Circumventing UV light induced nano-morphology disorder to achieve long lifetime PTB7-Th:PCBM based solar cells

Large area flexible electronics rely on organic or hybrid materials prone to degradation limiting the device lifetime. For many years, photo-oxidation has been thought to be one of the major degradation pathways. However, intense illumination may lead to a burn-in or a rapid decrease in performance for devices completely isolated from corrosive elements as oxygen or moisture. The experimental studies we present in here indicate that a plausible triggering for the burn-in is a spin flip after a UV photon absorption leading to the accumulation of electrostatic potential energy that initiates a rapid destruction of the nano-morpholgy in the fullerene phase of a polymer cell. To circumvent this and achieve highly stable and efficient devices, we induce a robust nano-crystalline ordering in the PCBM phase prior to UV illumination. In that event, PTB7-Th:PC71BM cells are shown to exhibit T80 lifetimes larger than 1.6 years under a continuous UV-filtered 1-sun illumination, equivalent to 7 years for sunlight harvesting at optimal orientation and 10 years for vertical applications.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

An Electromagnetic Study of the Impact of Brain Anatomy on Deep Brain Stimulation

An electromagnetic simulation was performed to assess the volume of tissue activated on deep brain stimulation for two patients randomly selected. The finite element method is used to calculate the electric field distribution that predicts the volume of tissue activated. High-resolution magnetic resonance images are utilized to create patient-specific anatomical models of the subthalamic nucleus and the internal pallidum. The results confirmed the influence of brain anatomy leading to different shape and volume of tissue activated despite similar technical features. Thus, a patient-specific model and an adequate choice of stimulation parameters are crucial on deep brain stimulation outcomes.S

Invariants of Lie algebras extended over commutative algebras without unit

We establish results about the second cohomology with coefficients in the trivial module, symmetric invariant bilinear forms and derivations of a Lie algebra extended over a commutative associative algebra without unit. These results provide a simple unified approach to a number of questions treated earlier in completely separated ways: periodization of semisimple Lie algebras (Anna Larsson), derivation algebras, with prescribed semisimple part, of nilpotent Lie algebras (Benoist), and presentations of affine Kac-Moody algebras.Comment: v3: added a footnote on p.10 about a wrong derivation of the correct statemen

The effect of paricalcitolon dialysate protein loss in peritoneal dialysis patients

Ever since peritoneal dialysis (PD) has been used in the treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD), high peritoneal protein loss has been observed on each PD exchange. In adult patients, the loss has been estimated at 6 to 13 g daily. Paricalcitol, a selective activator of vitamin D receptors (VDR), is successfully used as a treatment of hyperparathyroidism secondary to CKD. In addition, it has been proposed for reducing proteinuria in patients with CKD. Nonetheless, little is known about its effect on peritoneal protein loss (PPL) in patients on PD, namely after the identification of VDRon the peritoneal membrane. The aim of this study wasto examine the effect of paricalcitol on PPL in PD patients

GerAmi: Improving Healthcare Delivery in Geriatric Residences

Many countries face an ever-growing need to supply constant care and support for their disabled and elderly populations. In this paper, we've developed geriatric ambient intelligence, an intelligent environment that integrates multiagent systems, mobile devices, RFID, and Wi-Fi technologies to facilitate management and control of geriatric residences. At GerAmi's core is the geriatric agent (GerAg), a deliberative agent that incorporates a case-based planning (CBP) mechanism to optimize work schedules and provide up-to-date patient and facility data. We've successfully implemented a system prototype at a care facility for Alzheimer patients

Fabrication of a 3D combinatorial fibrous-porous scaffold for neural tissue engineering applications

The ability of tissue engineered scaffolds to modulate the response of neural stem cells (e.g. adhesion, proliferation and differentiation) is boosting the unlocking of advanced therapeutic strategies capable of attenuating the effects of traumatic pathologies like spinal cord injury [1]. From the wide range of reported scaffolding concepts, it has been consistently demonstrated that nanofibrous networks and graphene-based porous systems are proficient for guiding neurite outgrowth and inducing specific differentiation patterns, respectively [2].publishe