Donor-acceptor polymers for applications in organic electronics and photovoltaics

We have synthesized a new series of high-mobility polymeric semiconductors with good processability and excellent environmental stability for organic electronics and photovoltaics. Using these materials, solar cells were fabricated with power conversion efficiencies of up to 8.7% and remarkable fill factors of 76-80%.MINECO, Junta de Andalucí

Organic semiconductors: The effect of small modifications on device performance

Invited oral presentationIn the search on new high-mobiliity semiconductors with ambipolar performances, good processability and excellent environmental stability, diverse synthetic strategies have been approached. One of the most widely used consists in the alternation of donor and acceptor moieties in the conjugated skeleton, which allows fine tuning of the frontier molecular orbitals. For OTFT applications,low-lying HOMOs are essential to resist air oxidation and thus increase device stability. However, if the HOMO energy is too low, the resulting barrier to hole injection may compromise the transistor performance. Thus, a delicate balance between these two effects is needed. Furthermore, high performance solution-processable materials require the correct selection and positioning of the specific solubilizing substituents in order to achieve proper HOMO and LUMO energy levels, planar molecular conformations, close intermolecular pi-pi stacking, and proper thin film crystallinity. In this communication, several examples of molecular and polymeric materials where modifications on their conjugated skeletons, donor/acceptor subunits ratio and/or the selection of proper alkyl solubilizing chains induce noticeable changes in their electronic performances.Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Organic Materials: The Effect of Subtle Modifications on Device Performance

In the search of new high-mobility polymeric semiconductors with good processability and excellent environmental stability, diverse synthetic strategies have been approached. One of the most widely used consists in the alternation of donor and acceptor moieties in the conjugated skeleton, which allows fine tuning of the polymer frontier molecular orbitals. For organic field effect transistors (OFETs) applications, low-lying HOMOs are essential to resist air oxidation and thus increase device stability. However, if the HOMO energy is too low, the resulting barrier to hole injection may compromise the transistor performance. Thus, a delicate balance between these two effects is needed. Furthermore, high performance solution-processable materials require the correct selection and positioning of the specific solubilizing substituents in order to achieve proper HOMO and LUMO energy levels, planar molecular conformations, close intermolecular π-π stacking, and proper thin film crystallinity. Following these two combined strategies, diverse polymeric materials with great performances in both OFETs and solar cells, and having remarkable air stability, have been synthesized and characterized. , This contribution will analyze how small modifications in their molecular structures can have a great impact on the device performance.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Analysis of mobile devices as a support tool for professional medical education in the university school

[EN] According to the report of International Telecommunications Union (ITU), there are approximately 6.800 millions of users in the world with a mobile device. The fast evolution of these mobile devices for the last two decades has made the mobile phone become a minicomputer with a data connection. Because of the use of these mobile phones, the mobile applications appeared just one year later that the launching of the first iPhone and now the number of these applications reach more than 1 million in play store or app store (two application market for two different operation systems). All these data illustrates the considerable importance of the mobile devices in our society and the tremendous opportunity for the medical education. The physicians and the medical students are using more and more these mobile devices daily in their work or even in their self-learning. Currently, some university schools of medicine in EEUU have already introduced the tablets as a new tool for education. The aim of this study is to make an analysis of the current usage of mobile devices and mobile applications in the University medical school and the main advantages and disadvantages of introducing this tool as part of the education curriculum

Description of a session to assess the efectiveness of apps in medical education

[EN]Nowadays, there are few researches about the effectiveness of apps in education. With this paper, we want to describe the methodology and the initial results obtained with the first session performed with undergraduate students of Medical Schools in University of Salamanca. The session lasted roughly two hours and was formed by ten students. We used a descriptive correlational method and the instruments utilized to obtain the qualitative data were a questionnaire and the images recorded and observed during the session. Besides it was necessary to divide the participants in two groups in order to contrast the results between them: control group and experimental group. One of them had to attend a normal class and the other one was going to use an app, which describes the anatomical parts of a brain. The results were measured with a knowledge test performed before and after the session. Both groups obtained better results after the experiment, however with the participants of the experimental group, the results were higher than the students of the control group. It is very complex to measure the effectiveness of mobile apps in education, and although the study suggests that the mobile apps could be a tool to use in higher education, it is necessary to repeat the sessions with different students in order to have more samples, which allow showing and verifying the effectiveness of apps in education

Review of the cutting-edge technology employed in medical education

[EN]The new technologies have advanced astonishingly in the last few decades. There are more and more Medical Schools adopting new tools to teach Medicine to undergraduate students or even to teach the continuous training for professionals. Not all the Universities adopt these technologies at same level or same grade of the speed but as a result it seems that they will adopt more and more often the new technologies as part of the curriculum. This paper wants to be a review of the state of the art technologies that have stepped in the Medical Schools in the last decade. Overall, we want to describe the function of these new tools, how all of them have been adopting to teach Medicine answering most part of the demands of physicians and how they could be evolved in the future to continue making the medical education a new revolutionary industry in continual progress. Not only that, it makes the engineering biomedical a field very interesting to explore and to be invested on, as they could enhance the skills of new professionals of Medicine to be prepared for the digital environment where they will work on. It is important to notice that the advanced technologies are enhanced at more speed than the education is able to adopt in. Sometimes, the reason could be the unawareness of these technologies. Occasionally, it could be the money needed to invest and from time to time it could be that the leaderships of Medical Schools are not convinced enough that the new technologies will work

A systematic review of using mobile devices in medical education

[EN] Abstract—There are many research studies carried out about the use of mobile devices in our society. Mobile devices offer great opportunities in different aspects of our daily routine as it enable people to be connected at any time. The increasing number of mobile devices and their use confirm that the new technologies are part of our lives. Not only that, medical professionals are starting to be involved actively in the use of mobile devices. This paper describes how students and medical professionals use mobile devices from an educational perspective and it investigates the roles of their involvement. To achieve this goal, we performed a crosssectional survey involving undergraduate medical students of University of Salamanca and medical professionals. The results confirm that the new technologies are becoming part of our lives and medical professionals are starting to be part of this upward trend

Hsp90 activity is necessary to acquire a proper neuronal polarization

Chaperones are critical for the folding and regulation of a wide array of cellular proteins. Heat Shock Proteins (Hsps) are the most representative group of chaperones. Hsp90 represents up to 1-2% of soluble protein. Although the Hsp90 role is being studied in neurodegenerative diseases, its role in neuronal differentiation remains mostly unknown. Since neuronal polarity mechanisms depend on local stability and degradation, we asked whether Hsp90 could be a regulator of axonal polarity and growth. Thus, we studied the role of Hsp90 activity in a well established model of cultured hippocampal neurons using an Hsp90 specific inhibitor, 17-AAG. Our present data shows that Hsp90 inhibition at different developmental stages disturbs neuronal polarity formation or axonal elongation. Hsp90 inhibition during the first 3. h in culture promotes multiple axon morphology, while this inhibition after 3. h slows down axonal elongation. Hsp90 inhibition was accompanied by decreased Akt and GSK3 expression, as well as, a reduced Akt activity. In parallel, we detected an alteration of kinesin-1 subcellular distribution. Moreover, these effects were seconded by changes in Hsp70/Hsc70 subcellular localization that seem to compensate the lack of Hsp90 activity. In conclusion, our data strongly suggests that Hsp90 activity is necessary to control the expression, activity or location of specific kinases and motor proteins during the axon specification and axon elongation processes. Even more, our data demonstrate the existence of a >time-window> for axon specification in this model of cultured neurons after which the inhibition of Hsp90 only affects axonal elongation mechanisms. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.Peer Reviewe