHARDS

This catalogue presents descriptions and observations on 128 diagnostic decorated body shards from the Faak Open site

EARLY METAL AGE POTTERY FROM FATU AKI ANIK KNUA, TIMOR-LESTE AND THE APPEARANCE OF CERAMICS IN THE WALLACEAN ISLANDS SUPPLEMENTARY FILE 5: FAAK THIN SECTIONS CATALOGUE

This catalogue presents a record of the preliminary petrographic analysis of 21 thin section samples from the Faak Cave and Faak Open Site. It also includes an unpublished report by Dickinson (2011) that has been referred to in the main text: Summary Petrographic Evaluation of Temper Sands in Protohistoric Sherds from East Timor

La caractérisation chimique de cherts du Bas-Saint-Laurent et de la Gaspésie : vers le développement d’une méthode d’analyse non destructrice

En raison de la grande résolution des photographies des échantillons, celles-ci se trouvent dans un fichier complémentaire, puisque les conditions de forme imposées ne permettaient pas l'affichage intégral de ces images au sein du mémoire.Ce projet a comme objectif général de participer au développement et de tester le potentiel de la méthode d’analyse par fluorescence aux rayons X du laboratoire de caractérisation non destructrice de l’Université de Montréal, en procédant à la caractérisation chimique de cherts provenant de deux carrières distinctes, exploitées à diverses périodes au cours de la préhistoire, soit celle de La Martre (DhDm-8, Gaspésie) et celle du site CkEe-28 (Témiscouata). En fonction des comportements de chacun des éléments, six d’entre eux furent sélectionnés pour effectuer la caractérisation, parmi lesquels on compte trois éléments majeurs (Si, Al, Fe) et trois éléments traces (Ba, La, Ce). D’un point de vue méthodologique, les résultats confirment que l’appareillage du laboratoire est apte à procéder à ce genre d’analyse non destructrice, tandis que sur le plan archéométrique, il s’est avéré possible de discriminer les cherts sur la base de graphiques et d’une analyse statistique discriminante. Afin de vérifier si cette caractérisation est utile et pertinente dans un cadre archéologique, l’analyse d’artéfacts en chert provenant des sites de l’anse à la Vache (DaEi-6, île Verte), Turcotte-Lévesque (DaEi-8, île Verte) et de Rimouski (DcEd-1) fut aussi effectuée dans le but de localiser l’un ou l’autre des cherts au sein des assemblages. Les résultats démontrent que la caractérisation est fonctionnelle dans un cadre archéologique, puisque les cherts des carrières de La Martre et Touladi furent repérés sur chacun des sites, à l’exception du site de Rimouski, où seul le chert Touladi semble présent.The main objective of this project is to test, and to participate in the development of the non-destructive energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence chemical characterization method developed at the “Laboratoire de caractérisation non destructive de l’Université de Montréal”. To do so, I analyzed chert originating from two different prehistoric quarries, the La Martre quarry DhDm-8, Gaspé Peninsula, and that of quarry CkEe-28, Témiscouata, Québec. Both quarries were exploited intermittently from the Late PaleoIndian through the Archaic and into the Woodland periods. The six elements involved in the characterization, three major elements (Si, Al, Fe) and three trace elements (Ba, La, Ce), were selected because of their specific features. On one hand, results confirm that the Université de Montréal EDXRF analyzer is able to analyze with precision solid rock chips. On the other hand, by using bivariate and ternary plots, as well as discriminant analysis, I was able to distinguish one chert from the other. In order to ensure the validity of the chemical analysis, archaeological samples from sites on the St. Lawrence Estuary including Rimouski (DcEd-1), l’Anse à la Vache and Turcotte-Lévesque (DaEi-6 and DaEi-8) were tested and compared to the results for the quarry samples. Results show that the characterizatoin can be applied on archaeological artefacts since both cherts were located on every sites, except for Rimouski, where only Touladi chert was present

Investigating the raw materials used for Lapita and post-Lapita pottery manufacturing: a chemical characterisation of ceramic collections from Vanuatu

The Lapita pottery displaying dentate stamped decorations is at the core of our actual understanding of the human colonisation of Oceania about 3000 years ago. One of the ways to extract information about these past societies is by characterising the ceramic collections and examining the chemical compositions of the various vessels. This project examines the compositional similarities and dissimilarities of early pottery assemblages in Vanuatu. Connecting the technological styles with contextual cultural information, such as decorations or vessel forms, lead to a better understanding of the technological choices faced during pottery production. These decisions are taken following the culturally accepted rules embodied in the production process and consequently, this study allows a better understanding of significant parts of the socio-political and economic aspects of Lapita and post-Lapita societies. Results show that the vast majority of the Lapita and post-Lapita ceramic vessels analysed were produced locally. The homogeneity of the dentate-stamped decorations across Lapita sites reveals that ideas were transferred more than objects and that the ideological signification of these vessels was more important than their economic value. It is also evident from the results that the compositional variability observed in earlier Lapita ceramic collection is much more significant than what is observed from the more recent assemblages. This variability of technological styles for Lapita pots is generally seen as a consequence resulting from mobile settlement patterns. However, the important natural variability of the raw materials used to produce pottery demonstrates that this mobility is generally restricted to a relatively small-scale since not much movement or geographical distance would be required to produce compositional profiles corresponding to the results. From a political economy perspective, the significant variability of Lapita technological styles demonstrates that there wasn’t any apparent control or imposed limitations over access to the raw materials used to produce pottery and that there was no specialised production. It also suggests that a technological exploratory phase probably followed the arrival of Lapita potters on previously unoccupied islands with unfamiliar raw materials. The important decrease in varieties of technological styles between Lapita and immediately post-Lapita assemblages combined with the almost exclusive usage of local materials by post-Lapita potters support the idea that a general regionalisation process was occurring at the time when dentate stamped pottery stopped being produced. The almost systematic absence of decoration and the technological homogeneity in immediately post-Lapita ceramic collections are in such contrast with Lapita decorations and the fracture between both so clean that it should be seen as a strategy to differentiate the subsequent cultural production from the former Lapita political, economic and religious structures. Overall, the combined modification of both the decorative and technological style between Lapita and immediately post-Lapita indicates that some major social transformation occurred, as has been already suggested by others. In terms of methodological contribution, this study shows that LA-ICP-MS represents an excellent analytical technique to gather bulk compositional profiles of ceramic assemblages and that it represents a viable alternative to petrography

Rôle du régulateur Fur et des petits ARN non codants RfrA et RfrB dans l’homéostasie du fer et la virulence de Salmonella

La régulation de l’homéostasie du fer est cruciale chez les bactéries. Chez Salmonella, l’expression des gènes d’acquisition et du métabolisme du fer au moment approprié est importante pour sa survie et sa virulence. Cette régulation est effectuée par la protéine Fur et les petits ARN non codants RfrA et RfrB. Le rôle de ces régulateurs est d’assurer que le niveau de fer soit assez élevé pour la survie et le métabolisme de Salmonella, et assez faible pour éviter l’effet toxique du fer en présence d’oxygène. Les connaissances concernant le rôle de ces régulateurs ont été principalement obtenues par des études chez S. Typhimurium, un sérovar généraliste causant une gastro-entérite chez les humains. Très peu d’informations sont connues sur le rôle de ces régulateurs chez S. Typhi, un sérovar humain-spécifique responsable de la fièvre typhoïde. Le but de cette étude était de déterminer les rôles de Fur, RfrA et RfrB dans l’homéostasie du fer et la virulence de Salmonella, et de démontrer qu’ils ont une implication distincte chez les sérovars Typhi et Typhimurium. Premièrement, Fur, RfrA et RfrB régulent l’homéostasie du fer de Salmonella. Les résultats de cette étude ont démontré que Fur est requis pour la résistance au stress oxydatif et pour une croissance optimale dans différentes conditions in vitro. La sensibilité du mutant fur est due à l’expression des petits ARN RfrA et RfrB, et cette sensibilité est beaucoup plus importante chez S. Typhi que chez S. Typhimurium. Également, Fur inhibe la transcription des gènes codant pour les sidérophores en conditions riches en fer, tandis que les petits ARN RfrA et RfrB semblent être importants pour la production d’entérobactine et de salmochélines chez S. Typhi lors de conditions pauvres en fer. Ensuite, ces régulateurs affectent la virulence de Salmonella. Fur est important pour la motilité de Salmonella, particulièrement chez S. Typhi. Fur est nécessaire pour l’invasion des deux sérovars dans les cellules épithéliales, et pour l’entrée et la survie de S. Typhi dans les macrophages. Chez S. Typhimurium, Fur ne semble pas impliqué dans l’interaction avec les macrophages. De plus, les petits ARN RfrA et RfrB sont importants pour la multiplication intracellulaire de Salmonella dans les macrophages pour les deux sérovars. Finalement, la protéine Fur et les petits ARN RfrA et RfrB régulent l’expression de l’opéron fimbriaire tcf, absent du génome de S. Typhimurium. Un site de liaison putatif de la protéine Fur a été identifié dans la région promotrice de tcfA chez S. Typhi, mais une régulation directe n’a pas été confirmée. L’expression de tcf est induite par le fer et par Fur, et est inhibée par les petits ARN RfrA et RfrB. Ainsi, ces régulateurs affectent des gènes de virulence qui sont retrouvés spécifiquement chez S. Typhi. En somme, ce projet a permis de démontrer que les régulateurs de l’homéostasie du fer de Salmonella peuvent affecter la résistance de cette bactérie pathogène à différents stress, notamment le stress oxydatif, la croissance en conditions de carence en fer ainsi que la virulence. Ces régulateurs jouent un rôle distinct chez les sérovars Typhi et Typhimurium.Regulation of iron homeostasis is crucial for bacteria. For Salmonella, proper timing of the expression of iron acquisition and metabolism genes is important for survival and virulence. This regulation is mediated by the protein Fur and the small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) RfrA and RfrB. The role of these regulators is to assure that the iron level is high enough for survival and metabolism of Salmonella, and low enough to avoid the toxic effect of iron in the presence of oxygen. Thus far, information on the role of these regulators was principally obtained by studying S. Typhimurium, a generalist serovar causing gastro-enteritis in humans. Very little is known about the role of these regulators in S. Typhi, a human-specific serovar which causes typhoid fever. The goal of this study was to determine the roles of Fur, RfrA and RfrB in iron homeostasis and virulence of Salmonella, and to determine if they have a distinct implication in the serovars Typhimurium and Typhi. First, Fur, RfrA and RfrB regulate iron homeostasis in Salmonella. The results of this study have shown that Fur is required for resistance to oxidative stress and for optimal growth in different in vitro conditions. The sensitivity of the fur mutant is due to the expression of the sRNAs RfrA and RfrB, and this sensitivity is worse in S. Typhi than in S. Typhimurium. Also, Fur represses the transcription of the genes encoding siderophores in high-iron conditions, and the sRNAs RfrA and RfrB are required for enterobactin and salmochelins production in S. Typhi in low-iron conditions. Secondly, these regulators affect the virulence of Salmonella. Fur is important for the motility of Salmonella, especially in S. Typhi. Fur is required for the invasion of both serovars in epithelial cells, and for the uptake and survival of S. Typhi in macrophages. In S. Typhimurium, Fur is not required for the interaction with macrophages. Moreover, the sRNAs RfrA and RfrB are important for the intracellular multiplication of Salmonella within macrophages for both serovars. Finally, the Fur protein and the sRNAs RfrA and RfrB regulate the expression of the tcf fimbrial operon, absent from the genome of S. Typhimurium. A putative Fur binding site was identified in the tcfA promoter region of S. Typhi, but direct regulation has not been confirmed. tcf expression is activated by iron and Fur, and is inhibited by the sRNAs RfrA and RfrB. Therefore, these regulators affect virulence genes that are found specifically in S. Typhi. To conclude, this project demonstrates that the iron homeostasis regulators of Salmonella can affect the bacterial resistance to different stresses, espacially oxidative stress, the growth in iron-limiting conditions and virulence. These regulators have a distinct role in the serovars Typhi and Typhimurium