An Encapsulated Juice Powder Concentrate Improves Markers of Pulmonary Function and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Heavy Smokers

Cigarette smoking is associated with reduced pulmonary function and increased risk factors for cardiovascular disease. This randomized placebo-controlled double-blind study evaluated the effects of two different combinations of mixed fruit and vegetable juice powder concentrate (Juice Plus+, NSA, Collierville, TN) on heavy smokers

Lunar Gravitational-Wave Antenna

Monitoring of vibrational eigenmodes of an elastic body excited by gravitational waves was one of the first concepts proposed for the detection of gravitational waves. At laboratory scale, these experiments became known as resonant-bar detectors first developed by Joseph Weber in the 1960s. Due to the dimensions of these bars, the targeted signal frequencies were in the kHz range. Weber also pointed out that monitoring of vibrations of Earth or Moon could reveal gravitational waves in the mHz band. His Lunar Surface Gravimeter experiment deployed on the Moon by the Apollo 17 crew had a technical failure rendering the data useless. In this article, we revisit the idea and propose a Lunar Gravitational-Wave Antenna (LGWA). We find that LGWA could become an important partner observatory for joint observations with the space-borne, laser-interferometric detector LISA, and at the same time contribute an independent science case due to LGWA's unique features. Technical challenges need to be overcome for the deployment of the experiment, and development of inertial vibration sensor technology lays out a future path for this exciting detector concept.Comment: 29 pages, 17 figure

Thin film silicon photovoltaics: Architectural perspectives and technological issues

Thin film photovoltaics is a particularly attractive technology for building integration. In this paper, we present our analysis on architectural issues and technological developments of thin film silicon photovoltaics. In particular, we focus on our activities related to transparent and conductive oxide (TCO) and thin film amorphous and microcrystalline silicon solar cells. The research on TCO films is mainly dedicated to large-area deposition of zinc oxide (ZnO) by low pressure-metallorganic chemical vapor deposition. ZnO material, with a low sheet resistance ( 82%) in the whole wavelength range of photovoltaic interest, has been obtained. "Micromorph" tandem devices, consisting of an amorphous silicon top cell and a microcrystalline silicon bottom cell, are fabricated by using the very high frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique. An initial efficiency of 11.1% (>10% stabilized) has been obtained.Renewable energy Thin film silicon photovoltaics Building integrated photovoltaics Micromorph solar cells

Testing the effect of semi-transparent spectrally selective thin film photovoltaics for agrivoltaic application: A multi-experimental and multi-specific approach

The integration of photovoltaic technologies within the agricultural framework, known as agrivoltaics, emerges as a promising and sustainable solution to meet the growing global demands for energy and food production. This innovative technology enables the simultaneous utilization of sunlight for both photovoltaics (PV) and photosynthesis. A key challenge in agrivoltaic research involves identifying technologies applicable to a wide range of plant species and diverse geographic regions. To address this challenge, we adopt a multi-experimental and multi-species approach to assess the viability of semi-transparent, spectrally selective thin-film silicon PV technology. Our findings demonstrate compatibility with crop production in controlled environments for both plants and algae. Notably, selective thin-film PV exhibits the potential to enhance crop yields and serves as a photo-protectant. We observe that plant and algal growth increases beneath the selective PV film when supplemented with appropriate diffuse light in the growth environment. Conversely, in situations where light intensity exceeds optimal levels for plant growth, the selective PV film provides a photo-protective effect. These results suggest potential supplementary benefits of employing this technology in regions characterized by excessive light irradiation, where it can contribute to healthy plant growth

Monolithic Perovskite/Silicon-Heterojunction Tandem Solar Cells with Nanocrystalline Si/SiOx Tunnel Junction

Perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells have strong potential for high efficiency and low cost photovoltaics. In monolithic (two-terminal) configurations, one key element is the interconnection region of the two subcells, which should be designed for optimal light management and prevention of parasitic p/n junctions. We investigated monolithic perovskite/silicon-heterojunction (SHJ) tandem solar cells with a p/n nanocrystalline silicon/silicon-oxide recombination junction for improved infrared light management. This design can additionally provide for resilience to shunts and simplified cell processing. We probed modified SHJ solar cells, made from double-side polished n-type Si wafers, which included the proposed front-side p/n tunnel junction with the p-type film simultaneously functioning as selective charge transport layer for the SHJ bottom cell, trying different thicknesses for the n-type layer. Full tandem devices were then tested, by applying a planar n-i-p mixed-cation mixed-halide perovskite top cell, fabricated via low temperature solution methods to be compatible with the processed Si wafer. We demonstrate the feasibility of this tandem cell configuration over a 1 cm2 area with negligible J-V hysteresis and a VOC ~1.8 V, matching the sum of the VOC-s contributed by the two components

A Novel Mix of Polyphenols and Micronutrients Reduces Adipogenesis and Promotes White Adipose Tissue Browning via UCP1 Expression and AMPK Activation

: Obesity is a pandemic disease characterized by excessive severe body comorbidities. Reduction in fat accumulation represents a mechanism of prevention, and the replacement of white adipose tissue (WAT) with brown adipose tissue (BAT) has been proposed as one promising strategy against obesity. In the present study, we sought to investigate the ability of a natural mixture of polyphenols and micronutrients (A5) to counteract white adipogenesis by promoting WAT browning.: For this study, we employed a murine 3T3-L1 fibroblast cell line treated with A5, or DMSO as control, during the differentiation in mature adipocytes for 10 days. Cell cycle analysis was performed using propidium iodide staining and cytofluorimetric analysis. Intracellular lipid contents were detected by Oil Red O staining. Inflammation Array, along with qRT-PCR and Western Blot analyses, served to measure the expression of the analyzed markers, such as pro-inflammatory cytokines.: A5administration significantly reduced lipids' accumulation in adipocytes when compared to control cells (< 0.005). Similarly, A5inhibited cellular proliferation during the mitotic clonal expansion (MCE), the most relevant stage in adipocytes differentiation (< 0.0001). We also found that A5significantly reduced the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-6 and Leptin (< 0.005), and promoted fat browning and fatty acid oxidation through increasing expression levels of genes related to BAT, such as UCP1 (< 0.05). This thermogenic process is mediated via AMPK-ATGL pathway activation.: Overall, these results demonstrated that the synergistic effect of compounds contained in A5may be able to counteract adipogenesis and then obesity by inducing fat browning

Report from Working Group 3: Beyond the Standard Model physics at the HL-LHC and HE-LHC

This is the third out of five chapters of the final report [1] of the Workshop on Physics at HL-LHC, and perspectives on HE-LHC [2]. It is devoted to the study of the potential, in the search for Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics, of the High Luminosity (HL) phase of the LHC, defined as $3$ ab$^{-1}$ of data taken at a centre-of-mass energy of 14 TeV, and of a possible future upgrade, the High Energy (HE) LHC, defined as $15$ ab$^{-1}$ of data at a centre-of-mass energy of 27 TeV. We consider a large variety of new physics models, both in a simplified model fashion and in a more model-dependent one. A long list of contributions from the theory and experimental (ATLAS, CMS, LHCb) communities have been collected and merged together to give a complete, wide, and consistent view of future prospects for BSM physics at the considered colliders. On top of the usual standard candles, such as supersymmetric simplified models and resonances, considered for the evaluation of future collider potentials, this report contains results on dark matter and dark sectors, long lived particles, leptoquarks, sterile neutrinos, axion-like particles, heavy scalars, vector-like quarks, and more. Particular attention is placed, especially in the study of the HL-LHC prospects, to the detector upgrades, the assessment of the future systematic uncertainties, and new experimental techniques. The general conclusion is that the HL-LHC, on top of allowing to extend the present LHC mass and coupling reach by $20-50\%$ on most new physics scenarios, will also be able to constrain, and potentially discover, new physics that is presently unconstrained. Moreover, compared to the HL-LHC, the reach in most observables will, generally more than double at the HE-LHC, which may represent a good candidate future facility for a final test of TeV-scale new physics

Report from Working Group 3 : Beyond the Standard Model Physics at the HL-LHC and HE-LHC

CERN Yellow Reports: Monographs, vol 7 (2019)Contribution to: HL/HE-LHC WorkshopThis is the third out of five chapters of the final report [1] of the Workshop on Physics at HL-LHC, and perspectives on HE-LHC [2]. It is devoted to the study of the potential, in the search for Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics, of the High Luminosity (HL) phase of the LHC, defined as $3$ ab$^{-1}$ of data taken at a centre-of-mass energy of 14 TeV, and of a possible future upgrade, the High Energy (HE) LHC, defined as $15$ ab$^{-1}$ of data at a centre-of-mass energy of 27 TeV. We consider a large variety of new physics models, both in a simplified model fashion and in a more model-dependent one. A long list of contributions from the theory and experimental (ATLAS, CMS, LHCb) communities have been collected and merged together to give a complete, wide, and consistent view of future prospects for BSM physics at the considered colliders. On top of the usual standard candles, such as supersymmetric simplified models and resonances, considered for the evaluation of future collider potentials, this report contains results on dark matter and dark sectors, long lived particles, leptoquarks, sterile neutrinos, axion-like particles, heavy scalars, vector-like quarks, and more. Particular attention is placed, especially in the study of the HL-LHC prospects, to the detector upgrades, the assessment of the future systematic uncertainties, and new experimental techniques. The general conclusion is that the HL-LHC, on top of allowing to extend the present LHC mass and coupling reach by $20-50\%$ on most new physics scenarios, will also be able to constrain, and potentially discover, new physics that is presently unconstrained. Moreover, compared to the HL-LHC, the reach in most observables will, generally more than double at the HE-LHC, which may represent a good candidate future facility for a final test of TeV-scale new physics