The potential of natural, photosynthetic pigments to improve the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells

Gemstone Team GrenergyCurrent photovoltaic cells incorporate silicon or synthetic dyes; however, these cells are expensive and the dyes are toxic. Our product uses natural, photosynthetic pigments to sensitize an alternative design solar cell, the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Research has shown that plant pigments are suitable sensitizers for these cells, but there is presently no good rationale to determine which pigment combinations may be most effective. Our research goal was to develop and test an absorption index for pigment selection that would increase the output of DSSCs. Our results demonstrated a positive correlation between spectral absorption of the sensitizing dye and power output of the cell. Certain pigment combinations were more effective sensitizers based on combined absorption capabilities, but resolving the mechanisms of the exact relationship requires further research and likely further development of the algorithm used to choose optimal pigment combinations

A Systematic Nomenclature for the Drosophila Ventral Nervous System

Insect nervous systems are proven and powerful model systems for neuroscience research with wide relevance in biology and medicine. However, descriptions of insect brains have suffered from a lack of a complete and uniform nomenclature. Recognising this problem the Insect Brain Name Working Group produced the first agreed hierarchical nomenclature system for the adult insect brain, using Drosophila melanogaster as the reference framework, with other insect taxa considered to ensure greater consistency and expandability (Ito et al., 2014). Ito et al. (2014) purposely focused on the gnathal regions that account for approximately 50% of the adult CNS. We extend this nomenclature system to the sub-gnathal regions of the adult Drosophila nervous system to provide a nomenclature of the so-called ventral nervous system (VNS), which includes the thoracic and abdominal neuromeres that was not included in the original work and contains the neurons that play critical roles underpinning most fly behaviours

Bewegungsfördernde Bibliotheksarbeitsplätze an Hochschulen : Eine Studie zu Wirkung und Akzeptanz bei Studierenden

<jats:title>Zusammenfassung</jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Hintergrund</jats:title><jats:p>Bewegungsmangel und lange, ununterbrochene Sitzzeiten gelten verstärkt als eigenständige, gesundheitliche Risikofaktoren und sind bei Personen mit hohem Bildungsgrad sehr ausgeprägt. Dies betrifft insbesondere junge Erwachsene allgemein sowie Studierende an Hochschulen im Speziellen.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Fragestellung</jats:title><jats:p>Akzeptanz und Wirksamkeit einer präventiven Verhältnismaßnahme zur Reduktion der Sitzzeit und Erhöhung der Sitzunterbrechungen von Studierenden an der Hochschule werden evaluiert.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Material und Methoden</jats:title><jats:p>Es wird ein Mixed-methods-Design (quantitative Erfassung des Bewegungsprofils per Bewegungssensoren und qualitative Leitfadeninterviews) zur Implementierung bewegungsfördernder, höhenverstellbarer Arbeitsplätze in einer Universitätsbibliothek zur Evaluation des Sitzverhaltens bei 10 Studierenden erhoben.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Ergebnisse</jats:title><jats:p>Durch die Nutzung der bewegungsfördernden, höhenverstellbaren Arbeitsplätze erfolgt eine signifikante Reduktion der Sitzzeit sowie eine signifikante Erhöhung der Sitzunterbrechungen. Zudem lässt sich eine positive Bewertung und hohe Akzeptanz der neuen Arbeitsplätze bei den Nutzenden erkennen und es kann ein Beitrag zu deren Wohlbefinden geleistet werden.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Schlussfolgerung</jats:title><jats:p>Der Einsatz bewegungsfördernder Arbeitsplätze in Universitätsbibliotheken kann eine wirksame Interventionsmaßnahme zur Steigerung gesundheitsfördernder Rahmenbedingungen im universitären Setting darstellen und damit zur Erhöhung eines bewegungsfördernden Lebensstils bei Studierenden beitragen.</jats:p></jats:sec&gt

A Systematic Nomenclature for the <i>Drosophila </i>Ventral Nerve Cord

The ventral nerve cord (VNC) of Drosophila is an important model system for understanding how nervous systems generate locomotion. In this issue of Neuron, Court et al. define the structures of the adult VNC to provide an anatomical framework for analyzing the functional organization of the VNC.Drosophila melanogaster is an established model for neuroscience research with relevance in biology and medicine. Until recently, research on the Drosophila brain was hindered by the lack of a complete and uniform nomenclature. Recognizing this, Ito et al. (2014) produced an authoritative nomenclature for the adult insect brain, using Drosophila as the reference. Here, we extend this nomenclature to the adult thoracic and abdominal neuromeres, the ventral nerve cord (VNC), to provide an anatomical description of this major component of the Drosophila nervous system. The VNC is the locus for the reception and integration of sensory information and involved in generating most of the locomotor actions that underlie fly behaviors. The aim is to create a nomenclature, definitions, and spatial boundaries for the Drosophila VNC that are consistent with other insects. The work establishes an anatomical framework that provides a powerful tool for analyzing the functional organization of the VNC

Why Do Dolphins Carry Sponges?

Tool use is rare in wild animals, but of widespread interest because of its relationship to animal cognition, social learning and culture. Despite such attention, quantifying the costs and benefits of tool use has been difficult, largely because if tool use occurs, all population members typically exhibit the behavior. In Shark Bay, Australia, only a subset of the bottlenose dolphin population uses marine sponges as tools, providing an opportunity to assess both proximate and ultimate costs and benefits and document patterns of transmission. We compared sponge-carrying (sponger) females to non-sponge-carrying (non-sponger) females and show that spongers were more solitary, spent more time in deep water channel habitats, dived for longer durations, and devoted more time to foraging than non-spongers; and, even with these potential proximate costs, calving success of sponger females was not significantly different from non-spongers. We also show a clear female-bias in the ontogeny of sponging. With a solitary lifestyle, specialization, and high foraging demands, spongers used tools more than any non-human animal. We suggest that the ecological, social, and developmental mechanisms involved likely (1) help explain the high intrapopulation variation in female behaviour, (2) indicate tradeoffs (e.g., time allocation) between ecological and social factors and, (3) constrain the spread of this innovation to primarily vertical transmission

Core-mantle differentiation in Mars

The physical and chemical conditions under which Martian core formation took place are not well constrained. We modeled the pressure, temperature, and oxygen fugacity conditions under which it would be possible to match the inferred depletions of moderately siderophile elements Ni, Co, W, Mo, Ga, P, and Ge in the Martian mantle, using new constraints on their metal-silicate partitioning behavior. Using literature metal-silicate partitioning data, we characterize the dependence of the metal-silicate partition coefficients (D) on the temperature, pressure, oxygen fugacity, and composition of the silicate melt and the metal using a uniform parameterization approach for each element. Our results show that it is impossible to simultaneously account for the Martian mantle depletions of moderately siderophile elements if the Martian core sulfur content exceeds 10.5 wt % at reducing conditions (1 log unit below the iron-wüstite (IW) buffer). At 10.5 wt % core S, the conditions that best satisfy Martian mantle abundances of the seven siderophile elements are a mean pressure of 13(±1) GPa at 2330 K, corresponding to the presence of a magma ocean at least 1000 km deep during Martian core formation. More oxidizing conditions than the iron-wüstite buffer as suggested by iron meteorites are inconsistent with mantle siderophile element abundances. Extension of our approach to the highly siderophile elements Ru, Pd, Re, Ir, and Pt shows that their Martian mantle abundances are orders of magnitude too high to be accounted for by metal-silicate equilibration at high pressure and high temperature in a magma ocean, requiring a “late veneer” stage after core formation

2020 Collage Concert

An exciting highlight each season, Collage is the signature production of the School of Music and a major fundraising event for supporting scholarships for music students. This special performance features over 200 student and faculty performers and includes jazz, orchestra, choir, band, percussion, and opera selections for soloists, chamber groups, and ensembles. Special lighting effects and stage design combine with the diverse and exciting program presented as rapid-fire, flowing vignettes to create a truly unique performance.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/2295/thumbnail.jp

Genetic Contribution to Alcohol Dependence: Investigation of a Heterogeneous German Sample of Individuals with Alcohol Dependence, Chronic Alcoholic Pancreatitis, and Alcohol-Related Cirrhosis

The present study investigated the genetic contribution to alcohol dependence (AD) using genome-wide association data from three German samples. These comprised patients with: (i) AD; (ii) chronic alcoholic pancreatitis (ACP); and (iii) alcohol-related liver cirrhosis (ALC). Single marker, gene-based, and pathway analyses were conducted. A significant association was detected for the ADH1B locus in a gene-based approach (puncorrected = 1.2 × 10−6; pcorrected = 0.020). This was driven by the AD subsample. No association with ADH1B was found in the combined ACP + ALC sample. On first inspection, this seems surprising, since ADH1B is a robustly replicated risk gene for AD and may therefore be expected to be associated also with subgroups of AD patients. The negative finding in the ACP + ALC sample, however, may reflect genetic stratification as well as random fluctuation of allele frequencies in the cases and controls, demonstrating the importance of large samples in which the phenotype is well assessed