326 research outputs found
Spectral matching and outdoor solar to electrical conversion efficiency in thin-film silicon multi-junction solar cells
Semi-empirical computer modelling is used to investigate spectral matching in tandem and triple-junction thin film silicon solar cells. In amorphous/microcrystalline silicon (a-Si:H/µc-Si:H) tandem cells, current mis-match is offset by an increase in fill-factor, resulting in a broad peak in efficiency versus average photon energy. For a-Si:H/a-Si:H tandem cells, photo-generated currents in both sub-cells increase with increasing average photon energy, and efficiency is predicted to increase monotonically over a wide spectral range. a-Si:H/a-Si:H/µc-Si:H triple cells exhibit spectral behaviour similar to a-Si:H/µc-Si:H tandem cells, but with a smaller fill-factor dependence. Variations in spectral quality are predicted to account for only a small reduction in annual electrical energy yield, of some 2 to 4%
Assignment of resonances in dissociative recombination of HD+ ions: high-resolution measurements compared with accurate computations
The collision-energy resolved rate coefficient for dissociative recombination
of HD+ ions in the vibrational ground state is measured using the photocathode
electron target at the heavy-ion storage ring TSR. Rydberg resonances
associated with ro-vibrational excitation of the HD+ core are scanned as a
function of the electron collision energy with an instrumental broadening below
1 meV in the low-energy limit. The measurement is compared to calculations
using multichannel quantum defect theory, accounting for rotational structure
and interactions and considering the six lowest rotational energy levels as
initial ionic states. Using thermal equilibrium level populations at 300 K to
approximate the experimental conditions, close correspondence between
calculated and measured structures is found up to the first vibrational
excitation threshold of the cations near 0.24 eV. Detailed assignments,
including naturally broadened and overlapping Rydberg resonances, are performed
for all structures up to 0.024 eV. Resonances from purely rotational excitation
of the ion core are found to have similar strengths as those involving
vibrational excitation. A dominant low-energy resonance is assigned to
contributions from excited rotational states only. The results indicate strong
modifications in the energy dependence of the dissociative recombination rate
coefficient through the rotational excitation of the parent ions, and underline
the need for studies with rotationally cold species to obtain results
reflecting low-temperature ionized media.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures. Paper to appear in Phys. Rev. A (version as
accepted
Static and Dynamic Properties of a Viscous Silica Melt Molecular Dynamics Computer Simulations
We present the results of a large scale molecular dynamics computer
simulation in which we investigated the static and dynamic properties of a
silica melt in the temperature range in which the viscosity of the system
changes from O(10^-2) Poise to O(10^2) Poise. We show that even at temperatures
as high as 4000 K the structure of this system is very similar to the random
tetrahedral network found in silica at lower temperatures. The temperature
dependence of the concentration of the defects in this network shows an
Arrhenius law. From the partial structure factors we calculate the neutron
scattering function and find that it agrees very well with experimental neutron
scattering data. At low temperatures the temperature dependence of the
diffusion constants shows an Arrhenius law with activation energies which
are in very good agreement with the experimental values. With increasing
temperature we find that this dependence shows a cross-over to one which can be
described well by a power-law, D\propto (T-T_c)^gamma. The critical temperature
T_c is 3330 K and the exponent gamma is close to 2.1. Since we find a similar
cross-over in the viscosity we have evidence that the relaxation dynamics of
the system changes from a flow-like motion of the particles, as described by
the ideal version of mode-coupling theory, to a hopping like motion. We show
that such a change of the transport mechanism is also observed in the product
of the diffusion constant and the life time of a Si-O bond, or the space and
time dependence of the van Hove correlation functions.Comment: 30 pages of Latex, 14 figure
Child Sponsorship as Development Education in the Northern Classroom
This chapter explores the ethical dilemmas, and potential harm done when child sponsorship NGOs market sponsorship to children in school settings. Arguing that child sponsorship functions as a form of development education in the northern classroom, this chapter points to the potential for CS marketing strategies to infantalise and demean the poor, through a well-intentioned lens of paternalism. The chapter calls for greater commitment to global citizenship education in the crowded curriculum of secondary education and provides key questions (after Andreotti, 2012) for NGO marketing staff to consider in their public communication
Mechanisms underlying a thalamocortical transformation during active tactile sensation
During active somatosensation, neural signals expected from movement of the sensors are suppressed in the cortex, whereas information related to touch is enhanced. This tactile suppression underlies low-noise encoding of relevant tactile features and the brain’s ability to make fine tactile discriminations. Layer (L) 4 excitatory neurons in the barrel cortex, the major target of the somatosensory thalamus (VPM), respond to touch, but have low spike rates and low sensitivity to the movement of whiskers. Most neurons in VPM respond to touch and also show an increase in spike rate with whisker movement. Therefore, signals related to self-movement are suppressed in L4. Fast-spiking (FS) interneurons in L4 show similar dynamics to VPM neurons. Stimulation of halorhodopsin in FS interneurons causes a reduction in FS neuron activity and an increase in L4 excitatory neuron activity. This decrease of activity of L4 FS neurons contradicts the "paradoxical effect" predicted in networks stabilized by inhibition and in strongly-coupled networks. To explain these observations, we constructed a model of the L4 circuit, with connectivity constrained by in vitro measurements. The model explores the various synaptic conductance strengths for which L4 FS neurons actively suppress baseline and movement-related activity in layer 4 excitatory neurons. Feedforward inhibition, in concert with recurrent intracortical circuitry, produces tactile suppression. Synaptic delays in feedforward inhibition allow transmission of temporally brief volleys of activity associated with touch. Our model provides a mechanistic explanation of a behavior-related computation implemented by the thalamocortical circuit
Information retrieval and text mining technologies for chemistry
Efficient access to chemical information contained in scientific literature, patents, technical reports, or the web is a pressing need shared by researchers and patent attorneys from different chemical disciplines. Retrieval of important chemical information in most cases starts with finding relevant documents for a particular chemical compound or family. Targeted retrieval of chemical documents is closely connected to the automatic recognition of chemical entities in the text, which commonly involves the extraction of the entire list of chemicals mentioned in a document, including any associated information. In this Review, we provide a comprehensive and in-depth description of fundamental concepts, technical implementations, and current technologies for meeting these information demands. A strong focus is placed on community challenges addressing systems performance, more particularly CHEMDNER and CHEMDNER patents tasks of BioCreative IV and V, respectively. Considering the growing interest in the construction of automatically annotated chemical knowledge bases that integrate chemical information and biological data, cheminformatics approaches for mapping the extracted chemical names into chemical structures and their subsequent annotation together with text mining applications for linking chemistry with biological information are also presented. Finally, future trends and current challenges are highlighted as a roadmap proposal for research in this emerging field.A.V. and M.K. acknowledge funding from the European
Community’s Horizon 2020 Program (project reference:
654021 - OpenMinted). M.K. additionally acknowledges the
Encomienda MINETAD-CNIO as part of the Plan for the
Advancement of Language Technology. O.R. and J.O. thank
the Foundation for Applied Medical Research (FIMA),
University of Navarra (Pamplona, Spain). This work was
partially funded by Consellería
de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria (Xunta de Galicia), and FEDER (European Union), and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic
funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020
(POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684). We thank Iñigo Garciá -Yoldi
for useful feedback and discussions during the preparation of
the manuscript.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Impact of a 6-week non-energy-restricted ketogenic diet on physical fitness, body composition and biochemical parameters in healthy adults
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