Method of fabricating a photovoltaic module of a substantially transparent construction

A method characterized by the steps of positioning a plurality of uniformly dimensioned photovoltaic cells in registered relation with a plurality of openings formed in a planar tool is disclosed. The method allows acess to the P contact surface of each of the cells. The steps of the method are: (1) connecting the N contact surface of alternate cells to the P contact surface of the cells interposed therebetween, (2) removing therefrom residue of solder flux, (3) applying to the N contact surfaces of the cells a transparent adhesive, (4) placing a common transparent cover plate in engaged relation with the adhesive, (5) placing a film over the circular openings for hermetically sealing the openings, and (6) establishing a vacuum between the film and the cover plate

Acoustical and Dynamic Mechanical Characterization of Fiber-Matrix Interface Bonds in Ceramic Composites

Ceramic matrix composites presently being developed are potentially well suited for high temperature structural applications. The character of the fiber-matrix bond plays a significant role in determining the fracture toughness of the material and thus its performance. Increased toughness is achieved by phenomena such as interface debonding and fiber slip or pull-out, which improve material toughness by increasing the energy required to propagate a crack [1]. In a bond that is too weak, the toughening mechanisms are not significant. However, a bond that is too strong permits a crack to propagate directly through a fiber-matrix interface without being significantly affected, resulting in brittle fracture. As a result, care is required in the manufacture of these materials to achieve optimum fiber-matrix bonding [2]. The objective of this work is to develop and evaluate techniques to nondestructively characterize the fiber-matrix interface bonds. The techniques being investigated include ultrasonic velocity and attenuation, acousto-ultrasonic response, and internal dynamic mechanical damping

New holomorphically closed subalgebras of C∗C^*-algebras of hyperbolic groups

We construct dense, unconditional subalgebras of the reduced group $C^*$-algebra of a word-hyperbolic group, which are closed under holomorphic functional calculus and possess many bounded traces. Applications to the cyclic cohomology of group $C^*$-algebras and to delocalized $L^2$-invariants of negatively curved manifolds are given

Which criteria should be used for starting pharmacologic therapy for management of gestational diabetes in pregnancy? Evidence from randomized controlled trials

Introduction: There is inconclusive evidence to support any specific criteria for starting pharmacologic therapy after diet in women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). We aimed to analyze the most used criteria for starting pharmacologic treatment for patients with GDM. Material and methods: Electronic databases were searched from their inception to September 2017. We included all the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of GDM managed initially by diet and exercise reporting criteria for starting pharmacologic therapy. RCTs in women with pregestational diabetes were excluded. Data regarding glucose values used for starting pharmacologic therapy were extracted and carefully reviewed. Results: We included 15 RCTs (4307 women) in the meta-analysis. For fasting glucose target, 8/14 (57%) used a value lower or equal to 90 mg/dL and the remainder used values 50% of the values higher than the target values and another one (7%) used >30%. Conclusion: The majority of RCTs (87%) used very tight criteria of either 1 or 2 values over the target values in the 1 or 2-week period for starting pharmacologic treatment for patients with GDM; more than 50% used 2 values. Key Message Pharmacologic therapy should be considered in women with gestational diabetes when, despite an adequate diet and exercise, 1 or 2 blood glucose values are over the target values of 90mg/dL fasting or 120mg/dL 2-hour postprandial over 1 or 2 weeks

A network-based ranking system for American college football

American college football faces a conflict created by the desire to stage national championship games between the best teams of a season when there is no conventional playoff system to decide which those teams are. Instead, ranking of teams is based on their record of wins and losses during the season, but each team plays only a small fraction of eligible opponents, making the system underdetermined or contradictory or both. It is an interesting challenge to create a ranking system that at once is mathematically well-founded, gives results in general accord with received wisdom concerning the relative strengths of the teams, and is based upon intuitive principles, allowing it to be accepted readily by fans and experts alike. Here we introduce a one-parameter ranking method that satisfies all of these requirements and is based on a network representation of college football schedules.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure

In vivo potassium MRI of the human heart

PURPOSE: Potassium ions (K(+)) play a critical role in cardiac electrophysiology, and changes in their concentration reflect pathophysiological processes related to cardiovascular diseases. Here, we investigated the feasibility of in vivo (39)K MRI of the human heart. To achieve this, we developed, evaluated, and applied a (39)K/(1)H RF coil, which is tailored for (39)K MRI of human heart at 7.0T. METHODS: The performance of the (39)K/(1)H RF coil was evaluated by electromagnetic field and specific absorption ratio simulations using 2 (male/female) human voxel models. The RF coil was evaluated at the bench and applied in an in vivo proof-of-principle study involving 7 healthy volunteers. The experiments were performed using a 7.0T whole-body MR system in conjunction with a 3D density-adapted projection reconstruction imaging technique. RESULTS: For in vivo (39)K MRI of the human heart, a nominal spatial resolution of 14.5 × 14.5 × 14.5 mm(3) within a total scan time of 30 min was achieved. The average SNR within the heart was 9.6 ± 2.4. CONCLUSION: This work validates the design of a (39)K/(1)H RF coil for cardiac MR at 7.0T and demonstrates for the first time in vivo the feasibility of (39)K MRI of the human heart

On Alternative Supermatrix Reduction

We consider a nonstandard odd reduction of supermatrices (as compared with the standard even one) which arises in connection with possible extension of manifold structure group reductions. The study was initiated by consideration of the generalized noninvertible superconformal-like transformations. The features of even- and odd-reduced supermatrices are investigated on a par. They can be unified into some kind of "sandwich" semigroups. Also we define a special module over even- and odd-reduced supermatrix sets, and the generalized Cayley-Hamilton theorem is proved for them. It is shown that the odd-reduced supermatrices represent semigroup bands and Rees matrix semigroups over a unit group.Comment: 22 pages, Standard LaTeX with AmS font