Results and prospects on kaon physics with the NA62 experiment at CERN

The measurement of the ratio of the rates of leptonic kaon decays performed by NA48/2 and NA62 (RK phase) experiments is presented, together with the description of the NA62 experiment that will start collecting data in 2015 at the CERN SPS with the main goal of measuring the branching ratio(BR) of the rare decay K+ → π+ν¯ν with a precision of 10%

Pengalaman Kegagalan Pada Laki-Laki Dan Perempuan

Situasi sukses dan kegagalan merupakan reperesentasi dari keinginan dan tujuan hidup yang ingin dicapai, perbedaan harapan antara laki-laki dan perempuan akan membuat perbedaan kegagalan. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui pengalaman kegagalan pada remaja. Penelitian ini mensurvei 605 (laki-laki : 217, perempuan : 388) orang remaja di tiga perguruan tinggi berbeda di Pekanbaru, dengan menggunakan questioner (pertanyaan) terbuka. Subjek diminta untuk menjawab pertanyaan “pengalaman kegagalan apa yang paling menyakitkan dalam hidup?”, dikembangkan oleh Kim dan Park (2006). Analisis data menggunakan pendekatan Indigenous psychology, dengan kategorisasi, frekuensi, dan cross tabulasi. Penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa ada lima pengalaman kegagalan pada remaja, yaitu: akademik (48,1%), harapan (17%), hubungan personal (15,9), kompetisi (10,4%), manajemen diri (3,1%). Penelitian ini juga menunjukkan ada perbedaan pengalaman kegagalan antara laki-laki dan perempuan, laki-laki lebih merasa gagal dalam harapan (9,3%) dan kompetisi (6,6%), sedangkan perempuan lebih merasa gagal dalam akademik (36,4%) dan hubungan personal (10,6%). Penelitian ini memberikan pemahaman bahwa perbedaan pengalaman kegagalan antara laki-laki dan perempuan disebabkan oleh adanya perbedaan peran sosial antara laki-laki dan perempuan

Perovskite Film Formation for Solar Cell Absorbers: Effects of Substrate Modification

As perovskite solar cell efficiencies have risen rapidly, practical constraints have made durability a critical concern. Whereas much attention has been paid to the development of the perovskite absorber layer, the charge transport layers can also be engineered to better the performance and stability of the device. This work uses the molecular modifier bromopropyltrimethoxysilane (BPTMS) to alter the interface between indium tin oxide (ITO, a common thin film solar cell transparent electrode) and methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3, a common perovskite absorber) to improve the morphology and stability of the perovskite absorber film. The substrate, molecular modifier, and perovskite film were characterized via contact angle measurements, spectroscopic ellipsometry, and scanning electron microscopy. It was determined that the absorber film morphology and stability of the stack are sensitive to both the underlying substrate and the BPTMS

Exotic particle searches at NA62

High-intensity setup and detector performance make NA62 particularly suited for searching for new physics in the hidden sector. Sensitivity projections for these researches are reported in this work

Understanding the Role Thin Film Interfaces Play in Solar Cell Performance and Stability

As more efficient and cost-effective photovoltaic (PV) architectures are developed, solar becomes an ever more competitive and viable replacement for fossil fuels. Full grid electrification necessitates the development of efficient, reliable, cost-effective technologies - and there is room for many different kinds of PV in this expanding market. The practical challenges and constraints of terawatt PV production have brought scalability and durability into sharp scientific focus. From a materials perspective, there are commonalities in the materials questions and challenges across different PV technologies. Whereas most PV technology is referred to by the absorber layer - e.g. silicon, or perovskite solar cells, other layers in the device are equally important to performance and durability. These layers are often composed of metal oxides, and are common across device technologies - for example, interfacial layers (such as charge transport layers, CTLs), and transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) used as electrodes.This work addresses materials oxide characterization and its relationship to materials and device performance and degradation across PV technologies. Among the most promising PVs to date are two technologies with different levels of thin film incorporation: silicon heterojunction (SHJ) and perovskite PV. SHJ cells are part of the industrial Si PV portfolio, and perovskite cells are starting to be commercially produced after a decade of intensive research. However, there are well-known stability and cost limitations associated with each technology. Understanding the thin film materials science in these devices, and using that understanding to enhance device performance and stability is key to more reliable and cost effective electricity production. Under practical aging conditions, careful materials-level characterization is required to understand the degradation mechanisms of these materials and the complex effects of aging on the multilayer system. This work details the effects of practical degradation challenges such as damp heat (DH) exposure and encapsulation degradation on the stability of inorganic metal oxides in both the SHJ and perovskite thin film photovoltaic architectures. For perovskite devices, MAPbI3 films were deposited by spin coating onto a range of substrates and CTLs; substrates of glass and indium tin oxide (ITO) were paired with metal oxides (MOs) including MoOX, NiOX, and ZnO. SE and SEM were used to characterize the surface and bulk properties of the perovskite films. Results demonstrate that the underlying layers affect the rate of absorber degradation when exposed to heat and moisture. Unencapsulated SHJ cells (a subset of which were exposed to low concentrations of acetic acid under an applied voltage) were aged under DH 85°C/85% relative humidity conditions. The contact-ITO interface was examined via optical profilometry (OP), spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). SHJ cells have interfaces unique to their architecture, namely the c-Si/a-Si:H and a-Si:H/ITO interfaces at the top of the device. Examining the degradation of unencapsulated SHJ cells and comparing those results to historical degradation profiles of encapsulated SHJ cells in addition to the simulated effects of acetic acid exposure will help to decouple the effects of encapsulation on ITO stability in this architecture. It is well known that ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) encapsulation degrades and produces acetic acid upon exposure to heat and humidity. When under an applied voltage, even small concentrations of acetic acid can quickly corrode the contact-ITO interface, leading to decreases in efficiency and increases in series resistance of the cell. Here, XPS was used to monitor the changes in the front contact of the SHJ cells during DH and acetic acid exposure. Changes to the materials will be correlated to changes in device performance under the same aging conditions

Moral Values That Thwart Intergroup Interactions: an Investigation on the Interaction Between Indonesian Moslems and Chinese-Indonesian Christians

As one of the most established theories, the contact hypothesis has been well-researched throughout decades of investigations. However, there have been few attempts to investigate individual factors that may influence interaction processes that may lower prejudice. The present study attempts to find the individual factors that can moderate the contact – prejudice effect, that is, individual moral values. Previous researches have noted that individuals with high moral loyalty, authority, and sanctity may resist interacting with outgroups. Consequently, these individuals may possess higher prejudice. Thus, we hypothesize that individuals with higher levels of those three moral values may experience the contact effect more profoundly, in which there is stronger contact – prejudice effect. 594 Moslem participants participated in the online survey we administered. We found that moral authority and purity can moderate the contact – prejudice effect, consistent with our hypotheses. These patterns were found only for the contact – subtle prejudice effect. However, moral loyalty cannot moderate this effect. We discuss the implications by examining the Indonesian current sociopolitical conditions and how the three moral values influence the dynamics of intergroup contact