Photoinduced processes of functionalized perylene bisimides

Photoinduced electron transfer at the interface of a donor and acceptor material is the primary step in organic solar cells in which photons are used to create free charge carriers. Because the lifetime and diffusion length of photoexcitations in organic materials is limited, efficient charge separation can only be obtained when the electron donor and acceptor materials are in close, nanometer, proximity. A second requirement for efficient solar cells is that the generated charges can be transported to the two electrodes. Hence, it is important that both materials form a continuous phase, extending from the interface to the electrode. Both conditions can be fulfilled in composites of electron donor and acceptor materials. However, the morphology of these composite organic semiconductors is difficult to control. Often, large domains of the components are formed, which have a small interfacial area precluding efficient charge generation. In contrast, too well mixing provides a large interface but is prone to give discontinuities in the transport pathways, resulting in charge recombination. Creating and maintaining nanoscale bicontinuous order of the two chromophores are therefore important to obtain efficient organic solar cells. A possibly elegant approach to control the morphology of donor and acceptor is by incorporating the two components into block copolymers that are able to provide a predefined bicontinuous nanostructure via self-organization, since the covalent bond between donor and acceptor defines the dimension of the two phases. This thesis describes the synthesis and photophysics of such novel donor-acceptor polymers and related architectures based on electron deficient perylene bisimides and ¿primarily¿ electron rich oligo(p-phenylene vinylene)s

On the Rationality of Borrowers’ Behaviour:

'On the Rationality of Borrowers’ Behaviour' was prompted by two observations: first, mortgage take-up amongst homeowners was fairly divergent across Europe, and second, the fact that this was seen by academic researchers as well as policymakers and financial authorities as an indication of fundamental differences in the risk attitudes of homeowners. Although the time and depth of the cycles differed from one European country to another, mortgage markets have grown in size, expanded in product variation and improved borrowers’ accessibility to mortgage credit. However, this expanding range of mortgage opportunities significantly increases the search and information costs for a borrower, making it harder for him to find the mortgage with the most favourable cost-risk trade-off. Nonetheless, the research reveals that homeowners are still acting as rational customers, i.e. willing and able to choose the optimal mortgage. Meanwhile, the cross-country analysis in this study highlights the role of the institutions, household characteristics, and the structure of national mortgage markets as key elements in shaping the optimal mortgage for homeowners

Would You Press a Button that Kills All Psychopaths?

In Rational Choice Theory, both the Evidential Decision Theory (EDT) camp and the Causal Decision Theory (CDT) camp are burdened with fatal problems of choosing rational action. According to proponents of CDT, imposing a ratifiability requirement will help us to save CDT. A ratifiability account rules out the irrational options for the agent to choose. The first proposal of ratifiability requirement, the (original) Ratification Theorem (RT), is refuted by an example of Egan. The second ratifiability proposal, the Lexical Ratificationism Theorem (LRT), is countered by an example of Gupta. In order to save CDT, I propose a transformed version of the Lexical Ratificationism Theorem: the Two-order Ratificationism Theorem (TORT)

Neurofilament Light Chain in Adult and Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis:A Promising Biomarker to Better Characterize Disease Activity and Personalize MS Treatment

Many biological markers have been explored in multiple sclerosis (MS) to better quantify disease burden and better evaluate response to treatments, beyond clinical and MRI data. Among these, neurofilament light chain (Nf-L), although non-specific for this disease and found to be increased in other neurological conditions, has been shown to be the most promising biomarker for assessing axonal damage in MS, with a definite role in predicting the development of MS in patients at the first neurological episode suggestive of MS, and also in a preclinical phase. There is strong evidence that Nf-L levels are increased more in relapsing versus stable MS patients, and that they predict future disease evolution (relapses, progression, MRI measures of activity/progression) in MS patients, providing information on response to therapy, helping to anticipate clinical decisions in patients with an apparently stable evolution, and identifying patient non-responders to disease-modifying treatments. Moreover, Nf-L can contribute to the better understanding of the mechanisms of demyelination and axonal damage in adult and pediatric MS. A fundamental requirement for its clinical use is the accurate standardization of normal values, corrected for confounding factors, in particular age, sex, body mass index, and presence of comorbidities. In this review, a guide is provided to update clinicians on the use of Nf-L in clinical activity.</p

Kloof agrarische sector en groot publiek: feit of fictie?

Onze maatschappij is de afgelopen eeuw sterk veranderd. Waren vroeger boeren meer regel dan uitzondering, tegenwoordig is dat anders. Daardoor komen burgers steeds minder in contact met boeren en hebben zij niet of nauwelijks meer weet van wat op het boerenbedrijf precies speelt. Deze kloof van onwetendheid leidt tot een discrepantie tussen wat burgers denken dat zich afspeelt op het boerenbedrijf en wat daadwerkelijk daar gebeurt. Het debat over de veehouderij wordt nu dan ook grotendeels op basis van emotie gevoerd, en niet op basis van onderliggende feiten of waarden. In dit essay pleiten wij ervoor om deze kloof te dichten, zodat de kwaliteit van de discussie over de toekomst van de veehouderij kan verbeteren

Assessing the accessibility of the homeownership market

Abstract: In this paper, we examine the accessibility of the homeownership market using measures that include both supply and demand characteristics of regional housing markets. We apply these measures empirically on an extensive data set that covers the Dutch housing market. Our analysis quantifies the extent to which the position of new entrants of the homeownership market, the first-time buyers, has weakened over the sample period and we identify which factors are driving this change. We find that due to financial constraints of young households smaller portions of the housing market are becoming affordable. However, more importantly, we report that first-time buyers today need to contend with a much larger group of competing bidders on every house that suits their financial situation, than ever before

Tracking the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic with the Use of High-Frequency Geo-Located Bank Transaction Data

Using geo-located transaction data from 2 million customers of ABN AMRO bank in the Netherlands, this paper distinguishes the economic effects of consumers responses to the Covid-19 pandemic from those attributable to non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). We compare municipalities that experienced large Covid-19 outbreaks with municipalities that had few or no cases and find that during the first Covid-19 wave the scale of the outbreak in a municipality has a strong negative effect on physical transactions by consumers in that municipality. This behavioral response function of consumers towards the virus is however not constant over time. During the second Covid-19 wave, the behavioural effect of consumers towards the virus has no real impact on consumption