Market Response to Two Alternative Packages for U.S. No. 2 Grapefruit

Packages, U.S. No. 2 Grapefruits, Grapefruit, Alternatives, Crop Production/Industries, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing,

Pseudomonas aeruginosa can be detected in a polymicrobial competition model using impedance spectroscopy with a novel biosensor

Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) is a powerful technique that can be used to elicit information about an electrode interface. In this article, we highlight six principal processes by which the presence of microorganisms can affect impedance and show how one of these - the production of electroactive metabolites - changes the impedance signature of culture media containing Pseudomonas aeruginosa. EIS, was used in conjunction with a low cost screen printed carbon sensor to detect the presence of P. aeruginosa when grown in isolation or as part of a polymicrobial infection with Staphylococcus aureus. By comparing the electrode to a starting measurement, we were able to identify an impedance signature characteristic of P. aeruginosa. Furthermore, we are able to show that one of the changes in the impedance signature is due to pyocyanin and associated phenazine compounds. The findings of this study indicate that it might be possible to develop a low cost sensor for the detection of P. aeruginosa in important point of care diagnostic applications. In particular, we suggest that a development of the device described here could be used in a polymicrobial clinical sample such as sputum from a CF patient to detect P. aeruginosa

Designing III-V Multijunction Solar Cells on Silicon

Single junction Si solar cells dominate photovoltaics but are close to their efficiency limits. This paper presents ideal limiting efficiencies for tandem and triple junction multijunction solar cells subject only to the constraint of the Si bandgap and therefore recommending optimum cell structures departing from the single junction ideal. The use of III-V materials is considered, using a novel growth method capable of yielding low defect density III-V layers on Si. In order to evaluate the real potential of these proposed multijunction designs, a quantitative model is presented, the strength of which is the joint modelling of external quantum efficiency and current-voltage characteristics using the same parameters. The method yields a single parameter fit in terms of the Shockley-Read-Hall lifetime. This model is validated by fitting experimental data of external quantum efficiency, dark current, and conversion efficiency of world record tandem and triple junction cells under terrestrial solar spectra without concentration. We apply this quantitative model to the design of tandem and triple junction solar cells, yielding cell designs capable of reaching efficiencies without concentration of 32% for the best tandem cell and 36% for the best triple junction cell. This demonstrates that efficiencies within a few percent of world records are realistically achievable without the use of concentrating optics, with growth methods being developed for multijunction cells combining III-V and Si materials.Comment: Preprint of the paper submitted to the journal Progress in Photovoltaics, selected by the Executive Committee of the 28th EU PVSEC 2013 for submission to Progress in Photovoltaics. 10 pages, 7 figure

Multiscale approaches to high efficiency photovoltaics

While renewable energies are achieving parity around the globe, efforts to reach higher solar cell efficiencies becomes ever more difficult as they approach the limiting efficiency. The so-called third generation concepts attempt to break this limit through a combination of novel physical processes and new materials and concepts in organic and inorganic systems. Some examples of semi-empirical modelling in the field are reviewed, in particular for multispectral solar cells on silicon (french ANR project MULTISOLSI). Their achievements are outlined, and the limits of these approaches shown. This introduces the main topic of this contribution, which is the use of multiscale experimental and theoretical techniques to go beyond the semi-empirical understanding of these systems. This approach has already led to great advances at modelling which have led to modelling software which is widely known. Yet a survey of the topic reveals a fragmentation of efforts across disciplines, firstly, such as organic and inorganic fields, but also between the high efficiency concepts such as hot carrier cells and intermediate band concepts. We show how this obstacle to the resolution of practical research obstacles may be lifted by inter-disciplinary cooperation across length scales, and across experimental and theoretical fields, and finally across materials systems. We present a European COST Action MultiscaleSolar kicking off in early 2015 which brings together experimental and theoretical partners in order to develop multiscale research in organic and inorganic materials. The goal of this defragmentation and interdisciplinary collaboration is to develop understanding across length scales which will enable the full potential of third generation concepts to be evaluated in practise, for societal and industrial applications.Comment: Draft paper accompanying a plenary presentation to the World Renewable Energy Conference WREC 2015, June 2015, Bucharest. In press (IOP

Special issue “Science of solar system materials examined from Hayabusa and future missions (II)”

Six years have passed since the first asteroid sample was returned from the S-type near-Earth asteroid 25143 Itokawa by the JAXA’s Hayabusa mission in 2010 (Yada et al. 2014). Considerable progress has been made in the study of surface regolith materials and the understanding of planetary surface processes such as space weathering (Noguchi et al. 2011), the chronology of Itokawa and its dynamic evolution processes (Nagao et al. 2011; Park et al. 2015), and the thermal alteration undergone in parent bodies (Nakamura T et al. 2011). Discussions of new findings from the Hayabusa-returned samples and from a large collection of meteorites, micrometeorites, and interplanetary dust particles have continued, especially at the annual international Hayabusa symposia of solar system materials (Okada et al. 2015). Progress in sample return science has driven the next stage of exploration. Now, two new sample return missions to primitive, volatile-rich asteroids, JAXA’s Hayabusa2 (Tsuda et al. 2013) and NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Lauretta et al. 2012), are en route to their target bodies, C-type 162173 Ryugu and B-type 101955 Bennu, respectively. It is our great pleasure to present our second special issue of the journal Earth, Planets and Space, “Science of solar system materials examined from Hayabusa and future missions (II).” This special issue is based on discussions during the Hayabusa 2014 symposium, which featured new results from Hayabusa-returned samples and related studies, but was also open to any scientific results regarding primitive bodies and the early solar system, the results of laboratory experiments and ground-based observations, and reports of new instruments and methods. We will begin with a brief introduction to the missions of the Hayabusa and its successor Hayabusa2. In addition, all six manuscripts published in this special issue are reviewed below

A laboratory investigation into the aggregation efficiency of small ice crystals

The aggregation of ice crystals and its temperature dependence is studied in the laboratory using a large ice cloud chamber. This process is important to the evolution of ice clouds in earth's atmosphere, yet there have been relatively few laboratory studies quantifying this parameter and its dependence on temperature. A detailed microphysical model is used to interpret the results from the experiments and derive best estimates for the aggregation efficiency as well as error bars. Our best estimates for the aggregation efficiency, at temperatures other than −15 °C, (in the interval −30≤<i>T</i>≤5 °C) are mostly in agreement with previous findings, which were derived using a very different approach to that described here. While the errors associated with such experiments are reasonably large, statistically, at temperatures other than −15, we are able to rule out aggregation efficiencies larger than 0.5 at the 75th percentile and rule out non-zero values at −15 °C, whereas at −15 °C we can rule out values higher than 0.85 and values lower than 0.35. The values of the aggregation efficiency shown here may be used in model studies of aggregation, but care must be taken that they only apply for the initial stages of aggregate growth, with humidities at or close to water saturation, and for particles up to a maximum size of ~500 μm. They may therefore find useful application for modelling supercooled mid-level layer clouds that contain ice crystals, which are known to be important radiatively

Erratum to: Special issue “Science of solar system materials examined from Hayabusa and future missions (II)”

In the version of this article that was originally published (Okada et al. 2017), there was an error in the title. The phrase “Preface: The Earth, Planets and Space” has been removed from the beginning of the title and the original article has been updated. The publisher apologises for these errors

A Consumer Test of Citrus Drinks made from Comminuted Whole Citrus Fruit

Consumer, Citrus, Whole Citrus Fruit, Citrus Fruit, Consumer Test, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Development of a diagnostic device to detect different pseudomonas aeruginosa phenotypes in medically relevant contexts

Pseudomonas aeruginosa, widely present in the environment, is well known for its ability to cause infection in immune compromised individuals. For example, P. aeruginosa is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Here, we describe how Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) can be used to detect the presence of four different strains of P. aeruginosa. Using a low cost, screen printed carbon electrode significant changes can be seen in impedance data in the presence of P. aeruginosa after 24 hours. Furthermore, through the use of a normalization technique whereby the phase angle of the impedance (a commonly used parameter) is divided by a starting measurement, it is possible to identify differences between a non-mucoid and mucoid strain of P. aeruginosa. Sensors based upon the techniques described here could be used in a number of healthcare scenarios, where there is a need for low cost, real time detection of P. aeruginosa, such as CF